E. Coli, Scientific Research Funding, and the CEI Podcast
Today in the News
E. Coli
The German outbreak of E. coli has been tentatively linked to an organic farm.
Senior Fellow Greg Conko responds.
“That’s not the first major foodborne illness outbreak linked to organic production, nor will it be the last. As I noted on John Stossel’s Fox Business channel show last November, the terrible 2008 outbreak of E. coli in was found to have come from organically grown spinach in California. And plenty of other examples can be found. After all, organic farming eschews synthesized nitrogen fertilizers, and instead relies heavily on the use of animal manures for soil nutrient replacement. And, ‘[t]he use of animal wastes for fertilization of produce plants increased the risk of E. coli contamination in organic and semiorganic produce significantly.’ There is a small but growing literature finding significantly greater presence of E. coli and other foodborne pathogens on organic produce. See here, here, here, and here, for just a few examples.”
Scientific Research Funding
In his new book, Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You, CEI Vice President Iain Murray talks about how the government has unnecessarily taken over funding for scientific research.
“There’s another great example today, with the news that taxpayers have spent over $3 million on getting monkeys stoned. It’s a revelation that should shock drug reformers and animal welfare advocates as well as students of the federal bureaucracy. It comes via a grant from the National Institutes of Health designed ‘to use a rhesus monkey model of drug abuse, to study factors affecting vulnerability to drug abuse and to evaluate behavioral and pharmacological treatment interventions. Routes of administration that have been developed in this laboratory will include oral drug self-administration and smoking.’ Stunningly, the study found that after smoking cocaine monkeys exhibited ‘dilated pupils and slightly agitated, hyperactive behavior.'”
CEI Podcast
In the most recent CEI Podcast, Policy Analyst Michelle Minton talks about poker regulations. Listen here.