Free Republic

*Proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for power plant emissions could spur blackouts in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) power grid region and cost stakeholders nearly $250 billion in the coming decades, according to comments filed in response to the rule by the Center of the American Experiment (CAE).*The average annual cost to stakeholders of building enough capacity to stave off the blackouts CAE projects in the MISO region is greater than the average annual benefit the EPA estimates its proposals will bring for the entire country by 2055, according to CAE’s analysis.*“This is the regulatory equivalent of studying...

Lance Armstrong’s former teammate, Tyler Hamilton, says Armstrong and other team leaders encouraged, promoted and took part in a doping program in an effort to win the Tour de France in 1999 and beyond, according to a report aired Sunday night on “60 Minutes.” Hamilton said he saw Armstrong take performance-enhancing drugs, EPO and testosterone and also saw him receive a banned blood transfusion. “I feel bad that I had to go here and do this,” Hamilton said. “But I think at end of the day, like I said, long-term, the sport’s going to be better for it.” In the...

Researchers at the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah and collaborative institutions have identified a gene called erythropoietin (EPO) that contributes to increased risk of severe diabetic eye and kidney diseases, called retinopathy and nephropathy. The sight-threatening form of diabetic retinopathy, termed proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), is the most common cause of legal blindness in working-aged adults in the United States, accounting for 10% of new onset blindness overall. Diabetes is also the leading cause of kidney disease, called end-stage renal disease (ESRD), in the U.S. and the Western world. Led by Kang Zhang M.D., Ph.D.,...

Excerpts translated from Swedish: Eleven years ago Bjarne Riis was the hero of all of Denmark when he won the Tour de France bicycling event. This Friday Riis admitted that he had cheated using blood doping. [Actually not - but he used epo. SB] ..... The Dane said he was not a worthy winner of the Tour in 1996. He also said that he had used doping preparations between 1993 - 1998. This is just the last in a row of recent admissions by former top cyclists that they have used performance enhancing drugs. On Thursady Riis's former team-mate Erik...

Amgen's anemia drug, the best-selling product developed so far by the biotechnology industry, might have broad new uses, recent studies have found. Laboratory and animal studies have shown that in addition to bolstering the body's red blood cells, the drug, EPO, is present in the central nervous system and acts to protect cells and tissues from damage and death. That could make it useful as a treatment for strokes, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis and many other ailments. Testing in humans is in very early stages. A small study by academic scientists in Germany found that EPO, when given within...

Marion Jones: The Movie or Real Life? June 18, 2004 If this were "Marion Jones The Movie," Jones would be a hero of major proportions. We'd see Marion stand up to the wicked, secretive, scandal-mongering U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which, for no good reason, is trying to sully her spotless reputation and ruin her brilliant career. We'd see Marion fly into San Francisco on a winged gold chariot and call a press conference at which she dares the USADA to come out from behind closed doors and hand over the evidence. She'd say they can't do that because no evidence exists...