Latest Articles

Will Dangerous Dietary Supplements Finally Be Reined In?
They cause 23,000 Emergency Room visits annually but offer no proven benefits

April 23, 2019  •  Issues & Insights

Dietary supplements are big business. Three out of four Americans take one or more on a regular basis, and for older Americans the fraction is four out of five. One in three children also takes supplements. The estimated number of supplement products increased from 4,000 in 1994 to 50,000-80,000 today. Out-of-pocket expenditures for herbal and complementary nutritional products are about $50 billion.

However, one of the great hoaxes perpetrated on health-conscious American consumers is the hype and outright fraud of dietary supplements that don't work and are sometimes dangerous.

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Earth Day: Opposing Progress Trumps Protecting the Planet
Anti-science, anti-technology, anti-corporate activism does not benefit the planet

April 22, 2019  •  American Greatness

Today is Earth Day, a celebration originally conceived by then-U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) and first held in 1970 as a "symbol of environmental responsibility and stewardship." In the spirit of the time, it was a touchy-feely, consciousness-raising, New Age experience. Most activities were organized at the grassroots level.

In recent years, however, Earth Day has become an occasion for professional environmental activists and alarmists to warn of apocalypse, dish anti-technology dirt, proselytize, and raise money more to sustain their movement than to sustain the planet. Provability inevitably takes a back seat to alleged plausibility.

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The 'Future of Food' is Genetic Engineering!
Shoddy journalism boosts anti-biotechnology activism

April 18, 2019  •  Journal of Commercial Biotechnology

A Washington Post article, "The Future of Food," discussed the methods we use to breed food crops, but the piece suffered from "pseudo-balance" commonly seen these days in journalism: seeking out clueless commentators to contradict advocates of superior modern genetic modification techniques. We hate to break it to the author of the article (who holds a bachelor's degree in "magazine journalism, international relations and Spanish") but, in spite of what they teach you in journalism classes, not every issue has two sides and benefits from point-counterpoint.

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The Downward Spiral of Post-Secondary Education
The culprits are flawed curricula, rampant progressivism, and excessive student debt

April 15, 2019  •  American Greatness

Something is seriously rotten in our education establishment, especially in colleges and universities. The culprits are the evolution of the educational agenda, the cult of progressivism on campus, and the debt that students accumulate for an increasingly disappointing outcome.

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Why the Green New Deal Is Financially Lethal
The costs would kill many Americans today, with uncertain benefits far in the future

April 11, 2019  •  Real Clear Politics

Much attention has been paid to the extravagant goals of the Green New Deal, now endorsed by a large portion of the declared Democratic presidential hopefuls. Much of the reaction of non-candidates has fallen at one of two extremes: (1) it's aspirational but a starting point for serious discussion; or (2) much of it is ludicrous on its face. (Almost no one seems to think it's a serious proposal, except maybe a group of petulant schoolchildren who were rebuffed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein.) Largely ignored has been what the costs will be, how our society can pay for it, and its negative impacts on Americans' health and longevity.

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