Four For Friday

Q1 - Moving: Americans have apparently tamed their wanderlust during the recession. According to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, only 2.4% of Americans moved from one state to another in 2008, down from 2.5% the previous year. Do you know anyone who recently moved from one state to another?

Q2 - Vaccine: A vaccine to prevent HIV infection, the virus that leads to AIDS, has shown modest results for the first time, researchers have found, raising hopes that a disease that kills millions every year may someday be beaten. Do you believe a vaccine to prevent HIV will be developed in the next 10 years?

Q3 - Iran: President Obama said today "Iran is on notice" regarding its nuclear efforts, and that the international community is united in its opposition to the country's nuclear program. Do you think Iran's motives for developing its nuclear facilities are peaceful?

Q4 - Electronic Cigarettes: In the hunt for a safer cigarette, electronic cigarettes, often referred to as ecigarettes, are becoming a popular option among those either trying to quit or who are looking to replace standard tobacco smokes with an alternative that manufacturers claim to be safer. Ecigarettes vaporize a solution often containing nicotine, but there is no smoke, just odorless water vapor, and produce almost no dangerous carcinogens. Have you heard of electronic cigarettes, and do you think electronic cigarettes should be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the same way smoking patches, gum and lozenges are regulated?

Posted by Mikal at September 25, 2009 9:55 PM | TrackBack

Q1 - When my company, Wellcraft, closed it's Florida operations, many of the employees moved to Tennessee or Michigan to follow the jobs. Incidentally several of them are now out of work anyway.

Q2 - I am not a virologist, but given virus' ability to modify, I suspect that a vaccine to eliminate HIV is/will be a moving target. There will probably be more effective vaccines to come, but a completely effective one is probably unlikely.

Q3 - I think that Iran's nuclear ambition is absolutely not for peaceful purposes. Even if the current regime has peaceful purposes as the intent, future regimes may not. Remember, the life expectancy of a regime in Iran is about 20 years, the life expectancy of plutonium is 150,000 years. I don't like the odds!!

Q4 - The regulation of all these products, including cigarettes themselves, should only be that the ingredients remain at constant levels. The cigarette industry, in the past, would raise the nicotine level so that the customer would become accustomed to a higher level, then lower it so the customer would require more cigarettes, then raise it again when the customer was accustomed to a cigarette at a time interval, then repeat the cycle.

Posted by: Mike Linn at September 26, 2009 6:00 AM

1. i don't know anyone who made an interstate move, but I do have a friend who made two intercontinental moves this year.

2. To date the only infectious disease considered to be eradicated is Smallpox, and that was only accomplished 30 years ago. I don't think there will be an entirely effective vaccine any time soon, but it's a start.

3. Highly doubtful.

4. Of course they should be regulated. Not only as Mike suggested above, but the 'cigarette' itself is a device for drug delivery and should be regulated like any other drug delivery system such as insulin pumps, asthma inhalers and IV equipment. Otherwise A) ingredients could remain at legal levels but the delivery mechanism could be tweaked or engineered to deliver varying dosages over time, and B) the desire to boost profits would probably lead to cheaper and less well made 'cigarettes' containing toxic components or those of inferior quality that could fail and thus change the dosage of nicotine delivered.

Posted by: mike at September 27, 2009 7:38 AM

Q1 - Moving: I don't know anyone, but whenever I lose a job I start looking out of state and am willing to move if offered a job. Haven't had any out of state offers yet, so I'm still here in Utah.

Q2 - Vaccine: Seems like I first heard something similar to this back in 1992. A bunch of people were convinced that a vaccine was just over the horizon. I laughed and said to the person reporting this news to me, "If they ever find a vaccine for the common cold, then maybe I'll believe that they are on the right path to finding a vaccine for a virus that mutates 8x faster." So, I would say that yes, some sort of vaccine will be developed in the next 10 years. Just not one that is very effective.

Q3 - Iran: Since Iran is led by crazy people, I don't believe for a second that they have anything peaceful in mind. Also, being that it is a theocracy of a faith with a history of violence going all the way back to their founding prophet, and they are in a very unstable region of the world... I'm not holding out much hope.

Q4 - Electronic Cigarettes: I guess the pattern has been set already. I'm leaning towards yes, regulate it.

Posted by: Stu the Wise at September 28, 2009 8:20 AM

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