The federal panel helping craft tobacco regulation includes scientists in the pay of drug makers who make smoking-cessation drugs — including one who holds a patent for a nicotine chewing gum. Considering that the products they are helping to regulate include Camel Orbs, which are like tobacco-nicotine breath mints, the nicotine-gum financial interests of the panel members seems pretty relevant. I wrote on this a month back, and a left-leaning ethics group has called for an investigation.

In this context, Jacob Sullum at Reason magazine — who is anti- anti-smoking — posits that conflicts of interest don’t really matter that much.