Nanny statists are, apparently, equal opportunity hacks. Activists on the left and their legislative team players are not only going after the bottled water “sin industry.” They are also increasing the pressure for regulations on other beverages, seeking to slap a federal 3 cent tax on beverages containing sugar. Where will it end?
Look at this debate between Jeff Stier of the American Council on Science and Health and Michael Wolff of Vanity Fair. Wolff basically calls any American who is over-weight a needless drain on America’s health care system. Should they be punished with a nanny state tax? He says: “Why not?”
Why not? Because, as Stier points out, we live in a free society in which individuals should be responsible for themselves. And who seriously believes that 3 cents is going to matter a hill of beans? However, it will aggregate into a good chunk of change to enrich government bureaucrats who will probably do lots more stupid and possibly evil things. Let’s face it. This money won’t fix our health care system which suffers from excessive government regulations and runaway entitlement programs. They will probably use it for more misguided programs.
Before Stier was cut off by the rude talking heads he was up against, he pointed out better solutions for Americans suffering with some excess on their waistlines, one of which included allowing technologies to develop that will help reduce caloric intake. Ironically, nanny statists have fought and undermined these solutions.
For example, for decades they condemned the sugar substitute saccharin by saying it was a carcinogen based on questionable science. After scaring people away from this calorie saver for decades, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally announced that all the “science” previously touted was wrong. Saccharin isn’t a carcinogen after all.
Moreover, nanny statists with the ironic name Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) fought the release of olestra, a fat substitute that allows people to enjoy a few extra chips without all that many extra calories. A side effect for a small segment of people might be gastrointestinal distress, such as soft stools. But the product would not have this impact on everyone. Ironically, as the American Council on Science and Health notes in one publication, various studies showed that these effects were no higher (about 2.5 percent of consumers in test groups) than they were for chips made with regular oils. Nonetheless, CSPI undermined the marketing of this product and was able to win regulations that limit its use. It is only used for snack foods, but if the Food and Drug Administration allowed it, olestra could be used in a wide-range of valuable applications. Unfortunately, nanny statists would rather find an excuse to tax us.
Source for photo: Katharine Moriarty
According to a new report released by enviro-scare artists at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, most food packaging still contains the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA). That is supposed to scare you, but I say, who cares? It’s there because it’s useful. BPA is one substance has proven very helpful in maintaining the integrity of the products it packages and there is scant evidence of anyone ever having a problem. The idea that food companies want to slowly poison their customers and that the Food and Drug Administration supports that strategy by issuing reports on BPA safety should be quickly dismissed as silly. But the green groups continue to make this case.
They note that the substance is found in human urine, which they say is evidence of exposure. Yes, indeed and it is also evidence to the fact that BPA quickly metabolizes and leaves the human body, like many harmless substances do. The simple fact is, the human body is exposed to trace-level chemicals on a daily bases, man-made and otherwise. This mere exposure to trace levels tells us nothing about risk. When the is risk is negligible, as FDA and others have found, there is no reason panic. Yet Greens focus on exposure and then target the chemicals they think make industry must vulnerable to attacks—because apparently for some reason, they don’t like business.
My colleague Jonathan Tolman and I have both written on the topic, highlighting the facts about the science and the risks. But these groups don’t seem to care much about the science. Apparently, the hype gets them more media attention and more power.
Cheers to Bill Nemitz for his very insightful piece “Enough Water: Let’s Figure it Out” in the Portland Press Herald. He showed that the amount of water that Poland Spring would have purchased for $900,000 from the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water Districts represents 0.14 percent of the water that falls in the region each year. He rightly criticizes the activist group that prevented that sale for their claims that operation would threaten such resources in the future.
Nemitz’s point applies to a much larger debate. Activist groups are around the nation offer silly arguments about water resources being “finite” and in danger of depletion. But properly constructed bottling operations do not deplete community water supplies. Aquifers, springs and other natural sources replenish via precipitation, a process called “recharging.” Many have been operating sustainably for hundreds of years. A study produced by Keith N. Eshleman, Ph.D. at the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science reports that “withdrawals for bottled water production represent only 0.019% of the total fresh ground water withdrawals in the U.S.,” which is far less than what Mother Nature recharges. The fact that communities and consumers can “profit” by enjoying these renewable resources is a good thing!
Water shortages can be a problem in certain areas. But problems usually result from government ownership and mismanagement, including from subsidies mostly to large, politically organized users—particularly agriculture. We need market-based systems to these manage resources. There is no reason to stop using them altogether, particularly where they are plentiful.
Hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist join Michelle Minton in welcoming you to LibertyWeek 36: The Green Episode. We begin our environmental adventure with an update on the high cost of renewable energy and the good news from the coal laboratory. We then pass on advice for drinking green in Beer News and celebrate the recent observance of Human Achievement Hour. This brings us to the featured interview with our distinguished colleague and author Steve Milloy – where we explore his new book Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Ruin Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them and its targets, from the Audubon Society to Zero Population Growth. Finally we round out the program with a little Olympic News.
This says it all: Green groups held a “reverse tea party” by dumping bottled water (minus the bottles of course) into the Boston Harbor. Why? They don’t like private enterprise or private water provision. They want the government to take more of your hard-earned dollars to spend on government water systems.
Yes, indeed, the term “reverse tea party” is oh so appropriate. Our founding fathers protested tyranny and called for freedom with their forward-thinking Boston Tea Party. Today, greens do the reverse. They protest freedom, private enterprise, and your right to choose. They call for more government, more mismanagement of our resources, and less freedom!!
The problems with government water systems (see section on drinking water in the Environmental Source) today have nothing to do with bottled water and privatization. They relate to politics. The federal government forces localities to spend limited precious resources (thanks to the green lobby) to widdle down inconsequential trace levels of certain chemicals in our tap water, greatly reducing funds to address much bigger, serious infrastructure problems.
The solution is not more government. It lies in more flexible standards—and yes—the “dreaded” (according to the greens) American way: free enterprise. Privatization could bring in the financial resources needed for upgrades. Unfortunately, local governments outlawed private provision of tap water decades ago when infrastructure of piped water was first under development. It’s a long road back to fixing that problem, but rather than call for the reverse of freedom and free-enterprise, we should employ the forward thinking of our forefathers whose advocacy for freedom understands the value of human creativity and achievement.
Your hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist welcome back special guest co-host Michelle Minton for Episode 35 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We begin with a celebration of human achievement and a peek into the realm of secret government documents. We then investigate how the White House is going to waste another $1 trillion of your money and how the British beer tax has managed to kill off 20,000 jobs. Finally we focus on the history of the scandal-addled Sen. Dodd of Connecticut and the future of U.S. Olympic glory.
BONUS BOOK FEATURE: We congratulate our good friend Steve Milloy on the publication of his new book, Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Ruin Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them. The book is a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive takedown of the entire environmental movement that will open your eyes to a looming threat to our economy, our civil liberties, and the entire American way of life.
Your regular hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist are joined by special guest co-host Michelle Minton for Episode 34 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We begin by finding that Twitter has conquered every aspect of society, the White House is waging war on the economy and New Yorkers are defending themselves against beer taxes. We next investigate the questionable management of the AIG bailout in Scandal Watch and handicap Chicago’s chances for snagging the 2016 summer games in Olympic News.
Congratulations to FreeStateNH (The Free State Project) for winning the honor of Tweet of the Week™!
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