CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. FOOD
Federal regulators consider new safety rules for milk and meat from cloned animals.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Food Safety Policy Gregory Conko on the advantages of the new technology:
Thousands of cloned animals have been born since the world met Dolly the sheep in 1996, but critics still claim the process will create monstrous new hybrids in some kind of barnyard ‘Boys from Brazil.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. The ability to drastically reduce illness among animals and to improve consumer safety arguably makes cloning more, not less, humane than traditional breeding.
2. ENVIRONMENT
A new study suggests global warming is driving an increase in Atlantic hurricanes.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on hurricanes and climate science:
Roger Pielke, Jr. of the University of Colorado finds that once hurricane damage is normalized for changes in population, wealth, and the consumer price index, there is no long-term change in hurricane damage—evidence against the hypothesis that hurricanes are becoming more destructive. Christopher Landsea of NOAA, noting no trend in the [power index] for land-falling U.S. hurricanes, suggests that [Kerry] Emanuel’s finding may be an ‘artifact of the data’—a consequence of advances in satellite technology, which have improved detection, monitoring, and analysis of non-land-falling hurricanes.
3. TECHNOLOGY
The Federal Communications Commission prepares to auction off $15 billion worth of broadcast spectrum.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on how consumers are substituting new communications technologies for old:
Technological substitution—when providers compete with different technologies to supply the same service—is revolutionizing the telecommunications industry. Cable companies are now in the business of providing local phone service. Wireless phones have effectively replaced wireline telephones for long distance calls. Satellite competes against cable for consumers of video programming, and phone companies are rapidly developing a video offering that will compete against both satellite and cable.
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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