WHAT'S NEW Friday, April 09, 2004

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 9 Apr 04   Washington, DC

1. PRIVACY: G-MAIL EVEN COMES WITH A GIGABYTE OF FREE STORAGE. 
If you like the SPAM you get these days, you're going to love the
"free" Web-based Gmail service being tested by Google.  So what's
in it for Google?  WN discounts the rumors that the Pentagon has
simply privatized the "Total Information Awareness Program"
http://www.aps.org/WN/WN02/wn122002.cfm .  But your private mail
will be scanned to see what you're involved in.  Ads tailored to
your interests can then be included with incoming mail.  If you
do use Gmail, WN recommends avoiding any mention of "length" or
"enlarge"; you're getting enough of those ads already.

2. DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS: IOM CALLS FOR CHANGES IN THE 1994 DSHEA. 
Among the worst pieces of legislation ever enacted, the Dietary
Supplement and Health Education Act exempted suppliers of natural
supplements from the need to prove safety, efficacy, or purity
http://www.aps.org/WN/WN02/wn081602.cfm  . The FDA can take a
supplement off the market if it's found to be harmful, but has
succeeded in doing so only one time, after a celebrity died
http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn010204.cfm .  In a new report, the
Institute of Medicine urges that the law be changed to improve
the process.  But the supplement industry wields enormous power;
a bill to expand the FDA's authority is stalled in conference. 

3. POLITICAL SCIENCE: MARBURGER ANSWERS CHARGE OF "MANIPULATION."
Two months ago, a group of 60 very prominent scientists charged
the administration with manipulating the science advisory process
http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn022004.cfm .  The response of the
White House was to eject two advocates of stem cell research from
the Council on Bioethics.  John Marburger, OSTP Director, was
given the task of belittling the statement of the scientists
http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn030504.cfm .  Last Friday, Marburger
issued a detailed rebuttal of the scientists' statement, but
there will surely be a rebuttal to the rebuttal. On climate
change, for example, the scientists charged that the Bush
administration consistently sought to mislead the public on the
scientific consensus that human activity has led to warming.  In
denying this, Marburger quotes the President's Rose Garden speech
in which he acknowledged that human activity has resulted in an
increase in CO2 concentrations.  But in fact, he refrained from
making the connection between CO2 concentration and warming.

4. EXPLORATION: MISSION OF MARS EXPLORERS EXTENDED THREE MONTHS.
Another entrepreneur with too much disposable income, Greg Olsen,
has signed up to be an ISS tourist.  Olsen seems to confuse high-
tech bungee jumping in low-Earth orbit with exploration. The real
explorers, Spirit and Opportunity, 50 million miles away on Mars,
are performing so well NASA has extended their tour of active
duty 3 months.  There have been no complaints from families. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.  
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
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