Month: May 2011

Poll: Kroger ban on BPA

The grocery chain Kroger announced that it would ban the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging and receipts — even though there is no evidence that BPA in those products has ever harmed anyone and there is no evidence that BPA substitutes are safer.

Kroger’s move wasn’t based on science but alleged consumer concern. A spokesman said, :

The bottom line is if it makes customers happy to have BPA removed from the products they buy, then Kroger is doing what it can to make customers happy. This stuff could be perfectly safe, but if the customers think it’s not, then Kroger is making this move to keep them happy.

There was no word from Kroger as to whether it would also be banning products that actually do sicken and/or kill some people.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies cause 30,000 cases of anaphylaxis, 2,000 hospitalizations, and 150 deaths annually. There are eight foods that account for 90% of all food-allergy reactions cow’s milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts (for example, walnuts, pecans, almonds, and cashews), fish, shellfish, soybeans, and wheat, according to the CDC.

What do you think would have been a better course for Kroger to take?

Poll: MRSA-infested bedbugs or pesticides?

A new study reports that bedbugs are infected with drug-resistant staph bacteria (MRSA). There is no evidence so far that bedbugs are spreading MRSA, however.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could end the resurgence of bedbugs with a stroke of the pen by bringing back banned pesticides (e.g., DDT, organophosphates, diazinon and Dursban) and encouraging the development of new pesticides. But so far, the EPA has opted to let the bedbugs infest with impunity.

Read the story and take the poll below:

Poll: Scholastic vs. Enviros

In “Coal Tales Call Unfit for Fourth Grade“, the New York Times reports that anti-business lefties are attacking Scholastic, Inc. for publishing pro-coal educational materials that were developed by the American Coal Foundation. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood calls this “predatory marketing.”

The CCFC, however, apparently had no problem when Scholastic published Al Gore’s propaganda in 2007.

Read the Times article and take the poll below:

Poll: Burlington, VT vs. Lockheed Martin

Cutting through the environmental crap in today’s New York Times report, “In a Green Town, Activists See Red Over Lockheed Martin“, it’s clear that:

  • The mayor of Burlington, VT wants jobs;
  • Lockheed Martin wants to make money; and
  • Local anti-military lefties oppose both of the above.

But the debate, at least as reported by the Times, is centered around around global warming. Read the article and take the poll below.

Cruisin' with The Nation: Why red isn't the new green (Update #1)

On April 4 we spotlighted the fluorescent green hypocrisy of a cruise to the Caribbean sponsored by the left-wing rag The Nation.

The Nation‘s editor Kristina vanden Heuvel recently said that,

…the money the government currently doles out to the oil and gas companies could instead go into the pockets of all Americans, where it could be put to much better use investing in green cars and other environment-friendly initiatives.

So if we divide the $4 billion in annual oil and gas subsidies by 300 million people that works out to about $13.33 per person — not quite enough to meet the $1,836 to $5,418 cost to cruise (in a not too environmentally friendly manner, by the way) with Katrina and Van Jones.

Finger length linked to ALS?

Ringer finger length has been “associated” with amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s disease”), claimed British researchers in the May 9 online edition of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

But before you started looking at your fingers with too much concern, be aware that there seems to be no particularly sound biologic reason for looking at ring finger length in the context of ALS. Accordingly, one could collect any 100 people, measure their body parts and report a host of correlations between body part size/type and any disease. But correlation does not equal causation — that’s basic junk science judo.

(h/t Mitchell in Houston)

The Federal Government's Killer Salt Advice

The Federal Government’s Killer Salt Advice

By Steve Milloy
May 10, 2011, Forbes.com

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (May 4), reports that among 3,681 study subjects followed for as long as 23 years, those on a low-salt diet were more than 50% more likely to die from cardiovascular causes than study subjects who consumed substantially more salt. Continue reading The Federal Government's Killer Salt Advice

GE's Immelt Returns Focus To Green Cash

By Steve Milloy
May 7, 2011, Investor’s Business Daily

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt hasn’t yet seen the light on climate science, but apparently he has at last felt the heat for lobbying for cap-and-trade. Continue reading GE's Immelt Returns Focus To Green Cash