Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Wed, Mar 25 1992 Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 05:43:34 EST Message-ID: 03-25 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update March 25, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Wednesday morning in USA TODAY: Environment; Smoking; Health. TODAY'S DEBATE - GLOBAL WARMING: USA TODAY'S OPINION: President Bush is leaving the USA out in the cold in the United Nation's talks on a global warming treaty. With a world summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, less than three months away, Bush on Tuesday signaled his opposition to any agreement that set timetables or targets for emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Thus, of all the industrialized nations, the USA alone is unwilling to cut its emissions of those gases to 1990 levels by the year 2000. The administration's reasoning is simplistic and shallow. It believes the costs of cutting carbon dioxide emissions would be too high for industry. But what the president's policy overlooks are dangers to our environment and economy. ... President Bush needs to make an about face on global warming. Helping cool the environment off can heat the economy up for the long run. OTHER VIEW: PATRICK COX, a Menlo Park, Calif., writer and associate policy analyst for the Competitive Enterprise Institute: Twenty years ago, anti-Western forces tried to use the United Nations to force U.S. taxpayers to reduce personal consumption and fund a massive international welfare system. The "scientific" basis for their demands was Marxism. Now, they and their intellectual offspring have adopted the equally scientific claims of the environmentalist fringe, hoping developed countries will be scared into crippling their own economies and transferring trillions in taxes to Third World bureaucracies. The truth is that most scientists researching so-called global warming have never accepted the premise that humans are responsible for increased temperatures or that such a warming, if it did occur, would be undesirable. Far greater variations than those predicted by the doomsayers have occurred naturally throughout history, and faddish claims of disaster are increasingly discredited. We must recognize that radical environmentalism is, essentially, a religious movement. The belief that the end of the world is upon us unless we turn from materialist endeavors is a human constant. ... If George Bush concedes their apocalyptic power play, the world will not come to an end, but the future of the USA will be the cold, gray hopelessness of perpetual recession. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON SMOKING BEING BANNED IN RESTAURANTS: SALEM, N.H., Gary S. Parkin, 31, financial analyst: I think they should have separate smoking areas. They shouldn't do away with it totally. Smokers should still have access to areas where they're permitted to smoke. Quite a few places, such as airlines, have already eliminated smoking. DELTONA, Fla., Kenneth R. Moore, 55, retired police officer: As an ex-smoker, I think it should be banned altogether. Smoke can't be contained if you're in the same area as smokers, unless there is a smoke-proof wall. People with sensitive noses such as myself can pick up even the least bit of smoke. LOS ANGELES, Calif., Carolyn Endo, 41, recruitment supervisor: Being a non-smoker, I would probably favor all restaurants to be non-smoking. However, I do feel that people who smoke have rights, too. I feel very comfortable having smoking and non-smoking sections. KANSAS CITY, Mo., Norman Chatfield, 56, design engineer: Individuals should have the right to smoke if they want to, but I don't like to have to breathe their smoke, especially in restaurants. I prefer no-smoking sections over the harshness of a ban. I smoked 20 years and understand how smokers feel. OSHKOSH, Wis., Kimberly Johnson, 26, chiropractor: The secondhand tobacco smoke is affecting everybody. People who choose not to smoke are being forced to be exposed to secondhand smoke. In a public place such as a restaurant, people shouldn't have to be exposed to something like that. TOPIC - HEALTH CARE: Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan, was interviewed by USA TODAY's editorial board. WHAT ARE THE MAIN GOALS OF THE PRESIDENT'S HEALTH-CARE PROPOSAL? The president's plan is designed to provide universal access to health insurance because about 13% of our citizens do not have coverage. It also aims to strengthen cost-control mechanisms while maintaining quality. It is designed to do preserve the best of our system while we address the deficiencies. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE STRENGTHS OF OUR SYSTEM? We have the most advanced biomedical-research enterprise in the world. We have the best medical-devices industry, the world-premier pharmaceutical industry, and our Food and Drug Administration sets a standard there. AND THE DEFICIENCIES? The deficiencies, in terms of access to health insurance, are being addressed by two financing mechanisms. One is the health-insurance credit for people at or below the federal poverty level, with a voucher that would be available for the purchase of insurance. For middle-income individuals is a tax deduction which would help them toward the purchase of health insurance. Issues & Debate Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM