i really shoukdn't be laughin when i read this

March 17, 2003

Anti-war protestors have accused President Bush of placing too little

value on human life. Now the Bush administration is trying to

literally devalue not Iraqi lives but American ones. The White House

is pushing federal agencies to cut the dollar value they place on a

human life when determining the costs and benefits of policy changes,

such as curbing emissions from power plants. The U.S. EPA generally

bases its calculations on a value of $6.1 million per human life, but

the administration argues that the lives of old or sick people should

be valued at considerably less -- in one recent assessment, as low as

$96,000. This sort of shift could benefit industry while leading to

weaker public health protections on everything from toxic-waste

cleanup to food labeling. Some religious conservatives are joining

environmentalists in crying foul. "In general, if you're valuing one

life over another, we've got lots of problems here," said Walt Grazer

of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

straight to the source: Portland Oregonian, Jim Barnett, 17 March 2003

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