The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update

1. INTERNET     

President Bush prepares to sign a bill effectively banning Internet gambling.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on the troubling implications of the online gambling ban:                                                                                       

“In the post-September 11, 2001, world, politicians should be concerned about shady financial goings-on on the Internet. But legislation that enjoins cumbersome government bureaucracies to determine which companies are officially considered gambling operators will punish legitimate online businesses. Just as there have been plenty of false positive identifications in the federal airline no-fly list, it is highly probable some non-gambling sites will make end up on the government’s list.”

2. ECONOMICS

The European Union moves toward approval of a stringent new set of regulations on the use of industrial chemicals known as “REACH.”

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk & Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on how industry in Europe is reacting to regulatory overkill:

“The problem is that REACH is inherently unreasonable; it cannot be fixed because the concept if fundamentally flawed. Industry would be wiser to fight the entire program rather than try to make it less painful. Implementing REACH will cost Europe and its trade partners billions of dollars and not have any benefit whatsoever. It will just reduce innovation and limit access to EU markets.

3. SCIENCE

Danish researchers report that changes in cosmic radiation and cloud cover could be responsible for recent climate change.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Steven Milloy on the dramatic implications of this new research:

“A new study provides experimental evidence that cosmic rays may be a major factor in causing the Earth’s climate to change. Given the stakes in the current debate over global warming, the research may very well turn out to be one of the most important climate experiments of our time – if only the media would report the story.”

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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].