Vol. 1, No. 1 June 2002

On May 9, Sam Hussein, 60, owner of a San Francisco liquor store for 15 years, was gunned down at point-blank range as he tended the counter. Hussein, a generous shopkeeper who immigrated to the United States from Palestine 30 years ago, died at San Francisco General Hospital shortly after the shooting. He leaves behind a wife and eight devoted children.

At first glance this homicide appears to be just another example of random violence. But Hussein’s family members believe government regulation killed their husband and father.

Two weeks before his death, the city of San Francisco forced Hussein to install surveillance cameras outside his store as part of the city’s “war on drugs.” According to his son, Hussein did not want to comply, but did so after being told that if he didn’t cooperate, his store would be closed as a public nuisance.

The city thereby acquired another informant in its war on drugs. Predictably, those on the streets turned against this unwilling participant.

Two days before Hussein’s murder a man was shot and wounded in front of Hussein’s store. The gunman fled on foot. Hussein gave police the store’s surveillance camera footage that was thought to contain evidence of the shooting. Hussein chose to cooperate with police rather than wait for a warrant. Two days later, Hussein lay dead. Nothing was taken from his store.

The family and its attorney believe that Hussein was killed in retaliation for providing the videotape to police. Hussein’s children contend that their father would still be alive if the city had not forced him to install cameras to gather evidence for city prosecutors. “This shooting had everything to do with the Police Department and the city attorney,” said Hussein's son, Hasan.

If the family is correct, this is a tragic example of death by regulation. But it would not be the first. There are many government programs that increase the death rate among certain groups of people, but it often takes careful statistical analysis to reveal it. Researchers have looked at this phenomena and it turns out that political correctness is killing Americans. Take automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco as just three examples.

Since 1978 the federal government has regulated the fuel economy of new cars sold in the United States. The purpose of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards is to reduce consumption of foreign oil. Auto manufacturers have complied with CAFE standards by building lighter vehicles. It doesn’t take a physicist to know that lighter vehicles offer less protection to occupants in collisions than heavier vehicles, thereby yielding more traffic fatalities.

Julie DeFalco of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has shown that CAFE is responsible for between 2,600 and 4,500 traffic fatalities per yearæa horrific number. USA Today found that in the quarter century since CAFE was enacted, 46,000 people died on our highways who would otherwise be alive without it. CAFE standards force Americans to trade blood for oil. Perhaps an even worse tradeoff is lives for paperwork.

Before a new drug can be brought to market it must be certified “safe and effective” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Currently, it takes the FDA about 1.5 years to review and approve a new drug application after all clinical testing has been completed. These needless delays are deadly.

Dale H. Gieringer of Stanford University found that, at current population levels, typical FDA approval delays cost 70,350 to 144,510 lives per decade in the United States. Consumers are being denied access to life-saving drugs on the alleged grounds of public health. The irony would be laughable if the consequences were not so tragic. Yet, an even greater tragedy might be connected to tobacco regulation.

Excessive regulation and taxation creates black markets, and often the worst elements of society choose to operate in these markets. The regulation and taxation of cigarettes in Europe and America has produced a burgeoning cigarette-smuggling trade linked to terrorist groups. Two brothers, Mohamad and Chawki Hammoud, are currently on trial in Charlotte, North Carolina, for cigarette smuggling, money laundering, racketeering, and terrorist activities. The effort to deprive cigarette manufacturers of their profits is giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Regulations motivated by political correctness are killing Americans. It’s time to face this reality and scrap the regulations. People should be allowed to choose which risks to assume, which risks to protect themselves against, and how best to do it. The parents of the 129 infants and children killed by government-mandated automobile air bags would likely agree.

Lawrence J. McQuillan is director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the California-based Pacific Research Institute. He can be reached via email at lmcquillan@pacificresearch.org.