Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:49:48.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

When Consumers Oppose Consumer Protection: The Politics of Regulatory Backlash *

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

David Vogel
David Vogel
Affiliation:
Business School, University of California at Berkeley
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines a neglected phenomenon in the existing literature on social regulation, namely political opposition to regulation that comes not from business but from consumers. It examines four cases of successful grass-roots consumer opposition to government health and safety regulations in the United States. Two involve rules issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a 1974 requirement that all new automobiles be equipped with an engine-interlock system, and a 1967 rule that denied federal highway funds to states that did not require motorcyclists to wear a helmet. In 1977, Congress overturned the Food and Drug Administration's ban on the artificial sweetener, saccharin. Beginning in 1987, the FDA began to yield to pressures from the gay community by agreeing to streamline its procedures for the testing and approval of new drugs designed to fight AIDS and other fatal diseases. The article identifies what these regulations have in common and examines their significance for our understanding the politics of social regulation in the United States and other industrial nations.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 1990 , pp. 449 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) (1979) Proposals to Reform Drug Regulation Laws. Washington DC., AEI.Google Scholar
Bofley, Philip (1987) FDA will allow AIDS patients to import unapproved medicines, New York Times, p. 1.Google Scholar
Brody, Jane (1980) Personal health, New York Times, 9 07.Google Scholar
Calvert, Randall L., Moran, Mark J. & Weingast, Barry R., ‘Congressional Influence over Policy Making: The Case of the FTC’, in McCubbins, Mathew D. & Sullivan, Terry, Congress: Structure and Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), pp. 493–522.Google Scholar
cancer and your sweet tooth, New Republic, 03 26, 1977, p. 7.Google Scholar
Chase, Marilyn (1987) FDA rules changes may rush new drugs to very sick patients, Wall Street Journal, 10 5, p. 1.Google Scholar
Congressional Quarterly Almanac (CQA), 1977. Washington DC: CQ.Google Scholar
Cummings, Linda (1986) The Political Reality of Artificial Sweetness, in Sapolsky, Harvey (ed.), Consuming Fears. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Drivers disconnecting seat belt locks, New York Times, 08 18, 1974.Google Scholar
Efron, Edith (1984) The Apocalyptics. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris (1977) Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment. New Haven: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
First do no harm, Wall Street Journal, 12 21, 1987.Google Scholar
Foreman, Christopher H. Jr. (1988) Signals from the Hill: Congressional Oversight and the Challenge of Social Regulation. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Frieden, Bernard (1979) The Environmental Protection Hustle. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
How sweet it was, Wall Street Journal, 03 14, 1977.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel (1981) American Politics and the Promise of Disharmony. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Irvin, Robert (1974) The interlock system: A ‘devillish contraption’, New York Times, 04 7, p. 20.Google Scholar
Karr, Albert (1973) Seat-belt interlock for 1974-model autos poses a PR problem, Wall Street Journal, 07 3, p. 12.Google Scholar
Kelley, John (1981) Bridging America's drug gap, New York Times Magazine, 09 13, p. 100.Google Scholar
Kiely, Thomas (1987) Rushing drugs to market, TechnologyReview, 08/09.Google Scholar
Knight, Jerry (1980) Motorcycle deaths jump after helmet law repeal, Washington Post, 04 12, p. F1.Google Scholar
Leone, Robert (1986) Who Profits: Winners, Losers and Government Regulation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lid put on cyclists riding bareheaded, Washington Post, 01 10, 1976, p. E3.Google Scholar
Lowi, Theodore (1964) ‘American Business and Public Policy: The Politics of Foreign Trade’, World Politics, Vol. 16 (07).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, Richard (1977) Depth and finesse of lobbying against saccharin bill expected to result in a 19-month postponement, New York Times, 10 5, p. A18.Google Scholar
Mashaw, Jerry and Harfst, David (1990) The Struggle for Auto Safety. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, Colman (1976) Should the helmet be outlawed? Washington Post, 01 16.Google Scholar
McCormick, Robert (1989) A Review of the Economics of Regulation: The Political Process, in Meiners, Roger and Yandle, Bruce (eds.), Regulation and the Regan Era. New York: Holmes & Meier, pp. 16–37.Google Scholar
Minor, Michael (1984) Accident Risk and Automotive Safety: Safety Belt Use in the U.S., Proceedings of the First U.S.- Japan Workshop on Risk Management,Tsukuba, Japan, October 28–31.Google Scholar
Moe, Terry M. (1989) ‘The Politics of Bureaucratic Structure’, in Chubb, John E. & Peterson, Paul E. (eds.), Can the Covememnt Govern? Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, pp.267–329.Google Scholar
Murray, Chris (1977) Environmentalists fight for Delaney clause, Chemical and Engineemg News, 05 23, p. 16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadel, Mark (1971) The Politics of Consumer Protection. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merill.Google Scholar
New York Times, advertisement, 05 1, 1977, Section IV, p. 18.Google Scholar
Pertschuk, Michael (1982) Revolt Against Regulation. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Relief from suffering, Wall Street Journal, 09 19, 1988, p. 26.Google Scholar
Russell, Sabin (1988) Speedier approval of drugs hailed, San Francisco Chronicle, 10 21, p. C1.Google Scholar
Saccharin-produce plant going full tilt under load of orders (1977). New York Times, 03 30. p. 72.Google Scholar
Scheurer, James(1980) The FDA: Too slow, New York Times, 05 22. p. 35.Google Scholar
Spector, Michael (1987) When time and testing clash, Washington Post National Weekly Report, 11 7, p. 29.Google Scholar
U.S. Government Accounting Office (1976) The Need to Resolve Safety Questions on Saccharin. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Vogel, David (1984) A Case Study of Clean Air Legislation, 1967–1981, in Bock, Betty et al. (eds.), The Impact of the Modem Corporation. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 309–386.Google Scholar
Vogel, David (1986)National Styles of Regulation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Vogel, David (1989) Fluctuating Fortunes: The Political Power of Business in America. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Vogel, David (1989a) ‘AIDS and the Politics of Drug Lag’, Public Interest Summer, pp. 73–85.Google ScholarPubMed
Weaver, R. Kent (1986) ‘The Politics of Blame Avoidance’, Journal of Public Policy, 6, 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weintraub, Barnard (1977) Saccharin ban stirs demand to curb FDA, New York Times, 03 12, p. 11.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. (1980) The Politics of Regulation. NewYork:Basic Books.Google Scholar