CEI Today: Trade protectionism, re-booting climate politics, and regulating caffeine

TRADE PROTECTIONISM - FRAN SMITH

Openmarket.org: Canada Not Happy with New Country of Origin Labeling Rules

Protectionism through non-tariff trade barriers is alive and well in the trade arena, even with the U.S.’s largest trading partner, Canada. New U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations on mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat and some other commodities aim to comply with a 2012 World Trade Organization decision on a dispute brought by Canada against the U.S., but fall short of that mark and may open the door to Canadian trade retaliation. > Read more

> Interview Fran Smith

RE-BOOTING CLIMATE CHANGE POLITICS - MARLO LEWIS National Journal: Climate Better than 'We' Thought The pro-Obama group Organizing for Action last week launched a campaign to “call out” climate change deniers in Congress. They’re trying to restart the debate by mobilizing people to tweet their congressman with messages like: “Rep. [X] Stop denying the science of climate change. It’s time for Congress to act.” This tactic is unlikely to prove any more successful than the previous 20 years of scaremongering, vilification, and hype. We won’t have productive conversations in Congress about climate policy until the pro-“action” (i.e. pro-tax, pro-regulation) side starts acknowledging some basic realities.  > Scroll to read more > See also: Are House Republicans Going Green? > Interview Marlo Lewis

REGULATING CAFFEINE - MICHELLE MINTON Politix: Will Politics Take Away Your Caffeine? An increasingly loud minority insists an essential component of coffee - caffeine - is so dangerous government should limit its consumption. The Food and Drug Administration, prompted by growing public pressure, announced this month plans to investigate the use of caffeine as an additive, with a focus on the risks it poses to children and adolescents. Given the FDA is undertaking this study in response to political pressure, its conclusionsare likely to be politicized. But should politics determine what foods and drinks consumers are allowed to buy? > Read more > Interview Michelle Minton

MORE IN THE NEWS... In Obama’s America, some are more equal than others  Stand with Rand in liberating credit-union lending IRS Political Harassers Could Theoretically Be Fired, as Required by 1998 Law CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation Reid Delays Vote on McCarthy Nomination till July Q. What Do Rich States Have in Common? A: Cheap Electricity CBO Kinda Likes Carbon Tax

CEI ANNUAL DINNER & GALA FEATURING THE HONORABLE RAND PAUL JUNE 20, 2013 cei.org/ceidinner

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.

TEN THOUSAND COMMANDMENTS An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State May marks the publication of the 20th anniversary edition of the CEI’s annual survey of the federal regulatory state, Ten Thousand Commandments.  cei.org/10kc > Listen to the LibertyWeek podcast > See also: Wall Street Journal editorial, Red Tape Record Breakers

APPLY TODAY! Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellowship CEI offers a one-year fellowship for journalists seeking to improve their knowledge of the principles of free markets and limited government.  cei.org/warrenbrookes Contact: chall@cei.org

CEI Experts by Issue Advancing Capitalism Constitutional and Legal Issues Energy and Environment Finance and Entrepreneurship Health and Safety Labor Nanny State Regulatory Reform Tech and Telecom Trade and International Transportation

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.