CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. ENVIRONMENT Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) pressures the Environmental Protection Agency to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant.
CEI Expert Available to Comment:
Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis writes an open letter to Sen. Feinstein:“Like the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court global warming case (Massachusetts v. EPA, April 2, 2007), you apparently want EPA to issue a finding, under Section 202 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), that carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions endanger public health and welfare—the prerequisite for EPA to establish first-ever CO 2 emission standards for new cars and trucks. We believe an endangerment finding would have disastrous consequences for the economy, environmental protection, and the political process.”
2. SCIENCE Food prices rise around the world, making advanced genetically modified crops increasingly attractive.
CEI Expert Available to Comment:
Journalism Fellow Lene Johansen on how attitudes about GM foods are changing: “Increased prosperity in India and China is good, but now we have to follow up with an increase in food production. Molecular plant breeding techniques will create that increase. Europe cannot opt out of the international river of grains to go it alone, it’s time to get with the program. Greg Conko and Ron Bailey have prophesized that it’s just a matter of time before China and India figure out that molecular plant breeding will save the day and that these two countries will ignore Europe’s insistence that this technique should not be used. This is happening now. ”
3. ECONOMICS Cuban dictator Fidel Castro announces plans to resign the presidency.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on Castro’s presidential legacy: “While centrally planned communism has never helped any nation’s economy in the long run, Cuba seems to have had it particularly bad: Between World War II and the 1960s, indeed, communist Eastern Europe rebuilt at roughly the same rate as the West only to see economic growth nosedive after that. Cuba, on the other hand, has seen its living standard drop from the third highest in the Americas (after the U.S. and Canada) to one of the lowest.”
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