Cancer Drugs, Voting Rights and Cap and Trade Controversy
Author Virginia Postrel details her successful battle against breast cancer.
The Justice Department re-considers whether the proposed D.C. voting rights bill is constitutional.
States with large numbers of industrial and manufacturing jobs express concern about recently-introduced global warming legislation.
For more news, listen to the LibertyWeek podcast here.
1. HEALTH
Author Virginia Postrel details her successful battle against breast cancer.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on why Postrel might not have survived if she had lived in a nation like New Zealand:
“[Anti-cancer drug] Herceptin has a 95 percent success rate in early-stage cancers like Postrel’s. And, although it’s been just a short time since her treatment ended, it seems to have worked. Unfortunately, despite fairly good evidence of Herceptin’s effectiveness in treating early-stage breast cancer, it was not until 2007 that the New Zealand government agency called Pharmac, which determines what medicines will and will not be covered by the country’s national health care system, agreed to cover Herceptin for early-stage cancers. Herceptin is expensive – in the neighborhood of $60,000 US per patient – and Pharmac wasn’t convinced the treatment was worth it. Ironically, Postrel points out, Pharmac had long agreed to cover Herceptin treatment for late-stage cancers, even though the likelihood of success in treating those conditions are much lower.”
2. LEGAL
The Justice Department re-considers whether the proposed D.C. voting rights bill is constitutional.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on why giving D.C. a voting member of Congress is unconstitutional:
“Supporters of the bill argue that the bill is constitutional under the District Clause in Article 1 of the Constitution, which says that Congress has the power of ‘exclusive Legislation’ over the District. They say its language trumps other constitutional provisions. But that argument is frivolous. Allowing grants of power, like the District Clause, to override other provisions of the Constitution, such as the Fourteenth Amendment, is dangerous, since those other provisions also contain crucial civil liberties. Under this logic, Congress could legislatively authorize warrantless searches and seizures in the District, effectively overriding the Fourth Amendment.”
3. TRADE
States with large numbers of industrial and manufacturing jobs express concern about recently-introduced global warming legislation.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Fran Smith on why this bill could be the first shot in a carbon trade war:
“In the wake of the release of the Waxman-Markey energy bill, many commenters have pointed to the drastic restrictions on domestic energy use to address greenhouse gas emissions, while some, like CEI, have pointed to the huge economic costs that would result — costs that would be paid for by consumers and in terms of reduced manufacturing and jobs. Few have noted a further economic consequence — the possible disruption of the world trading system because of the bill’s endorsement of carbon border taxes on imports from countries that don’t have an energy-repressive regime.”
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