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 -- Bill McGonigle, Owner BFC Computing, LLC http://bfccomputing.com/ Telephone: +1.603.448.4440 Email, IM, VOIP: b...@bfccomputing.com VCard: http://bfccomputing.com/vcard/bill.vcf Social networks: bill_mcgonigle/bill.mcgonigle _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
