CEI Daily Update

Issues in the News<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

1. CONGRESS

Under pressure from activist groups, retail giant Target agrees to phase out products containing PVC plastic.   

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk & Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on the questionable health risks from PVC exposure:

“Target is replacing its PVC shower curtains with vinyl curtains. Whew, I feel so much safer now! Not really. The move is part of a plan to remove PVC plastic products from the store, following the lead of Target competitors — Wal-Mart and Toys R’ Us. All seek to appease radical green groups, who have attacked vinyl products based on specious claims about risks. Green activists allege that PVC poses a host of risks ranging from birth defects, cancer, to early puberty. Yet there is no definitive body of scientific research demonstrating any of these impacts in real world situations, and there is no data showing that the alternatives are less risky.”

2. TECHNOLOGY

European regulators investigate Google’s buyout of online ad firm DoubleClick.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Technology Policy Analyst Cord Blomquist on the attention the deal has generated from regulators in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />U.S.:

“There are no concrete legal reasons to oppose this move by Google. The acquisition would actually make the market more competitive by allowing Google to compete with Yahoo in image-based advertising. As is the case with most criticism of acquisitions, facts and economic reality hardly influence regulators and Congress.”

3. BUSINESS

The Federal Communications Commission considers relaxing media ownership rules.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on why we don’t need to worry about big media companies:

“’Big media’ is no threat in our free society. Media companies are conduits for information of every sort, but as private parties they cannot ‘monopolize’ it. Without government censorship there is no fundamental scarcity of information, nor can there be; more information can always be created, and in a free society, particularly an Internet-enabled one, nobody can silence anybody else. Free speech activists are even breaking through Internet information blackouts in China and other censor-happy regimes.”

Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.

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