The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. TECHNOLOGY
Blue Origin, the private space travel company started by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, reveals new details about its launch plans.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on the potential for privately funded innovation in space:
“When Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975, they shot for the stars and succeeded. More recently, Allen shot for the stars again. The two successful launches of his SpaceShipOne won the $10 million Ansari X competition for private manned space flights. This feat may ultimately do for private space ventures what Charles Lindbergh’s crossing the Atlantic did for commercial aviation.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Some private employers join the federal government in subsidizing the purchase of hybrid vehicles.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on why hybrids fall short of their marketing hype:
“…there are a few problems with this dream of a hybrid tomorrow. Surveys show that people are highly resistant to them; their owners are starting to realize that they aren’t quite as fuel-efficient as advertised; and when it comes to their expense, a new study suggests that lack of access to affordable cars hurts minority employment.”
3. HEALTH
Ventria Bioscience plans to expand production of a new rice strain that could save the lives of thousands of children each year who die from intestinal diseases.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Fellow Dr. Henry I. Miller on the short-sighted opposition to advances in biopharming:
“Sounds like a great success for Ventria and end of story, right? Not by a long shot. Virtually every biotech breakthrough brings the creeps out of the woodwork, and this one is no exception. One radical biotech opponent remonstrated, ‘The chance this will contaminate traditionally grown crops is great. This is a very risky business.’”
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