CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. INTERNATIONAL President Bush receives praise for public health aid from crowds on his trip to Africa.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk and Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on what we need most to help fight malaria in Africa: “DDT is still the best available tool for controlling the spread of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Public health authorities spray DDT on the interior walls of buildings, which deters mosquitoes from entering the homes. This approach is effective because mosquitoes feed largely at night when people are inside. In addition, DDT is much more affordable than other pesticides, which is critically important for poor people in developing nations. ” 2. LEGAL Medical privacy laws hamper the ability of police to invesitage recent murders .
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the extent of state privacy restrictions: “California’s privacy laws restrict not just the government, but the freedom of private parties. Even the California state constitution’s privacy guarantees have been held by state courts to restrict private entities like employers, requiring them to turn a blind eye to undesirable employee characteristics that are relevant to hiring decisions. So private employers risk lawsuits by the ACLU and its allies for attempting to exercise their freedom of contract.”
3. SCIENCE Government officials in the UK respond to repeated vandalism of farm fields growing experiemntal crops .
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Journalism Fellow Lene Johansen on researchers’ reaction to ecoterrorist attacks: “Repeated sabotage attacks by eco-terrorists in Britain have ruined several years’ worth of field trials of plants bred with molecular plant breeding methods. Now the Brits are reevaluating the transparency policy around the trials, considering whether the location of the trial sites should remain hidden from the public unless individuals can prove a need to know.”
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