Non-Union Picketers, Antibiotics for Livestock, and Facebook Privacy

Non-Union Picketers

The Mid-Atlantic Region of Carpenters (MARC) is notorious for hiring non-union workers to picket for better union benefits.

Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio took a camera to a MARC demonstration this week and asked the picketers some questions. Watch the video here.

Antibiotics for Livestock

The FDA is encouraging farmers to stop using antibiotics for livestock.

According to Senior Fellow Gregory Conko, the FDA is not taking all the evidence into account.

“There’s actually a pretty large body of scientific research showing how much so-called sub-therapeutic doses actually contribute to consumer health by reducing pathogen loads in animal-derived foods and have a positive impact on human safety (see here, here, here, and here, for just a few examples). Plus, when the European Union banned antibiotics for livestock growth promotion, the expected decrease in the incidence of resistant human pathogens did not occur. In most cases, the number of resistant bacteria continued rising, and in some cases they rose dramatically. Moreover, the incidence of foodborne illness also rose substantially.”

Facebook Privacy

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who many credit with altering the definition of privacy with his social media site, is now fighting for his own privacy in a lawsuit.

While the media and politicians criticize Zuckerberg for failing to recognize others’ privacy, Policy Analyst Ryan Radia points out that people on social media sites are choosing to give up some of their personal privacy.

“As social networking has taken off in recent years, it has become clear that many people want to share personal information—with strangers as well as with friends. Millions now publish their every thought on Twitter, available for the world to see. And Foursquare, the latest Web phenomenon, encourages users to publicly post their whereabouts in order to compete over who can “check in” at hot night spots the most.It is hardly unreasonable for Facebook to want to keep up with this trend. In fact, the site’s new privacy settings, which encourage users to share their interests and hobbies, may make Facebook more popular among consumers.”