Fw: Re: We need a better Internet in America

[Bill McGonigle]

On 04/07/2010 04:08 PM, Coleman Kane wrote:
> (ca. 1915):
>
> http://www.orau.org/PTP/collection/quackcures/standradiumsolution.htm
>
> Sure, today we all are taught that radiation is bad today, and so we all
> know it is. However, how much of this knowledge is due to government
> regulation via the FDA, etc... and public standards of education?

Marie Curie died in 1934 of radiation poisoning.  You'd expect an FDA to 
know in 1915 that it was dangerous?

> What
> alternative to these institutions has a track record of providing
> sufficient confidence in our consumables marketplace?

Underwriters Laboratories is a great example - insurance companies use 
it to control the risk of the assets they insure, and people buy 
insurance to control their own risks.  A great negative-feedback loop.

There's little competition to the FDA in the US because it's hard to 
compete against a 'free' government program.  But I do subscribe to 
Nutrition Action from CSPI ($12/yr) to get a much more science-based and 
less corrupt idea of what foods are good or bad for me.  In other 
countries without a strong central food authority there are independent 
third-party evaluators and certifiers.  If they become 
unreliable/corrupt, they'll lose reputation and be replaced.  Not so 
much with the FDA, even now with Monsanto's chief lobbyist as the FDA's 
'food-safety czar'. _Food Inc._ is a great watch for a sub-two-hour 
summation (on Netflix streaming, BTW).  The Stonyfield/WalMart 
partnership against rBGH is a striking contrast.

In a thinly-veiled effort to remain on topic, the same potential applies 
with the FCC, though I don't know their agency to have such corruption 
problems.  Except that an agency tasked with maintaining radio frequency 
registrations (a natural scarcity) is busy trying to tell private 
network operators how to manage their networks.

-Bill

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Bill McGonigle, Owner
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