CLIMATE CHANGE
In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, it’s high time we reviewed the resilience of American nuclear reactors to natural disasters, and how climate change could increase our risk.
OCEANS
Too good to be true? We could be witnessing the end of overfishing in U.S. waters, says Eric Schwaab, administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
LIFE SCIENCES
The FDA’s myopic focus on early-stage testing and lack of emphasis on phase four human clinical trials has led to many safety-related drug recalls in recent years, meriting a reexamination of our regulatory system.
Mothers exposed to significant levels of air pollution while pregnant give birth to children with lower childhood IQ scores, according to a new study released this week in Pediatrics. The study involved 249 New York City children whose mothers were [...]
The Integrated Risk Information System is an Environmental Protection Agency database of information on the human health effects of exposure to environmental contaminants. Before getting cataloged in the system, a contaminant must go through the IRIS process, a set of [...]
Salmonella. Downer cows. More salmonella. The past year has seen several unpleasant and dangerous incidents of widespread food contamination. Today, Lyndsey Layton reports in the Washington Post that newly introduced Congressional legislation offers a slate of remedies to ramp up [...]
WONK LAB PODCAST
The eight years of the Bush administration were a bad time for scientific integrity in government research. Grifo, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, says we must focus on protecting government researchers, making science-based policymaking more transparent, and monitoring potential abuses.
WEISS'S NOTEBOOK
A recent conference examining the legal protections corporations are taking to defend themselves in the event their products turn toxic should raise regulatory questions.
Members of Congress and others are calling for independent investigations into the federal oversight system for food production facilities in light of new revelations about chronic problems at the Peanut Corp. of America peanut-processing plant in Blakely, Georgia. Those calls [...]
Okay, so according to the Lyndsey Layton in today’s Washington Post, the FDA has issued clear information that major brands of jarred peanut butter on grocery shelves are not subject to the recall. But there are hundreds of products affected–so [...]
SCIENCE, CULTURED
Are science and environmental advocates as happy with Obama’s OIRA choice as his other appointments?
WEISS'S NOTEBOOK
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has deemed a drug from a genetically engineered animal to be safe and effective even though the agency has not yet decided what the rules for such approvals should be.
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING
Government contracting grew out of scientific inquiry in the interests of national security in the mid-20th-century and represents a government reform that yielded great successes but has since lost its moorings. It’s time to re-envision the role of private contractors in the public service.
WEISS'S NOTEBOOK
Proponents of nanotechnology—along with federal regulators—have some serious work to do beyond public education if the field is to break through safely to commercial success.
LIFE SCIENCES
Synthetic biology is on the brink of two noteworthy accomplishments: to be able to “streamline” and redesign the genetic material of living organisms to make them operate more efficiently; and to design and assemble entirely new, artificial life forms from scratch. But a lengthy list of potential risks, as well as broad scientific and social concerns, are largely unaddressed.
In the waning days of the Bush administration, there’s a final rush to implement a slate of polluter-friendly rules, as The Washington Post reported on Halloween.
WEISS'S NOTEBOOK
Keeping hands clean—literally and figuratively—saves money and lives. The point is worth considering as the country closes the door on an era of regulatory slumber and considers anew how to get people and institutions to behave in more socially responsible ways.
In a surprising move last week, the Environmental Protection Agency sided with science, environmentalists, and America’s children. It has been 30 years since the United States saw a reduction in lead emissions standards, but on October 15, EPA reduced the limits from 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter to 0.15. Here’s a timeline of lead regulation in the United States over the past 100 years.
Science and tech commentary from around the web: climate change health impacts, the bioethics of voting technology, evolution teaching tools, the wind in NYC, the Clean Air Interstate Rule, scivee.tv, and Green Chemistry in CA.
STEM CELLS
Stem cell based research and products are carefully managed at the federal, state, and university level. Efforts to change or strengthen these rules must demonstrate that even more regulation is actually necessary.
Science Progress and American Progress's Doing What Works project teamed up to produce a set of policy proposals that the Obama administration and Congress can adopt to reinvest in the building blocks of American science, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Read the overview of the five reports.
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.