The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. HEALTH

President Bush visits wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

CEI Experts Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on how to improve health care for veterans:

“If it wants to fix the appalling mess that medical care has become at Washington D.C.’s Walter Reed hospital, the Department of the Army might take a quick trip down Georgia Avenue to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs Washington, D.C. medical center. The VA hospital system, which once produced regular horror stories similar to Walter Reed’s, has emerged as one of the best-run federal agencies. The Department of Defense should look to imitate it while simultaneously freeing military health care from the constraints a VA-like system would almost certainly impose on those who have DOD pay for their health care.”

2. MEDICAL

The FDA approves a new drug to treat prostate cancer.

CEI Experts Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on CEI’s poll of oncologists’ attitudes toward the FDA:

“Almost two-thirds (61%) of the cancer specialists polled believe the FDA is too slow in approving new medical drugs and devices [and] almost eight out of ten (77%) responded that the FDA’s approval process has hurt their ability to treat their patients with the best possible care at least once in their medical careers.”

3. FOOD

A new study suggests a link between beef consumption during pregnancy and future fertility problems for male offspring.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Steven Milloy on the flawed nature of the study: 

“First, the researchers approached the question of what caused the reduced sperm counts exactly backwards. Rather than investigating all possible causes and eliminating those for which there are no supporting evidence, the researchers, according to their own admission, set out to link maternal beef consumption with fertility problems while ignoring other possible causes.”