Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. BIOTECHNOLOGY
Possible regulatory reform at the Food and Drug Administration.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on the future of the regulatory process at the FDA:
“At the time Hatch-Waxman was enacted, little consideration was given to the possibility of generic biological products because their large, complex, and idiosyncratic nature made them impossible to duplicate with 1984 technology. Consequently, the Act applied only to products regulated as drugs. Much has changed over the past two decades, however, and it is now possible to duplicate certain types of biological products with a high degree of fidelity. Yet there still is no analogous pathway through which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may approve copycat biological products for commercial use. That could soon change, however, because Congress has been considering legislation to create just such a process.”
2. NANNY STATE
Massachusetts may make spanking illegal.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Policy Analyst Michelle Minton on this slippery slope for lawmakers:
“If it is child abuse, why does Massachusetts need a separate law to address spanking? The answer is, that it isn’t physical abuse. The reasoning seems to be that spanking is mentally abusive to children, therefore there wouldn’t be any evidence. Trying to regulate mental abuse is dangerous new territory for lawmakers.”
3. TELECOM
FCC Commissioner McDowell says chances for new cable regulation are slim.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the now unlikely proposal:
“The Federal Communications Commission’s potential enlargement of its power is a giant step backward for the entire communications realm, not just cable. Chairman Kevin Martin’s job is to safeguard and enlarge economic liberty in the communications sector. His – or someone else’s – leadership is needed to roll back outmoded, pre-satellite, pre-Internet era dictates, and abandon the obsession with arbitrary percentages and thresholds. The desperately needed leadership task is to replace archaic political discipline by paving the way for greater market-driven competitive discipline.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To contact a CEI expert for comment or interviews, please call the CEI communications department at 202-331-2273 or email to [email protected].
