OPINION/COMMENTARY

Global Warming at the Pumps

Global warming may or may not be real, but Washington’s latest proposal to deal with it would sure get Americas drivers heated up. Not that there’s anything new about costly environmental regulations adding to the pain at the pump. Prices have hovered around $2.00 per gallon for a month now, and next to the high price of oil, these regulations are the biggest contributor. Federal rules have contributed to the nation’s inadequate refining capacity by discouraging expansions at existing facilities and preventing construction of new ones. The last refinery was built in 1976. Other measures have led to a hodgepodge of fuel specifications requiring more than a dozen different blends throughout the country. Overall, the federal regulatory costs may well exceed the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. New rules, phased in this year, have brought this burden to an all-time high. ...

Meet the Organiks

With a customer mix that includes new-agey corporation haters, society dropouts, health-conscious trendy professionals and various eccentrics obsessive over their food purchases, it's no surprise that organic growers have been battling the Bush administration over how "organic" food is to be defined. Organic growers want to keep the standards that were set in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The administration wanted to allow exceptions.

The dispute is a big deal to the $13 billion industry and its dedicated customer base. But the dispute is all about marketing -- not health. Science tells us that conventionally grown foods are no less healthy than foods grown without synthetic substances.

"There are no palpable benefits to organically grown foods," says Dr. Henry Miller, a fellow at the Hoover Institution and former Food and Drug Administration official....

ACTIVISTS DEMANDS ARE TARGETING BANKS -- AND THE POOR ARE HURT

Environmental activists could be hurting Third World countries by pressuring banks not to loan money to development projects that will benefit the world’s poor, says Neil Hrab of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Banks caving in to the demands of environmental groups are doing little to improve the lives of the poor, says Hrab. Consequently, many foreign governments are perturbed over what they view as “foreign meddling” by activist groups:

---In 2002, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Friends of the Earth Network criticized Uganda’s government for proceeding with a dam project -- President Museveni insisted it would be built, with or without private companies.
---In 2001, Ecuador was targeted by NGOs to drop its plans for an oil and gas development, prompting Ecuador’s president to accuse NGOs of placing more importance on critters and trees than on jobs and food for his country’s citizens.

Indeed, Third World governments are becoming more outspoken in defending their projects, and some are looking at self-financing when banks refuse loans.

Hrab questions the effect that turning down such loans will have on banks, especially if developing countries view them as siding with anti-growth NGOs. Banks may wish to help preserve the environment, but should not do so at the risk of hurting the poor or jeopardizing their own reputations, he says.

Source: Neil Hrab, “No-Growthers’ ‘Green Line’ Shouldn’t Deter Bank Loans,” Investor’s Business Daily, June 17, 2004.

DEET VS. WEST NILE VIRUS

Worries about West Nile virus and other bug-borne diseases have raised new questions about the risks and benefits of insect repellent.

The biggest debate is whether to use the chemical known as DEET, found in many commercial insect repellents like Deep Woods OFF! or to turn to "natural" bug fighters like citronella or soybean oil. A "Fight the Bite" publicity campaign from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls for more people to use DEET to battle mosquitoes.

But while DEET does scare away mosquitoes, it scares many people too. Products with DEET -- which shows up as N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide on the label -- have been safely used since the 1940s, however:

---In nearly 60 years of use, there have been fewer than 50 cases of significant side effects attributable to DEET.
---Even in cases of accidental overexposure in children, 85 percent of cases resulted in no symptoms.
---A product with a 23.8 percent DEET concentration kept mosquitoes away for an average of 301.5 minutes.
---Oil of eucalyptus repelled bites for about 120.1 minutes, while a product with 10 percent citronella worked for only 19.7 minutes.

Fears about DEET have been fueled in the past by reports of neurological reactions like confusion or seizures, but those rare cases involved DEET products that were overused or applied to broken skin. The skin can absorb from 6 to 17 percent of the DEET from a mosquito-repellant, but the body will eliminate the chemicals within 12 to 24 hours.

Source: Tara Parker-Pope, “Backyard Dilemma: Which Is Worse—Using DEET or Possibility of West Nile?” Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2004.