Absurd Product Bans, Global Warming Legislation and Unsafe Organic Farming
Industry observers look to California to take the lead in ending the ban on online gambling.
Reps. Henry Waxman and Ed Markey introduce sweeping new legislation on global warming.
European food safety officials find several “natural” pesticides used in organic farming to be unsafe.
For more news, listen to the LibertyWeek podcast here.
1. CONSUMER
Industry observers look to California to take the lead in ending the ban on online gambling.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on the nation’s dumbest product bans:
“This catalog of America’s absurd product bans may seem amusing, but any clearly absurd product ban can have serious negative consequences for freedom and consumer welfare. Nobody can legitimately contend that a society that retracted all of [its unjustified product bans] would find itself less safe, secure, or moral. These bans simply intrude on the freedom of individuals to live their lives as they please. While the freedom to drink bottled water, buy wildflowers a child has picked, or play cards online might appear inconsequential in the grand context of economic and personal liberty, the sheer absurdity of these product bans makes them all the more insidious. In total, they add to a litany of such laws that, quite simply, ought to go.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Reps. Henry Waxman and Ed Markey introduce sweeping new legislation on global warming.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy Myron Ebell on why the Waxman-Markey should be dead on arrival:
“Representatives Waxman and Markey’s draft bill would raise energy prices through the roof and hurt poorer Americans the most. It would destroy tens of millions of good-paying jobs. Beyond these enormous economic costs, Waxman-Markey would put big government in charge of how much energy people can use. It would be the biggest government intervention in people’s lives since the Second World War, which was the last time people had to have rationing coupons in order to buy a gallon of gas.”
3. HEALTH
European food safety officials find several “natural” pesticides used in organic farming to be unsafe.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Food Safety Policy Gregory Conko on what this means for the future of organic farming:
“According to the Farmer’s Guardian, European Food Safety Authority ‘has approved just 14 of the 27 organic pesticides put before it … although many have received a derogation for continued use.’ Still, because more stringent rules are due to be promulgated next year, the European crop protection (i.e. pesticide) industry expects that more of the organic pesticides will be found unsafe. According to an industry spokesperson, ‘Organic farmers already have limited options for crop protection and if more products are removed productivity could fall and prices could increase.’ Of course, since the organic industry has been touting itself as a ‘pesticide free’ alternative to conventional agriculture, this would just mean that what they’re producing conforms more closely to the hype.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.