WASHINGTON — Two high-ranking lawmakers on the Senate committee that crafts legislation about health and oversees public health agencies disclosed that they or their families traded in tobacco company stock while they were on the committee, according to a STAT review.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) reported purchasing at least $15,000 worth of stock in Philip Morris International. Sen. Patty Murray’s (D-Wash.) husband, meanwhile, owned an account whose manager bought and sold about $1,000 worth of stock in Reynolds American while Murray was the top Democrat on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
The revelations come on the heels of the resignation of Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, who left her post as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Wednesday, the day after Politico reported that she bought and sold tobacco company stock while in that job. Many in the public health community were incredulous that the leader of an agency dedicated to reducing tobacco use would invest in a tobacco company.
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