On September 29th, 1993, U.S. President Clinton, Vice-President Gore and automotive industry leaders announced a new federal/industry partnership to produce an safe, affordable, recyclable automobile with a mileage goal of 80 miles/gallon.  The federal government would contribute funding and military technology, while industry would design and build the vehicles.  Each of the "Big Three" partners showed hybrid diesel-electric "concept cars" in 2000, and was prepared to deliver working prototypes in 2002.  However in January of 2002,  after a federal investment of more that a billion dollars,  Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced that the Bush administration was canceling the project and initiating a new program "FreedomCAR" to promote pure hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Introduced in January 2008, by the mammoth Indian conglomerate Tata, the "Nano" will be the worlds cheapest car and among the smallest when it goes on sale this fall. Meeting the design target of a "1 lakh (100,000 rupees) Peoples Car" the Nano will cost the equivalent of $2,400 USD or 1,554 euros at today's exchange rates. While a small car, the 4-door Nano is not merely an enlarged motor scooter but rather the result of some outstanding cost-reduction engineering.

In the typical American house the roofs over our heads, the flakeboard sheathing, the structural beams, the floor underlayment, the carpeting and vinyl flooring, the cupboards, the paints, the pipes that supply our water and carry away our wastes; and even the insulation on our wires are all made from products derived from oil.  The fertilizers that we apply to our lawns and to our agricultural fields are derived from petroleum and natural gas, as are virtually all of the medicines and other pharmaceutical products that we take to preserve our health.   Detergents, the base of all of our cosmetics, and even "baby oil" and mineral oil are all petroleum products.  Our "wash and wear" clothes depend upon polyester fiber made from petroleum, as are many other synthetic fibers used in clothing, an other fabric products.  The tires on our cars and bicycles depend upon petroleum as does the asphalt surfaces that they travel on.

On one hand, the introduction of any new technology should be evaluated in terms of potential long-term impacts upon human health.  On the other hand, if we become too timid and paralyzed by fear of the unknown we will never make any progress.  However, there can be no question that wisdom dictates the application of common sense, and that caution is not misplaced when there is substantial reason to suspect negative health implications.

Last summer the residents of Castiglione di Cervia, a small village in northern Italy, were suddenly stricken by a temporarily debilitating disease that was unknown to local medical authorities.  Following the death of several villagers, and the subsidence of the outbreak, the disease was eventually identified as Chikungunya, a disease with symptoms similar to Dengue fever.   Both Chikungunya and Dengue fever are mosquito borne, viral diseases, previously known to  occur only in the tropics.  Its appearance in Europe is apparently due to Global Warming and the "globalization" of commerce and travel.