The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. HEALTH
The Food and Drug Administration orders new warning labels for popular sleeping pills like Ambien.
CEI Experts Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on sleeping pill scapegoating:
“Over the last year or so, we’ve heard lots of stories from people who allege the popular prescription sleep medication, Ambien, caused them to sleepwalk and then injure themselves or others in a range of ways — from automobile accidents to ‘sleep-overeating’. Some have even filed a class action lawsuit against Ambien maker Sanofi-Aventis for its negligent failure to warn consumers of the adverse side effects. Of course, Ambien’s label does indicate that somnambulism, or sleepwalking, is a known risk of the product, so it’s likely that some of these cases are legit. But, since it IS on the label, it’s hard to imagine how they’ll prove failure to warn. Furthermore, sleepwalking is not so uncommon that episodes among Ambien users can automatically be assumed to be caused by the drug. It occurs in approximately 4 percent of adults (with an estimated variance of 1 to 7 percent), while Ambien is estimated to raise that background rate by just 1 in 1,000.”
2. ENERGY
The Senate considers a bill to create an ethanol pipeline to carry the alternative fuel from the Midwest to East and West Coasts.
CEI Experts Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Marcus Renato Xavier on why ethanol is not likely to be the answer to U.S. energy needs:
“Biofuels are attracting increasing interest around the world. Governments have announced strong commitments to biofuel programs as a way to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify energy sources. Advocates of biofuel subsidies and mandates frequently cite Brazil´s experience with sugarcane-based biomass ethanol as a success story and model for increasing energy security. Today, Brazil is the world’s largest biofuel market and Brazilian ethanol from sugarcane is arguably the first renewable fuel to be cost-competitive with petroleum fuel for transport. The United States, where most ethanol is produced from corn, is the second largest biofuel market.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
A new United Nations report on global warming predicts greater plant growth in temperate regions but less in tropical climates.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on the overall message of the UN’s latest report:
“The IPCC panel will find on Friday less projected temperature rise and less predicted sea level rise than it did in 2001. That isn’t good enough for those who want to break the back of the world’s energy system, so they have to attack it. For years, global warming alarmists built up ‘the consensus of scientists’ as the answer to legitimate concerns of climate skeptics. Now that they have seemingly successfully shut skeptical voices out of the debate on global warming, they have embarked on a process of delegitimization of that very consensus.”