The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Issues in the News
1. CONSUMER
The Department of Agriculture fights a voluntary plan to test all cattle for mad cow disease.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the logic behind the dispute:
“The government doesn’t need to test all slaughtered cattle for mad cow disease, since the danger of mad cow disease from any given cow is extremely, astronomically low, verging on nonexistent. It would be a waste of taxpayer money and limited agency resources. Other food-borne illnesses are more of a reality and thus merit priority in screening. But a small number of Americans won’t eat beef because of their mad cow fears, however irrational such fears may be. The market for beef would thus increase slightly if a meatpacker were allowed to cater to such idiosyncratic people by carrying out voluntary mad cow testing.”
2. GLOBAL WARMING
The Center for American Progress releases a new report on “carbon capture” and the future of coal as an energy source.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on why new energy technologies are superior to government regulation of carbon dioxide emissions:
“…there is no regulatory solution to the potential problem of global warming. According to pro-Kyoto scientists, full implementation of the treaty by all industrial nations would only avert 7/100ths of a degree Celsius of global warming by 2050! Real ‘action’ on climate change, should it be needed, will depend on technological breakthroughs in energy production and/or carbon capture. Bush’s emphasis on technological research and development is correct.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
Locations around the country continue to celebrate the 100th birthday of Silent Spring author Rachel Carson.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on how Carson set the standard for environmental alarmism:
“Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, the 1962 book that launched the modern environmental movement, was born a century ago this week, and it is no wonder that green activists are celebrating her legacy. She practically invented the environmental alarmist strategy that has been so successful in pushing a radical environmental agenda.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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