Opinion
-
Poor nations can’t afford debate on gene-altered crops
Opinion -Cape Town, South Africa—Recent world conferences on agricultural biotechnology have made it unmistakably clear that if governments foil the growth of this technology, mankind will be denied solutions to a host of problems that plague many nations, -
Fluoridation ruled safe again
Opinion -The British medical journal Lancet recently published a review of 214 studies performed over the past 50 years, since fluoridation of drinking water was introduced after World War II. -
Bush Education Advisors
Opinion -In addition to nominating Houston Schools Superintendent Roderick Paige as Secretary of Education in his new administration, President George W. Bush named a 31-member education advisory panel to function during the transition period. -
Appeals Court Decision: Pounding the Table?
Opinion -In Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), the U.S. Supreme Court developed a three-pronged test to determine whether a statute passes muster under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. -
One in Four U.S. Students Drops Out
Opinion -Although a recent Census Bureau publication has been widely reported as showing more Americans than ever graduating from high school, with gradually improving dropout rates nationwide, data from the U.S. Department of Education make it clear that the U.S. -
Climate change policy presents investment risks, opportunities
Opinion -The Kyoto Protocol was signed at the 3rd Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. -
Evergreener
Opinion -Three more major articles on evergreens and elevated carbon dioxide have appeared on the scene. -
Dredging up another PCB scare
Opinion -The Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed that General Electric dredge the Hudson River to remove what are known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Under the plan, GE would have to spend an estimated $490 million. -
Africa Cries Out for Genetically Modified Foods
Opinion -Project 21, an African-American leadership network, has been joined by African leaders in urging that Africa be provided with the tools it needs to feed its people. -
Can Biotechnology Survive Bad Science, Media Hype, and Environmental Extremists?
Opinion -In August 1999, television viewers across the country tuned in to CBS Evening News heard correspondent Wyatt Andrews say, “This growing concern over biotechnology in the food chain is also reflected in a new study, the first field study to show that -
Government deceit uncovered at proposed Darby National Wildlife Refuge
Opinion -"I'm astounded at these FOIA documents—that three organizations think they can get together and partition an entire county." David Dhume Commissioner, Madison County LONDON, Ohio—Claims that the U.S. -
Just the Facts: Phonics Software
Opinion -Until the mid-twentieth century, American schools taught youngsters to read using phonics, which formalizes the process by breaking down words into letters and their sounds. -
Looking ahead: Carbon sinks in 2100
Opinion -But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage The gentle Thetis, and anon behold The strong-ribbed bark through liquid mountains cut, Bounding between the two moist elements Like Perseus’ horse. —Wm. -
No rest for the wicked
Opinion -The failure of COP-6 at The Hague last November was not really bad news for the sophisticated U.S. environmental pressure groups that see CO2 as a pollutant rather than a plant nutrient. -
Recreation access groups win legal fight
Opinion -On December 22, a federal judge gave pro-access recreation advocates a stunning victory when he ruled against a national preservationist group's legal effort to ban off-highway vehicle (OHV) use on millions of acres in Utah. -
Scientist says CO2 not main cause of warming
Opinion -A leading Canadian researcher recently published a study in the British science journal Nature that found carbon dioxide (CO2) is not the prime cause of global warming. -
Teacher Union Will Hire Edison Schools
Opinion -In October last year, the American Federation of Teachers issued a report that had little praise for the performance of public schools managed by Edison Schools Inc. -
U.S. dodges bullet at Hague
Opinion -Last issue, we speculated that the timing of two important articles in Nature magazine was no accident. -
U.S. Supreme Court puts EPA to the test
Opinion -The United States Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer on whether the United States Environmental Protection Agency may consider compliance costs, as well as health effects, when it sets national ambient air quality standards for ozone and -
Whole Language Packaged as Phonics
Opinion -Reading researcher Louisa Cook Moats recently identified "lack of rigor and disrespect for evidence in reading education" among the reasons for the persistence of the ineffective whole language reading instruction method. -
Records show drop in Atlantic hurricanes
Opinion -A science reporter’s ominous voice intones, “Global warming imminent . . .” as a parched desert landscape fills the screen. “Industrial pollutants the cause of . . . -
Who will be the new EPA administrator?
Opinion -The tumultuous election of 2000 will cast its shadow over the American polity for years to come. As these lines are being written, Texas Gov. George W. -
Getting climate forecasts in line
Opinion -The climate forecasting business is always couched in uncertainty. One model shows this, another shows that. One federal scientist says one thing, another from XYZ subagency PDQ (Federal Building J, subbasement G-5c) says something else. Blah blah blah. -
Esteemed science journal bows to politics
Opinion -When the United Nations held its second meeting of the "Conference of the Parties" (COP-2) in Geneva in July 1996, the big question was whether or not our models of climate change were good enough to support eventual restrictions on the combustion of