Unintended Consequences

March 5, 2007 at 6:12 pm nathan118 16 comments

Due to the recent law moving daylight savings up to this Sunday, I’ve been inspired to write a post about unintended consequences, and specifically negative consequences.

The intentions are to make the days “longer,” or basically move the daylight hours later in the day, which in turn should lead to less lights being used. The primary goal of the bill is to reduce energy spending. As I considered this train of thought, it occurred to me that maybe there will be some unintended consequences.

If the sun is out for longer in the day, it follows that people will not need to turn their lights on as early. While that sounds good, that idea doesn’t operate in a vacuum, and there are a number of other results that can occur due to this bill. The best one I’ve thought of is air conditioner usage. If the sun is out longer, that means it cools off later, and if it warms up in the next month, people will start using their AC more. This is an unintended consequence, and it could just make things worse. Here are some other fun unintended consequences I know of:

Safety seals on medicine actually increased accidents (according to 20/20). The unintended consequence was that people started leaving medicine in less safe areas accessible to children, or they left the caps off all together because they were too hard to use. So much for being safer.
Another study on 20/20 found that bike helmet laws might actually make people less safe. People driving cars tend to give bike riders without helmets more space. They assume they are less experienced, and less safe, so they don’t drive as close. The opposite is true for people that do wear helmets.
Food stamps and other governmental assistance are designed to help people that are poor. The unintended consequences are bountiful. When people give you money for being poor, it doesn’t encourage you to become less poor. Government funded housing, or “the projects,” are an abismal failure. Giving people a home sounds nice, but when the people don’t value the home like an actual home owner does, then you get the ghetto.
In the early 70′s DDT was banned in the US and eventually in large portions of the world. Crazy environmentalists thought it caused cancer and was poisoning everything, so they decided to ban the stuff. The unintended consequence was that malaria from mosquitos is a FAR greater threat to humans than DDT ever was. Malaria hasn’t been a problem here in a long time (thanks in large part to DDT), but in third world countries there are at least a million deaths a year from malaria. Environmental groups that think they have people’s best interest in mind end up making it a lot worse.*Update – Links contradicting the theory that DDT hurt birds here, here, and here. These are all from the same 100 Things You Should Know About DDT.
As the global warming crowd increases its warcry, a new unintended consequence could occur. As fossil fuels increasingly become the devil, it’s really going to suck if you’re a low budget country in Africa.

What negative unintended consequences have you observed?

Misc air conditioner, bike helmet, daylight savings, global warming, government funded housing, helmet laws, safety seals

Cory

as for the DDT thing, the cancer threats were not the only issue. DDT ended up effecting the egg shells of native species of birds such as the Peregrine Falcon for example. The egg shells would be too brittle and shatter. As a result, the Peregrine Falcon population, as well as various other birds of prey, drastically fell. The Peregrine Falcon had almost gone extinct if not for the passing those laws against DDT. Right now, The Peregrine Falcon population has pretty much stabilized, so much so that Peregrine Falcons can be acquired for sporting purposes such as hunting small game with bird of prey ( it’s called Falconing, or hawking, I don’t recall, but the birds are kind of pets you use to kill smaller animals in any case.) SO maybe good thing from that after all =)
http://www.theblarg.com nathan118

I’ve heard that argument supporting the ban of DDT…but it’s probably hogwash. This link has many references that contradict DDT being the cause of changes in falcon populations. It also has references to egg thinning in general and other species of birds. It all makes me very skeptical that DDT is to blame. I’ll add the links to the post.

http://www.junkscience.com/ddtfaq.html#ref8
Cory

haha, ok. I’ve researched it a couple of times and most of my sources pointed to DDT and other pesticides. but hey, I could be wrong.
http://trentofuenny.blogspot.com Trento

Ya Nathan I’m with you on the fact that a human life is more important than a birds, but its not hogwash. DDT definitely thins the eggs of bird of prey. I’m sure about it.
http://www.theblarg.com nathan118

Are you guys using outdated textbooks? I’m still waiting for your proof, unless you like stating facts you can’t back up. I honestly didn’t know about DDT as it related to eggshells, so I did some google searching. Everything I can find disputes what you both claim. I’ll wait for your links to articles that say otherwise. Here’s a couple more for fun:

http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc98/4_25_98/fob2.htm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,202447,00.html
Denise

I heard DDT makes the skulls of kittens thinner, so when you play with them, their brains end up getting squished, which is evil.
Cory

I really couldn’t care less about backing up what I said. That was Just something I had learned way back when. If you are saying that you researched it and it points otherwise then I believe you. I really don’t want to search the internet high and low for stuff I researched a few years back that really isn’t important and basically doesn’t warrant further wasting of my time. (sorry to be harsh if I sound that way =(….)
http://multioptipupiloptomy.blogspot.com ~kevin

I prefer eggs with thinner shells, easier for cracking. I wonder what scrambled peregrine falcon tastes like?
Denise

I bet it tastes likes hundreds of years of aristocratic history.
Trento

“It was determined in the later 1960′s and early 1970′s, that DDE, the principal breakdown product of DDT, built up in the fatty tissues of adult females. This prevented the calcium release necessary to produce strong egg shells, and consequently, caused reproductive failure”
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/i/b/msab0h.html

“However, DDT causes eggshell thinning and embryo mortality, especially in predatory birds”
EXTOXNET. 1996. Pesticide information profiles, Extension Toxicology Network. ace.orst.edu/cgi-bin/mfs/01/pips
http://www.theblarg.com nathan118

Some more data on birds of prey and DDT. The first is from the same people as your first reference.

“U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists fed large doses of DDT to captive bald eagles for 112 days and concluded that “DDT residues encountered by eagles in the environment would not adversely affect eagles or their eggs.”

[Stickel, L. 1966. Bald eagle-pesticide relationships. Trans 31st N Amer Wildlife Conference, pp.190-200]”

And here’s one on the peregrine falcon:

“Peregrine falcon and sparrow hawk egg shells thinned in Britain prior to the use of DDT.

[Redcliff, DH. 1967. Nature 215: 208-210; Redcliff, DH. 1970 J Applied Biology 7:67; and Redcliff, DH. 1967. Nature 215: 208-210]”

Thanks for taking the time to look up some info to back your claims Trent.
http://multioptipupiloptomy.blogspot.com ~kevin

If the egg shells thinned prior to DDT then it must be global warming! Somebody call Al! I can guess who has him on speed dial.
http://trentofuenny.blogspot.com Trento

Al Gore will be the champion of your cause. He would probably champion any cause at this point.
ctgottapee

the main point for food stamps and gov’t assisted housing is to provide refuge for children who are not to blame. adults without dependents generally qualify for neither. the disabled also receive some assistance.

financially it is a good bet to give a child an opportunity and not have them cycle into areas that just cost more money; ie crime and prison. it is a bet and doesn’t alawys win though.

ethically it is hard to argue for punishing children for the sins of their parents.

and to keep it in perspective; federal aid for housing and food stamps is minuscule compared to other programs. most food aid is free due to the heavily subsidized and republican backed agriculture industry. most food aid is distributed through private npf pantries along with private donations. food stamps carry numerous restrictions, so no nights out at red lobster. housing aid is generally assistance in nature, not a free ride. the costs are minor considering they assist in paying for the cheapest units in the market. it is also beneficial as housing aid receivers are generally bound to excessive rules and conditions to remain in the program which helps society in general, ie violent felons are excluded so commit a crime and lose your home.

the largest recipient of housing aid is those in the senior demographics.

harping on these programs really misdirects people in where the focus should be. both areas receive tons of scrutiny, especially in comparison to their financial outlays – one bad military countract cost over run could cover food aid for a year.

i don’t like giving my tax dollars away either, but maybe we should focus on real waste like spending 50 million to get teenagers to sign abstinence pledges when research shows over 90% break them, often within 2 years – how many food stamped and housing aid families does that create when those kids didn’t get the contraception lecture they needed.
http://www.theblarg.com nathan118

I don’t have problems with helping the poor, disabled, orphaned, etc. But I don’t think it should be a responsibility of the government. Private charities are much more effective. Agreed on the last paragraph also. It’s not the governments job, it’s the parents.

At a certain point people have to be held responsible. A HUGE portion of the students at my school receive free lunches. Some of those same students wear hundreds of dollars in expensive clothes because their parents can’t say no, and they lease expensive cars.

Lastly, my main point wasn’t that food stamps and government funded housing were giant expenditures. My main point was about unintended consequences, not fiscal responsibility.
http://www.theblarg.com nathan118

Oh, and I think there is something to be said about “helpless” children needing to see life as difficult, not easy. So many of the students I work with think life is a cakewalk. It boils down to valuing what you have, and when you have to scrape to get by, you appreciate everything you have.

Unintended Consequences

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