President Trump on Tuesday announced the selection of Darrell Scott, a pastor and longtime Trump supporter, to be the tobacco health adviser for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Trump announced Scott's new role in a Truth Social post, citing his longtime advocacy for "America’s Underserved Communities." "For far too…
Page A8From§Eachthe early bird edition — 1 September 2026
Plastic industry drafts school lesson plans as tobacco pastor named CDC health adviser
The receipts show two institutions, both with their hands on the next generation: the plastics industry, drafting lesson plans for schools, and the CDC, bringing aboard a pastor whose expertise lies in tobacco. One writes the curriculum for science class, the other advises on health. The connection isn’t subtle—the lesson plan is a manual for selling risk, and the health adviser’s pulpit is smoke. The outcomes are measurable: children learn the virtues of plastic, and public health policy takes its cues from the tobacco playbook. The question is not whether the lines are blurred, but how far the blur goes. The stakes are in the lunchbox and the air; the receipt is printed on school stationery and CDC letterhead. The fix is not in the science, it’s in who gets to write it.
“You put the plastics lobby in the classroom and a tobacco guy in charge of health at the CDC, and wonder why the kids’ lunchboxes come with a warning label. That’s not public health, that’s marketing in a lab coat.”
“The industry cares deeply about education, and the pastor has strong moral values. Did I say tobacco? That’s irrelevant—he brings faith to the table. If you look at the lesson plans, they’re perfectly scientific, except for the part about plastic being harmless. Wait, I didn’t mean harmless. It’s about balance.”
The receipts
Some lessons include plastic scavenger hunts, while others ask kids to pretend they work for Dow Chemical Company.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.