Democracy Institute

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The Democracy Institute is a think tank with links to the Cato Institute[1] and Spiked online[2]. The main focus of their attention is on public health initiatives that are likely to interfere with the marketing activities of the tobacco, alcohol and food industries.

The Institute are regularly consulted by the media as experts in public health issues with Patrick Basham and John Luik regularly appearing as media commentators, 33 worldwide newspaper articles between 2006-2009 cite Basham and Luik as experts on public health issues[3]. The industries director Patrick Basham is a former tobacco industry lobbyist and publishes most of the research on the Institutes website along with John Luik who is also a former tobacco industry lobbyist[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].

The Institute describe themselves as "a politically independent public policy research organization based in Washington and London". The think tank was founded in 2006. Its stated aims are:

to further public education through the production and dissemination of accessible commentary and scholarship. The Democracy Institute aims to provide a balanced and thoughtful perspective on topical issues, promoting open and rational debate based on evidence rather than ideology[15].

The Institute are regularly consulted by the media as experts in public health issues with Patrick Basham and John Luik regularly appearing as media commentators, 33 worldwide newspaper articles between 2006-2009 cite Basham and Luik as experts on public health issues[16].


Views

Tobacco

Patrick Basham, the Institute's director, criticised the WHO's anti-tobacco efforts, which are centred on the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. He described the framework as "The well-intentioned blind leading the blind," going on to say that:

Smoking levels naturally drop off - as they have in Western countries - when populations become richer and better-educated…the cynical view is that the anti-tobacco lobby has itself now become an industry and we will never be able to do enough to stop smoking[17].

Basham went on to say that “Tobacco use will change, but it has very little to do with the kinds of things WHO is promoting”.[18]

Obesity

According to the Western Mail, John Luik and Patrick Basham of the Democracy Institute argue that:

There is no evidence to support claims that children are getting fatter or that they will suffer long-term health problems as a result of their weight; Such a public fixation with weight and food could exacerbate the problem of eating disorders and people's obsession with their own weight.

Luik told the Western Mail,

In the US about 25% of adolescent girls are dieting constantly and 5% have anorexia or bulimia. But this fixation [with food and body image] is not just for girls, but women under 45. The message people are getting is one about an obsession with their bodies - 20 years ago feminists would never have allowed such a public discourse about women's weight. And yet it seems that the health establishment think because it is done under the cover of talking about people's health, it is all right.

Luik added:

The people who live the longest in both the UK and the US are the pleasantly plump - the people who are most likely to die from a weight-related disorder are those who are either too thin or at a normal body mass index. People who are between a BMI of 26 and 32 are those who are living the longest, yet according to the obesity debate, those are the people who should be dying in the greatest numbers.[19]

Islamic Radicalism

In an article for the National Post in Canada, the Institute's director Patrick Basham concluded that:

This terrorist weed choking the U.K. is especially hard to eradicate because it is growing in British soil. The United States' fastest-growing religion is Islam, but there the numbers are not a security concern since a commitment to Islam has not overwhelmed a strong attachment to America. Score another victory for the cultural melting pot; by contrast, the U.K. embraced taxpayer-subsidized multiculturalism and has paid a very dear price.
The result, cultural apartheid, has encouraged a significant number of Muslims to exhibit more loyalty to fellow Muslims outside of the U.K. than to their fellow Britons. It is a dangerous trend, and one that countries such as Canada should view as a cautionary tale[20].

Publications

  • Partrick Basham, 2010, Sri Lanka needs carrot, not stick, The Guardian, 14-Feb-2010
  • Patrick Basham and John Luik, 2010, A bleary-eyed attitude to alcohol research, 3-February-2010
  • Patrick Basham, 2010, President Obama’s Fork in the Road, 25-Jan-2010
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2010, The myth of an ‘obesity tsunami’, 22-Jan-2010
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2010, In Defense of Santa, 21-Jan-2010
  • Patrick Basham, 2009, Butt Out! How Philip Morris Burned Ted Kennedy, the FDA & the Anti-Tobacco Movement, Democracy Institute
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, Are Public Smoking Bans Necessary?, 17-Dec-2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, Can the UK Avert a Smoking Irish Failure?, 29-October-2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik 2009, The City That Never Smokes, 26-October-2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, Women keep drinking, 3-March-2009
  • DI Report, 2009, Alcohol Advertising Bans – September 200909-Sep-2009
  • Patrick Basham, 2009, The Senator and the Symbol, 28-Aug-2009
  • Patrick Basham, 2009, Afghanistan's Democratic Debacle, 21-Aug-2009
  • Patrick Basham, 2009, Displaying the truth about policymaking, 13-Aug-2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, A fat doctor in the White House?, 29-Jul-2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, on discrimination against fat African-American women, 29-Jul-2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, Banning alcohol ads won’t cure alcoholism, 21-Jul-2009 Tuesday 21 July 2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, Turning fat people into social outcasts, on turning fat people into social outcasts, 30-Jun-2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, Smoke gets in the government’s eyes, 23-Jun-2009
  • Patrick Basham, 2009, The unholy alliance between Philip Morris & the FDA in the Winston-Salem Journal, 06-Jun-2009
  • Patrick Basham and John Luik’s, 2009, KICKING THE SODA CAN: HARD TRUTHS ABOUT A SOFT DRINK TAX, 3-June-2009
  • Patrick Basham, 2009, Keep FDA away from tobacco Orange County Register, 3-June-2009
  • Patrick Basham & John Luik, 2009, A display of ignorance over youth smoking, 29 April 2009

People

Patrick Basham - Director[21].

Advisory Council

Nigel Ashford – Institute of Humane Studies | Juliette Baysham – Public Health Fellow | Jason Clemens – Pacific Research Institute | Veronique de Rugy – Mercatus Center | Jamie Dettmer – International Foundation for Electoral Systems | Chris Edwards – Cato Institute | Ivan Eland – Independent Institute | Jeremy Lott – Senior Fellow | Michael Mosbacher – Social Affairs Unit | Gerry Nicholls – Senior Fellow | Charles Pena – George Washington University | Christopher Preble – Cato Institute | Marian Tupy – Cato Institute | Martin Zelder – University of Chicago.[22]

Affiliations

Spiked | Institute of Humane Studies | Pacific Research Institute | Mercatus Center | International Foundation for Electoral Systems | Cato Institute | Independent Institute | Social Affairs Unit[23].

Contact Details

London

Democracy Institute
2nd Floor
145-157 St John Street
London EC1V 4PY
0845 310 4144
www.democracyinstitute.org.uk
Email: info@democracyinstitute.org

Washington

Democracy Institute
2001 M St NW
Washington DC 20036
301 390 3711
www.democracyinstitute.org
Email: info@democracyinstitute.org

Notes

  1. ↑ Patrick Bashham, Adjunct Scholar, The Cato Institute, Accessed 30-March-2010
  2. ↑ All Articles, Articles by Basham & Luik, Spiked, Accessed 30-March-2010
  3. ↑ Nexis UK, Nexis Search Terms "John Luik" and "Patrick Basham", Nexis UK, 10-February-2010
  4. ↑ Telefax, Tflb CONFEDERATION OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY CIGARETTE MANUFACTURER LIMITED, CONFEDERATION OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY CIGARETTE MANUFACTURER LIMITED, 22-June-1993
  5. ↑ Consultants, John Luik, Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco, Accessed 10-February-2010
  6. ↑ Consultants, John Luik, Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco, Accessed 10-February-2010
  7. ↑ Gori GB, Luik JC. Passive smoke: the EPA’s betrayal of science and policy. Vancouver, Canada: Fraser Institute, 1999
  8. ↑ Marsden, W., "Big tobacco's shell game with the truth," Montreal Gazette, June 21, 2001
  9. ↑ Montreal Gazette, Blowing smoke, Cornwall Standard Freeholder (Ontario), 2-July-2001
  10. ↑ Sherry Stein, Letter to Adrain Payne at British American Tobacco, 28-July-2000, Accessed through Tobacco Archives 18-February-2010
  11. ↑ Sherry Stein, Letter to Martin Broughton, 28-January-2000, Accessed through Tobacco Archives 20-February-2010
  12. ↑ Patrick Basham, Public Policy Sources, The Fraser Institute, 1-August-2000, Accessed through Tobacco Archives 20-February-2010
  13. ↑ Press Release, Media Release, The Fraser Institute, 9-April-1999, Accessed Through Tobacco Archives 18-February-2010
  14. ↑ Patrick Basham, Public Policy Sources, The Fraser Institute, 1-August-2000, Accessed through Tobacco Archives 20-February-2010
  15. ↑ About Us, About Us, Democracy Institute, Accessed 10-February-2010
  16. ↑ Nexis UK, Nexis Search Terms "John Luik" and "Patrick Basham", Nexis UK, 10-February-2010
  17. ↑ Smoking death toll five million a year, The Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia), Main Edition, 12-December-2009
  18. ↑ Maria Cheng, Countries must toughen smoking laws: WHO, Assoc Press, thespec.com, Dec 10 2009, accessed 10 Feb 2010
  19. ↑ WMail Edition, 'Scaremongering over child obesity may rebound', The Western Mail, 16-October-2007, sub req'd to access full article
  20. ↑ Patrick Basham, Lurching toward radicalism, National Post (f/k/a The Financial Post), 12-August-2010
  21. ↑ About Us, About Us, Democracy Institute, Accessed 10-February-2010
  22. ↑ About Us, Advisory Council, Democracy Institute, Accessed 10-February-2010
  23. ↑ About Us, Advisory Council, Democracy Institute, Accessed 10-February-2010
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