The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. CONGRESS

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Jeff Bingaman headline a congressional hearing on “Senators’ Perspectives on Global Warming.”

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy Policy Myron Ebell on the costs of Sen. Bingaman’s latest greenhouse gas proposal: 

“The Bingaman bill is like the misleading sales pitches used car salesmen once used. They get you to buy because the first month’s payment is only $49.  But the next month you notice that all the other payments are $499.”

2. HEALTH

A new poll of physicians finds that 76% of respondents consider the FDA’s approval process too slow, and 80% would like to see painkiller Vioxx made available again.

CEI Experts Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on the results of the poll:

“All new therapies carry risks, and sometimes those risks cannot be discovered until after clinical testing.  If we set a goal of zero unexpected risks, then the only way to meet that goal is through zero new therapies.  As the results of this latest survey indicate, from a public health standpoint that could well be the riskiest approach of all.”

3. SCIENCE

A long-awaited United Nations report on global warming predicts rising global temperatures over the next century.

CEI Experts Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on what every citizen should know about global warming. 

“Alarm over the prospect of the Earth warming is not warranted by the agreed science or economics of the issue. Global warming is happening and man is responsible for at least some of it. Yet this does not mean that global warming will cause enough damage to the Earth and humanity to require drastic cuts in energy use, a policy that would have damaging consequences of its own. Moreover, science cannot answer questions that are at heart economic or political, such as whether the Kyoto Protocol is worthwhile.”