Science Education & Policy

There is an economic and political battle taking place in America over the labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods. In 2015, 19 US states considered GM food labeling legislation and three States, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont have passed mandatory GM labeling laws. The US House on July 23 passed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling bill (HR 1599), which will move to the Senate and, if passed, will prohibit both state-level legislation regarding GM labels and the labeling of products that contain GM ingredients. Proponents of HR 1599 argue that GM labels will act as a warning. Another…

Scientific research sometimes requires the use of animals. It’s a fact. And as long as that is the case, we need to do everything in our power to minimize the distress for laboratory animals. This is not just for the sake of the animals, but also for the sake of science itself. We know that the quality of life of an animal can actually affect its physiology and, thereby, the research data. But unfortunately, the standards of animal care vary greatly across countries and even across research institutes. The time has come to overhaul this system and replace it with globally enforced rules.…

The Supreme Court seems poised to take on the abortion issue again, and with reason. On June 29, by a five-to-four vote, the Court temporarily blocked a Texas law that would force many clinics to close, guaranteeing that the state’s new law would not take effect until the justices decide whether to rule on its constitutionality. And just today, June 30, the Court did not take action on a case involving a similar abortion restriction passed in Mississippi. Sooner or later, it is inevitable that the Court will have to address what seems to be a new generation of anti-abortion laws. With over…

In Akira Kurosawa's timeless 1950 masterpiece (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042876/), a murder and a rape appear to have occurred in the deep woods of 12th-century Japan. A priest, a woodcutter and a man the script calls “the commoner” are taking shelter from a rainstorm in the ruined shell of a gatehouse.  The priest and the woodcutter are recounting to the commoner their testimony at the investigation of the crime. The other witnesses before the magistrate were the bandit Tajômaru (the main suspect, played over the top by a young Toshiro Mifune); the wife of the stabbed samurai; and…

What do wealthy progressives in New York and California share in common? Both groups are happy to exploit poor people as part of their self-identification. In California, that has involved not vaccinating their children, instead letting poor kids get vaccinated to provide herd immunity for their special snowflakes, while in New York it means adopting a veil of environmental sincerity, by going after both nuclear power and natural gas, while quietly buying all the fossil fuel energy they can get to prevent brown-outs. Let poor people in Pennsylvania have health risks, say New Yorkers. The…

As I wrote in California Government Is The Big Water Management Problem, we can't make it rain but we could at least stop letting bizarre environmental lobbying get a super vote for how to mitigate the issue. While farmers and the public face mandatory cutbacks, anti-science beliefs about what is most important means that no matter how bad things get, we will have to force water for millions of people to be flushed into the Pacific Ocean. And even when the rain starts coming again, $100 million environmental corporations will continue to spend money making sure that no reservoirs can be…

Imagine a classroom where children are unable to wait their turn or stay focused on their work. They are easily distracted, cannot remember basic instructions or hold enough information in their head to solve problems – skills teachers rely on in order to teach successfully. These behavioral issues are all examples of problems that can arise from attachment issues – based on the relationship between children and their main caregiver. Attachment theory is now one of the world’s most well-researched theories about human development. It was first proposed by the 20th-century British psychiatrist…

Every president for more than 30 years has required executive branch agencies to analyze regulatory impacts before issuing new requirements. They’ve relied on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget to review significant new rules to ensure the quality of such regulatory analysis. Because of their historical designation as “independent,” some agencies have been exempt from these commonsense requirements, making their regulations less accountable and well-reasoned than others. Legislation introduced on Thursday by Senator Rob Portman (…

Gilles-Éric Séralini is a French scientist who has been a professor of molecular biology at the University of Caen since 1991. Known for his research concluding that genetically modified food is unsafe for human consumption, his latest publication, scheduled for release in PLOS ONE on June 18, 2015–“Laboratory Rodent Diets Contain Toxic Levels of Environmental Contaminants: Implications for Regulatory Tests”– maintains that all safety studies of pesticides and genetically modified foods are “invalid” because, the researchers claim, the dried feeds used as control diets for lab animals are “…

New measures introduced by the UK government in April linking applications for residence permits to up-front payments for potential use of NHS hospital services, and proposals to further restrict access to NHS services for migrants, will not reduce the strain on NHS resources - and may end up costing more in the long run. The UK is proud of its socialized approach to health care but it has increasingly become unsustainable so government is seeking ways to limit access to people, or get them to chip in for costs. The newly implemented policy imposes an up-front surcharge of £200 ($310) per…