Announced Action for February 26, 2004

FTC staff participating in antitrust and consumer protection symposium: Several FTC staff members will be participating in the 2004 Antitrust and Consumer Protection Symposium, which is being sponsored by the George Mason University Law Review and will be held on March 2, 2004, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. Sessions comprising this year's event include: 1) The Determinants of Private Antitrust Litigation; 2) 20 Years Later: Is it Time for New Vertical Merger Guidelines; 3) Competition, Advertising, and Health Claims; and 4) The Law, Economics, and Policy of Obesity. The keynote address at this year's event will be given by Dr. Lester M. Crawford, deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FTC staff members scheduled to participate in the symposium include Howard Beales, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection; Todd Zywicki, Director of the Office of Policy Planning; and Dan O'Brien and Pauline Ippolito of the Bureau of Economics.

People interested in learning more about the symposium can contact Kristopher Henman at George Mason University by calling 703-993-8161 or by e-mail at khnman@gmu.edu. A brochure providing information about the conference participants can be found at: http://www.law.gmu.edu/gmulawreview/symposium/2004symposiumbrochure.pdf.

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.