CEI Today: Saturated animal fat, cancer clusters, and Law of the Sea Treaty

NANNY STATE FOOD POLICY - HANS BADER
   
Openmarket.org: When The Nanny State Kills

 

The government told people to switch from saturated animal fats to unsaturated vegetable fats. But that advice may have killed a lot of people. As David Oliver notes, a recent study “in the British Medical Journal” shows that ”those who heeded the advice” from public-health officials “to switch from saturated fats to polyunsaturated vegetable oils dramatically reduced their odds of living to see 2013,” incurring up to a ”60% increase in risk of death by switching from animal fats to vegetable oils.”

As Oliver, an expert on mass torts, points out, it is hard to ”think of any mass tort, or combination of mass torts, that has produced as much harm as the advice to change to a plant oil-based diet” may have done. >Read more

> Interview Hans Bader

CANCER CLUSTERS - ANGELA LOGOMASINI Openmarket.org: The Cancer Clusters That Weren’t A recent post in ACSH Dispatch examines an interesting question: How likely is it that some U.S. communities have elevated cancer rates, a.k.a, “cancer clusters,” because of chemical pollution? The answer: not very. It is true that chemicals cause cancers where people are exposed for long periods of time to very high levels. For example, populations in Taiwan whose drinking water was contaminated with extremely high levels of arsenic for many decades experienced elevated rates of skin cancer. Is that a cluster? Surely it is. Does it convey information about the risks to populations exposed to much lower concentrations? Not particularly. > Read more > Interview Angela Logomasini

LAW OF THE SEA TREATY - IAIN MURRAY NCPA: LOST at Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — known as UNCLOS or LOST (Law of the Sea Treaty) — recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, but has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. Originally drafted in New York City between 1973 and 1982, the Treaty was deemed unacceptable by the Reagan administration. After the fall of the Soviet Union, one of the original treaty’s main proponents, a series of amendments were proposed to meet American objections. The United States signed the amendments, but not the Treaty itself, in 1994. For legal purposes, however, the U.S. government regards the Treaty as customary international law. Many objections to the Treaty are based on arguments of national sovereignty. However, there are very sound economic and environmental reasons why the U.S. Senate should continue to reject ratification.  > Read more > Interview Iain Murray

More in the news... Vitter Amendment To Ban Drug Patent Settlements Would Raise Pharmaceutical Prices CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation Eco-Anxiety Takes a Toll on Global Warming Alarmists Bipartisan Senate Majority Votes To Oppose a Carbon Tax False Alarms: Dow Chemical’s Campaign against Natural Gas Exports

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

CEI Today: Herbicide in drinking water, real cost of regulation, and union scam of "official time"

HERBICIDE IN DRINKING WATER - ANGELA LOGOMASINI

Openmarket.org: Herbicide Poses No Cancer Risk In Drinking Water

Over the years, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have repeatedly issued bogus reports claiming that Americans face serious cancer risks from trace chemicals found in drinking water. A new study challenges their claims regarding one of these activists’ key targets: the herbicide atrazine, which farmers use to control weeds rather than tilling the soil. > Read the full commenary on Openmarket.org

> Interview Angela Logomasini

COST OF REGULATION - WAYNE CREWS Openmarket.org: The Cost Of Enforcing Government Regulation Regulatory cost estimates of around $1.8 trillion encompass compliance costs paid by the public plus economic drag. But but those estimates do not include the costs of administering the regulatory state, that is, on-budget amounts spent by federal agencies to produce rules and to police regulatory compliance are not accounted for there. The newest report, “Growth in Regulators’ Budget Slowed by Fiscal Stalemate: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013,” finds that fiscal year 2012 enforcement costs incurred by federal departments and agencies stood at an estimated $61 billion. That represents an 8.6-percent increase over the previous year’s $59 billion. > Read the full commentary on Openmarket.org > Interview Wayne Crews > Follow Wayne Crews on Twitter

UNION "OFFICIAL TIME" SCAM - TREY KOVACS Capital Research Center: Official Time: Taxpayers paying for union work is officially a scam Few Americans are aware that, through their tax dollars, they finance labor unions through a practice known as “official time” or “release time.” The cost to taxpayers is skyrocketing, while—thanks to Obama administration stonewalling—accountability is declining. Fortunately, reformers are working to rein in this costly, corrupt practice.  Each working day, government employees report for work but do not perform governmental duties. Instead, they work for a private enterprise void of any public purpose—their union. Taxpayers pay for these employees’ wages, pensions, and health care benefits. Taxpayers pay for office space, supplies, and travel, too. > Read the full comment on Capitalresear.org   > Interview Trey Kovacs

More in the news... Bureaucrat Busybodies Make Nobody Busy CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

CEI Today: Cancer risk from foam cups?, the growing irrelevance of US climate policy, and the regulatory recession

CANCER RISK - ANGELA LOGOMASINI

Openmarket.org: Cancer Risks Unlikely From Foam Cups

Whatever happened to plastic foam coffee cups? Visit any to-go coffee shop and you will most likely only find paper cups that burn your hands and let your coffee go cold.

Cups made with polystyrene foam are disappearing from the marketplace because a bevy of misinformation about their environmental effects, including claims styrene — the chemical used to make them — is a carcinogen.  > Read the full commentary on Openmarket.org

> Interview Angela Logomasini

GLOBAL WARMING - MARLO LEWIS Globalwarming.org: The Growing Irrelevance of U.S. Climate Policy The world will burn around 1.2 billion more tons of coal per year in 2017 than it does today — an amount equal to the current coal consumption of Russia and the United States combined. Today’s Climatewire (subscription required) summarizes data and projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) from which we may conclude that EPA regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is increasingly irrelevant to global climate change even if one accepts agency’s view of climate science. Basically, it all comes down to the fact that China’s huge and increasing coal consumption overwhelms any reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions the EPA might achieve.  > Read the full commenary on Globalwarming.org > Interview Marlo Lewis

REGULATORY CLIFF - JOHN BERLAU Openmarket.org: The Coming Regulatory Recession? The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce reported the stunning news the U.S. economy actually contracted by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. The immediate response by many politicians and the establishment media was to blame spending cuts, or the threat of them, rather than even look at the dramatic increase in regulation over the last few years.  > Read the full comment on Openmarket.org   > Interview John Berlau

More in the news... NASA's mission is not safety Dodd-Frank law is an unconstitutional disaster The EPA's Lisa Jackson: The Worst Head of the Worst Regulatory Agency, Ever Magician Economists Like Bernanke Can’t Pull Prosperity Out Of A Hat Germs In Reusable Grocery Bags Can Prove Deadly

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

Macia For Congress (NH CD-2) - Macia likes chances of beating cancer better than being invited to debate

Oct 24, 2012 - Canterbury, NH: Hardy Macia, Libertarian candidate for Congressional District 2, released an ad about his exclusion from the upcoming Granite State Debates that claiming his chances are better to beat his cancer than to the upcoming debates.

Eight weeks ago Macia was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He created this latest ad during his bi-weekly chemo session on Tuesday morning at Lakes Region General Hospital.

http://youtu.be/Ae9KwlUEFXY

The sound on the ad is a little soft because Macia said he didn't want to bother the other patients with numerous loud retakes.

Transcript of ad:

Hi, I'm Hardy Macia. I'm the Libertarian candidate for Congress

8 weeks ago I was diagnosed with cancer.

My chances are better at defeating the cancer than it is to be included in the upcoming Granite State Debates.

This isn't fair for New Hampshire voters. You should be able to hear from all three candidates for Congress.

Visit my website HardyMacia.com

and vote Hardy Macia November 6th

I'm Hardy Macia and I approve this message.

End Transcript

Charlie Bass is the Republican candidates, Ann Kuster is the Democratic candidate, and Hardy Macia is the Libertarian candidate. 32% of NH are registere Republicans, 28% are registered Democrats, and 40% are undeclared (you can't register as a Libertarian). The most recent polls done by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center (http://www.unh.edu/survey-center/news/pdf/gsp2012_fall_nhraces101112.pdf) shows a sharp uptick of 22 points from 21% to 33% in the number of undecided votes since Macia officially qualified for the ballot in September.

Prior videos:

Macia Versus Zombies: http://youtu.be/Fqz7pcfXoYo

Macia Answers All Questions in the Rain: http://youtu.be/0GR-yYpia_o