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State Attorneys General Sue Utilities over Global Warming
The attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and the corporation counsel of New York City, filed…
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The Truth About Marcia Angell
I never knew my maternal grandparents. During the nineteen-teens, my maternal grandmother died of a wound infection following a routine gall-bladder operation. A…
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Conflicting with Reality
Former New England Journal of Medicine editor Jerome Kassirer, in an August 1 Washington Post op-ed, argues that conflicts of interest in medical…
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Fear Factor
Environmental activists seeking to halt the worldwide spread of the advanced technologies they fear see <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />China…
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Obesity: a Sign We’re Doing Things Right
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson recently designated obesity a disease, with all the negative implications that entails. Our society, crippled, it seems,…
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Gaming the World’s Poor
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Upon returning from a United Nations-sponsored conclave in 1954, philanthropist Preston Hotchkis warned…
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Bookshelf: Fighting Disease Is Only Half the Battle
As a fresh-faced medical intern, a colleague of mine once greeted a new patient with a breezy, “So what’s your problem?” “Oh, just a touch…
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Global Taxation
Your article “U.N. development goals fall short” (World, yesterday) explores the United Nations' “millennium development goals,” another in a series of efforts to…
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Spitzer’s ‘Obligations’
Darren Dopp claims that his boss, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, was right to sue Dick Grasso for collecting $190 million in pay during…
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Hot Flash: Japan vs. the NGOs
If environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were to keep a list of their “most favored nations,” one would expect <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns…
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California Wine vs. Two-Legged Pests
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />California is under attack by parasites, of both the six-legged and two-legged variety. The former are…
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INDUCING Bad Law
Computer users know some downloads are more trouble than they are worth. The proposed INDUCE Act (S. 2560), currently in the Senate Judiciary…
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There’s a Cure for Frivolous Drug Lawsuits
Morning sickness—the nausea and vomiting that afflicts more than half of all pregnant women—can be debilitating. There used to be an excellent prescription medication to…
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We’re Lucky to Have Clean Air, but it’s not all Due to Luck
Summer is more than half over, and, thus far, it has been a very good one for air quality in the Chicago metropolitan area. By…
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Are Specialized Gasoline Blends Obsolete
As recently as the early 1990s, the nation's gasoline supply was fungible. The same regular, mid-grade, and premium fuel was…
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Climate Consensus: Scarce resources should be spent where they’ll do the most good.
There's a scientific consensus, we're often told, that global warming is a problem—despite the opinion of qualified experts ranging from the <?xml:namespace prefix =…
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Finding the Truth about Kyoto in a Lie by Bill Clinton
The old joke goes, “How can you tell a politician is lying?” to which the answer is, “His lips are moving.” At this…
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Tort Law ‘to Make Law’
A recent little-noticed New York Times story says a great deal about <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America's current legal climate:…
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Smog Shrinkage
Summer is more than half over, and thus far it has been a very good one for air quality in theWashington, D.C. metropolitan area. By…
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Tort Law ‘to Make Law’
A recent little-noticed New York Times story says a great deal about <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America's current legal climate:…
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No-Second-Thoughts “Science”: A Noticeable Difference
Two recent findings, one right next to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., the other as far away as is possible…
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New Kids on the (Tax-Exempt) Block: The Rise of the “527”s
History will remember the 2004 election for many things, most notably for its effect on the political futures of George W. Bush and Iraq. But…
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For Unions, Protecting Jobs Means Protectionism
On June 7, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Mexican trucks can enter the U.S. without a government agency review of their impact on…
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DEBUNK THE JUNK – July 26, 2004
“Statements of alarm by newscasters and glorification of wannabe experts are two telltale tricks of the fear mongers trade………..others [include]: the use of…
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RFID Tags and Privacy
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology promises many consumer benefits. With RFID, goods on trucks, in trains, and in warehouses can be inventoried without unloading…
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Visions of “Ecodemics”
In Six modern plagues, veterinarian and journalist Mark Jerome Walters, like many modern-day greens, deems humankind the source of many of the world’s problems. He…
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Celluloid Bolshies
Actor Charles Grodin, in his book “I Like It Better When You're Funny,” recalls a particularly devastating put-down from a critic: “If you…
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Calculating Kyoto’s Costs
Your Sunday edition cites politicians on both sides of the Atlantic weighing in on the U.S. presidential election by complaining of President Bush's…
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Wave of Regulations Will Follow Tsunami of Federal Spending
On top of the $2 trillion in tax revenues the government now collects, agencies issue more than 4,000 yearly regulations. Costing some $800 billion annually, regulations…
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`Businesses Don’t Have Social Responsibilities; People Do’
Calvin Coolidge once said that the business of America is business. He might have added that the business of business everywhere is to pursue profits. …
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Trade Wars and the Silver Screen
Op-ed pages, political Web sites, and call-in radio shows were abuzz last spring with rants against the “outsourcing” of “U.S. jobs.” Most of those critiques…
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Green Grow the Pressies
In 1995 they told us that Yucca Mountain was going to explode in a nuclear firestorm. It won’t. In 1998 they told us that nuclear-weapons…
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DEBUNK THE JUNK – July 25, 2004
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> “What we did in making nutrition labeling mandatory did not help obesity.
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Game of Show and Don’t Tell
In case you missed it, Morgan Spurlock brought his “Super Size Me” sideshow to Capitol Hill yesterday. Sharing the stage was the animal rights-supported Physicians…
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Canada and China Versus America
Riots, vandalism, raucous protests we’re all familiar with hard-edged displays of anti-Americanism abroad these days. But this pernicious envy also takes other forms. Not all…
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Reformers Are too Willing to Turn a Blind Eye to Liberal Fixes for our Economic Problems
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Sirs, Your edition of July 6 features two distinct columns that demonstrate…
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Reformers are too Willing to Turn a Blind Eye to Liberal Fixes for our Economic Problems
Sirs, Your edition of July 6 features two distinct columns that demonstrate a persistent neglect of economic liberalisation as a way of resolving societal…
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Guess Your Liability
In these days of corporate scandal, who can argue against full disclosure on financial statements? But now comes one cockeyed movement that pushes the concept…
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Can You Overhear Me Now?
The Justice Department has asked the Senate for help in extending hidebound, phone-company style wiretap capability into new Internet-based phone calls (called “VoIP” for…
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Greens’ New Menace: Shrimp
H.L. Mencken famously defined puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Yesterday’s puritans worried about their neighbors enjoying alcohol or gambling…
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Split Decision at the SEC
Nobel Prize economist Ronald Coase long ago warned of a political risk—that of wishing to be an “economic statesman,” which he defined as a person…
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More Regulations Do Not Inspire More Trust (Letter to the Editor)
It is not surprising for regulators to seize upon business failures to argue for more regulation, touting regulations alleged benefits while minimizing its downside. But…
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Energy-saving Light Bulbs Initially Dim Enthusiasm
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The FDA Poses Threat to Our Health, Liberty
An unusual and powerful coalition of special interests is lobbying Congress for a new tobacco deal: Put the Food and DrugAdministration in charge of…
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Energy Saving Light Bulbs Initially Dim Enthusiasm
I recently bought my first energy-saving compact fluorescent bulb. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, if every household in America used one of these…
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A Sign of Things to Come
There’s a war raging across the world. Not the war on terror—but a war against corporations, waged by anti-globalization activists and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
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Junk Law: The CO2 Litigation of the State Attorneys General
On October 23, 2003, 12 states, three cities, and 14 advocacy groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for rejecting an…
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No Growthers’ ‘Green Line’ Shouldn’t Deter Bank Loans
America’s top banks are routinely asked to support all sorts of charitable causes. Yet not all causes deserve support. One such unworthy cause is the tax-exempt…
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They’re Coming for Your Shrimp
H.L. Mencken famously defined Puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." Yesterday’s puritans worried about their neighbors enjoying alcohol or gambling…
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Should the Government Fund Nanotechnology Research?
Full article available as pdf. …
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The Progressive Era’s Derailment of Classical-Liberal Evolution
It is true that where a considerable part of the costs incurred are external costs from the point of view of the acting individuals…
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If You Really Want to Reduce Gas Prices, Here’s How
Despite claims to the contrary, there is not much the federal government can do about high oil and gasoline prices in the short-term. Indeed, given…
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EPA Launches Costly New Smog Standard
On April 15, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched its new plan to tighten the national ambient air quality standard for smog. Policy experts warn the…
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Allow Arctic Refuge Drilling to Increase Supplies, While Cutting Red Tape to Make Refining Cheaper: How America Could Lower Soa
Despite claims to the contrary, there is not much the federal government can do about high oil and gasoline prices in the short term. Given…
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EU Is out of Step over Regulation of Modified Products
Sir, The premise of Steven Druker’s rant that the US criticises Europe’s application of the precautionary principle yet uses it itself (“America’s hypocrisy over modified…
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We eat only what we choose to
To answer John Gapper’s question (Who would be in Neville Isdell’s shoes?”) in his article “How to get fat on a healthy diet”…
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We Eat Only What We Choose To (Letter to the Editor)
To answer John Gapper’s question (“Who would be in Neville Isdell’s shoes?”) in his article “How to get fat on a healthy diet” (May 11),…
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The Day After Rupert Murdoch Takes Over America
Fresh off the contrived controversy of Michael Moore accusing Disney of censorship for refusing to distribute his anti-Bush celluloid screed comes another politically charged film.
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Rude Awakening for Hybrid Dreamers
Hybrid-electric cars are the flavor of the moment for environmental campaigners. Activists like Arianna Huffington, Larry David and Leonardo DiCaprio urge us all…
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Here Comes Tomorrow
The fatuous new special-effects extravaganza The Day After Tomorrow (which, judging from the plot summaries so far released might just as well have…
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Why the Telecommunications Industry Is Not Like OPEC
A recent cover story in the April 1 issue of America’s Network magazine claims that the four2 Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) are “increasingly coordinating…
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Cultural Wars Benefit No One
What's the dirtiest word in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />United States political dictionary these days? That's easy: “outsourcing.”<?xml:namespace prefix…
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Adolf Lomborg?
Back in 1990, Mike Godwin, then legal counsel for the advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, noted that online discussions on the various…
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Google Gmail Jousting
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> The Google Internet search engine embodies the classic tale of the garage-based…
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Socialist Capitalists
It's not easy to explain the anti-globalization movement's attraction or its successes. Much of the writing on the movement's growth, ideology, and influence…
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Market Distortion (Letter to the Editor)
Michelle Singletary’s premise that subsidies are market-distorting is indeed correct (“The Color of Money,” MoneyWise, May 2). The Higher Education Act prescribing these guarantees is…
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Sympathy for the Mosquito?
“Save Our Mosquitoes,” isn't a plea one expects to see these days with the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus killing hundreds and making thousands…
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Does the European Union Believe in Ghosts?: An Unwarranted Fear of Tax Competition
A spectre is haunting Europe: the spectre of tax competition. The cause for this fear is the upcoming entry of 10 new members into the…
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“I Love Humanity; It’s People I Can’t Stand”
This is part 2 of a two-part series. To read part 1, please click here.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />…
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Biotech’s Antagonists
This is part 1 of a two-part series. To read part 2, please click here.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />…
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Soso Whaley’s McDonald’s Diet Results!
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Soso Whaley and her doctor, Dr. Rayner Dickey, are proud to announce the results of her…
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DAILY DIARY – DEBUNK THE JUNK, APRIL 30, 2004
“I always thought that once you grew up you could do anything you wanted – stay up all night or eat ice-cream straight…
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The City that Never Gets a Break: Anti-Capitalism at the Movies
In the upcoming movie The Day After Tomorrow, German director Roland Emmerich lets the glaciers roll over Manhattan following an abrupt change in climate. It’s…
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Abusing Substance Abuse Data
I haven't covered the issue of alcohol for a while, but a recent set of headlines had a reek of moonshine about them.
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Glimpsing Another Mindset
Kevin Danaher and Jason Dove Mark’s new book Insurrection presents the views and strategies of those who resist global free trade and markets. The activist…
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The Broadcast Indecency Playground
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me—we’ve all heard that phrase before. It’s often said by children who are…
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Et Tu, Edison?
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the association of shareholder-owned electric power companies, opposes…
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Sensible Policy Lost in Smog
The Environmental Protection Agency recently launched its massive new plan to fight smog. Get ready for another <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington mandate that will do more economic harm than environmental good. Ozone, the primary constituent of smog, is a lung irritant caused by motor vehicle and industrial pollution as well as natural emissions. Smog was perhaps the single biggest reason for the 1970 Clean Air Act, and has been heavily regulated since. According to EPA, it has declined more than 30 percent in the last three decades. Outside several trouble spots in California, virtually the entire nation now is in or near compliance with existing ozone air quality standards. And, due to measures already in the works (new motor vehicle emissions standards starting with the 2004 model year, new control requirements for power plants), those areas not yet in compliance are on their way toward it. Despite lack of evidence the existing ozone standard was deficient, the Clinton administration decided to tighten it. EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee concluded this tougher standard would not be “significantly more protective of public health,” and called the change a “policy judgment.” The agency's own cost-benefit analysis found the modest marginal benefits of the new standard outweighed by its costs. Nonetheless, EPA went ahead with the rule, sparking several years of legal challenges, all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court essentially deferred to EPA's judgment, and upheld the new standard. However, the legal delays meant this Clinton administration's rule, first promulgated in 1997, would have to be implemented by its successor. And George Bush's EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt now has obliged. Mr. Leavitt estimates compliance costs of $50 billion over the next 15 years. The specific control measures for the 474 counties currently violating the new standard will depend on the extent of noncompliance in each county. The possibilities include more stringent requirements on new or substantially modified industrial facilities, restrictions on highway construction projects, measures affecting small businesses, and more onerous vehicle inspection programs. Each of the 31 states with non-attainment areas must submit a compliance plan for EPA approval by 2007. These plans will likely remain in effect many years after. The expense will affect employment, traffic congestion, and the cost of living. Even gasoline prices may be pushed up. Areas violating the new smog standard may have to use one of the costly specialized gasoline blends that have proliferated in recent years. And many refiners now will have more difficulty obtaining approval for much-needed capacity increases. Of course, EPA's announcement of the rule gave the impression the U.S. smog problem is worsening. Nothing could be more untrue. But while the benefits of this new standard may prove hard to identify, the costs almost certainly will not.
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Why the Sympathy for Mosquitoes? Pesticides Get an Undeserved Rap
”Save Our Mosquitoes” isn’t a plea one expects to see these days with the mosquito-borne West Nile virus killing hundreds and making thousands of people…
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This Should Go over Like a Lead Balloon
Brewing in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington D.C. is a new public health scare that may soon reach beyond the beltway…
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Refining the Battle Against High Gas Prices
Everyone knows that <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America imports more than half of the oil it uses, but few are…
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Commentary: Europe’s Ban on GMOs Is Still Firmly In Place
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> There is an old saying among political veterans in <?xml:namespace prefix =…
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What Commissioner Wallstrom Doesn’t Want You to Hear
Faced with a crumbling façade of unity in the EU over the Kyoto protocol, Margot Wallstrom, EU Commissioner responsible for the environment, spoke to the…
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Across the Atlantic, Anti-Dumping Protectionism Cuts Both Ways
Europeans opposed to America’s hard-line “antidumping” trade policies should take heart. It is now becoming easier to explain to Americans the danger that these policies…
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The Rocky Road to Biotech’s Success
The first Earth Day celebration, conceived by then-US Senator Gaylord Nelson, was held in 1970 as a “symbol of environmental responsibility and stewardship.” In the spirit…
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Get Shorty
Americans appear to have stopped growing. Europeans, on the other hand, are continuing to grow taller. That's an interesting phenomenon, but probably little…
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NGO, Reform Thyself
These days, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) face increasing criticism. This is something new for the global NGO movement, whose actions, campaigns, and goals have,…
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Bush a Piker at Manipulating Science, Compared to Clinton, Gore
The political silly season has spawned a flurry of attacks on the Bush administration for “politicizing science.” To be sure, some of the…
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Down in the Dumps
When most people hear the words “illegal dumping,” they probably think of someone using somebody else's trash dumpster without permission. However, in the…
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Time to Get Tough on Telecom Regulatory Reform
The FCC is not subject to any sort of mandatory “three strikes” law as are some criminals. But maybe there is justification for an equivalent…
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Many Talents Needed for FDA Post
The departure of FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan leaves a high-level opening in the Bush administration for the right candidate. It's a hard job, but…
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From the Pumps to the Polls
Does the high price of gasoline hurt Bush or Kerry? It hurts both of them.<?xml:namespace prefix = u1 /> <?xml:namespace prefix = o…
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USDA and the Peterkin Papers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's biotechnology regulations have been a shambles for more than fifteen years. Its compulsory case-by-case review and costly field…
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Government Wants to Make Internet Phone Calls Wiretap-Friendly
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Federal Regulations Pump up Gasoline Prices
The stage is set for sky-high gasoline prices this summer. We probably won't threaten the inflation-adjusted record of $2.90 per gallon set in 1981,…
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Kyoto Contingencies Confound Commissioner
Commissioner Margot Wallstrom insists that the Kyoto Protocol is “the only existing effective international framework for combating global warming.” This questionable argument –…
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A Green Discourse: Blaming Civilized Society for Human Suffering.
Mark Jerome Walters's book Six Modern Plagues: and How We Are Causing Them is relatively new, but its ideas are far from original.
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Why We Need Sound Science Rules
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> In the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />United Kingdom, the Sir…
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Frankenfood, Pro and Con
David Bowe writes in “Consumers Love Frankenfood” (editorial feature, Feb. 27) predicts that consumers will make their decision about genetically modified food…
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Baptists, Bootleggers and Wind Power
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Have you ever heard of Baptists allying themselves with bootleggers? It actually happened…