Cancer Treatment, Global Warming Doublespeak and Counting All the Votes in NY
Shares of Dendreon Corp. rise as analysts look forward to new data on its experimental prostate cancer drug, Provenge.
Public relations practitioners complain of scientists engaging in “doublespeak” on the topic of global warming.
A recent vote count in the special election in New York’s 20th congressional district has the race in a perfect tie.
For more news, listen to the LibertyWeek podcast here.
1. HEALTH
Shares of Dendreon Corp. rise as analysts look forward to new data on its experimental prostate cancer drug, Provenge.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on why the FDA should have already approved the drug:
“Unlike most cancer treatments, many of which have serious side effects, Provenge acts like a vaccine by stimulating patients’ own immune systems to fight off cancerous cells. In clinical trials, it extended patients’ life by a median time of 4.5 months—twice as long as the only other comparable prostate cancer therapy…In 2007, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) scientific advisors unanimously agreed that the drug was safe enough for approval, and voted 13–to-four that it was effective enough. Nevertheless, in 2007, the agency decided to keep the drug off the market until the manufacturer could complete more clinical trials, a process that will last at least through the end of 2009, even though there is no evidence that approval would cause significant harm.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Public relations practitioners complain of scientists engaging in “doublespeak” on the topic of global warming.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on what their real complaint is:
“Blaming SUVs for hurricane Katrina sets off the public’s B.S. detector, as do implausible scenarios of sea levels rising 20 feet and the climate ‘tipping’ into an Ice Age in our lifetimes or those of our children. Be that as it may, when these PR experts (who presumably would be happy to have university departments, science journals, and government agencies pay them for their services) say that scientists must do a better job of communicating with the public, what they really mean is that scientists must do a better job of scaring people.”
3. POLITICS
A recent vote count in the special election in New York’s 20th congressional district has the race in a perfect tie.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on why certain ballots in that race aren’t going to be counted:
“Democrats on the state elections board blocked GOP attempts to allow overseas military voting in the special election. Overseas ballots take weeks to reach voters and be returned unless special measures are taken to speed things up. But the elections officials refused to do anything to speed things up, or mail the ballots out early enough. The result is that perhaps 90 percent of the ballots will be tossed in the trash without ever being counted.”
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