Chemical Spills in West Virginia

It is ironical that Freedom Enterprises stored a chemical that leaked into the Elk River.  Whose freedom did they have in mind?  Not the thousands who can't even take a bath or wash their clothes. 

The Nanny State?

The FDA is considering phasing out trans fats as already banned by New York City, Philadelphia, and the state of California.  Rush Limbaugh groused that bureaucrats shouldn't regulate what people eat because it's none of their business. The no-nothings are crying about the "nanny state" that takes away freedom.  Whenever I hear the word "freedom" I ask whose freedom are we talking about.  I know that freedom for the pike is often death for the minnow.  The nanny state argument claims that if people want to eat unhealthily, it only harms consumers of hydrogenated oils.  NOT TRUE.  If peoples' diets make them unhealthy it raises the health insurance rates for everyone.  Further, if the people are on Medicare, it raises taxes to support their care. 
     Finally, some people know their weaknesses and call on the state to help them out in moments of weakness.  If they doubt their own resolve, they may favor prohibiting some foods that promise to taste good, but are unhealthy.  Of course, their freedom to be free of temptation is at the expense of those with dietary fortitude.  Alas, not everyone can be free if interests conflict.

Serves 'em right

A Texas mega-church is linked to 21 cases of measles.  Eleven of 16 people with measles were not vaccinated. Anti-science practice has consequences.

Eat More Vegetables

The US Dept of Agriculture has been trying to write new rules to combat obesity in school children by reducing starchy foods and increasing fruits and vegetables in subsidized school lunches. But this ran into a buzz saw of lobbying by potato growers, farm state senators, etc. The proposed rules were changed to accommodate the special interests--including allowing a bit of tomato paste on a pizza to count as a vegie!
Again political campaign contributions corrupt.

Special Interests rule

In January, the USDA proposed new guidelines for school lunches to reduce carbs and sodium to try to reduce obesity in children (One-third of children are overweight.) But, the food industry spent $5.6 million and blocked improvements to the 15 year-old guidelines. The present guidelines say that two tablespoons of tomato paste constitute a serving of vegetables. Well, the salt industry has to eat too!

U.S Part of Drug Problem in Mexico

President Filipe Calderon of Mexico argues that the U.S. is partly to blame for the drug wars and killings in Mexico. “Calderón is clear about what he believes are the main causes of the problem. The consumption of drugs in the US and easy access to arms (which he also faults the US for) are two main reasons, along with a lack of educational and work opportunities.” News of the editorial was published by the Christian Science Monitor, June 16, but received little coverage in America where few think it is our problem. Wake up America, if we didn’t buy it, there would not be so much money to attract criminals. We need to seriously discuss making drugs legal and available to addicts in supervised clinics as is done in Holland.

EPA Raises Ozone Standards

The Environmental Protection Agency recently lowered the level of allowable amount of ozone in the air from the present standard of 84parts per million to 75. The EPA's independent science advisory panel unanimously recommended a standard of 60 to 70 parts.
John M. Balbus, a physician and the chief health scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, said, “Clearly at some point you get to a level where additional benefits just aren’t worth it, but I don’t think we’re there at 75.” “The E.P.A.’s own risk estimates show that between 75 and 70, there will be hundreds more deaths and thousands more visits to emergency rooms, and hundreds of thousands of more lost school days,” he said. Tens of millions of people live in counties that do not meet the current standard of 84. And the timetable for meeting the new one could be decades. In practice, standards are ceremonial to a major extent.
Oil and chemical companies lobbied intensely against the new standard claiming it would trigger layoffs and erode U.S. economic competitiveness. Must we damage our health to have a healthy economy?
Regulation does not create costs where there were none before. It is a matter of who bears the costs. Medical treatment is a cost of making chemicals as much as labor or raw materials. Raising the price of a product is a signal for consumers to buy less of some products and more of others (depending on the elasticity of demand). The same business interests that usually claim the economy is self-regulating and will respond to changes in relative prices seem to ignore their preaching in the case of polluting products. A price increase and lower demand for chemicals may decrease the use of resources in their production and increase demand for other goods. Inputs can't move to new uses that consumers prefer without some transaction costs. Perhaps we should admit it and share some of the transition costs of resources trapped in chemical production, rather than let the prospects of these costs paralyze us and prevent the healthy environment that many prefer to having more plastics, etc.
I have some sympathy for Sen. George Voinovich from economically stressed Ohio, but the answer is not to damage our health to maintain the status quo.