Friday, May 14, 2010
Both President Bush and the Vice President Cheney were drawn from the oil
industry. Not surprisingly, they saw increased domestic production of oil
to be in the national interest, which it undoubtedly would be. The major
obstacle is the threat to the environment. Rather than deal with this
problem directly, the Minerals Management Service of the Interior
Department, which oversees the awarding of permits for offshore drilling,
has routinely suppressed science, and has even allowed offshore drilling
without a permit. Even as I put these words down, however, Pres. Obama is
speaking live on CNN calling for urgent reform to remove a conflict by
separating the Minerals Management Service, which is responsible for
preserving our resources, from the Interior Department which is responsible
for developing our resources.
After all, the Presidents Cancer Panel finds BPA, which is said to have
estrogenic effects, to be present in numerous consumer products. Its
detectable at biologically active levels in the urine of an estimated 93%
of Americans. BPA is used to harden plastics including water and baby
bottles. Canada banned its use in baby bottles and infant formula cans in
2008, and a number of U.S. municipalities are set to follow suit. Has
anyone identified a reduction in Canadian cancers as a result of the ban?
The panel expressed concern that the public is largely unaware of such
common cancer agents as formaldehyde, benzene and radon. The Presidents
Cancer Panel was created as part of the National Cancer Act of 1971, which
is generally taken as a start of Nixon's War on Cancer. The panel report
does not stop with suspected chemical carcinogens; it also includes a
warning against frequent medical x-ray use and even cell phones. As WN has
pointed out repeatedly there is no credible evidence linking cell phone
radiation and brain cancer. In fact, the inclusion of cell phone radiation
suggests the report is little more than public mythology. It is time to
pare the list of cancer agents down to those for which there is at least a
plausible mechanism. Dont we have enough to worry about?
On Tuesday in the New York Times Gina Kolata, who is a good writer, writes
about food allergies that arent. In a recent report done for the
government, Marc Riedl, an allergist at UCLA, finds that the field is rife
with poorly done studies, misdiagnoses and misleading tests. For their
report Dr. Reidl and his colleagues reviewed more than 12,000 articles on
food allergies in the last 10 years. Only 72 could be confirmed as real
allergic reactions. Some of which, such as the allergy to peanuts, can be
life-threatening. But others, such as lactose intolerance, just lack an
enzyme.
This peculiar issue of WN wouldn't be complete without mentioning the
International Space Station. They are rushing to launch the shuttle to the
ISS today, before the Russians take over that part of the job. One of
these days Earth will have to worry about getting it down safely.
Meanwhile, it was an expensive lesson in how not to do science
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