429
UNIT 9
GOVERNMENT REGULATION
ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Yes, the Do Not Call Registry has affected the way that business is conducted in this
country. Whether the effect is adverse or positive depends on your perspective.
Conflicts over government regulation arise because regulation, by its very nature, means that
some rights and freedoms must be given up to ensure that other rights and freedoms are protected. This
is as true in the context of business as it is in other areas. And an example of how the rights of one group
2. This question asks at what point the government goes too far in the interest of cleaning
up the environment. When do the costs of environmental regulations become too burdensome for
society to bear? Everybody is in favor of cleaning up toxic waste, but nobody knows what the task would
ultimately cost. Moreover, there is no agreed-on standard as to how clean a site must be before it no
UNIT NINE: GOVERNMENT REGULATION 430
longer poses any threat. Must 100 percent of the contamination be removed, or would removal of some
lesser amount achieve a reasonable degree of environmental quality?
3. No one knows how long-term exposure to random combinations of drugs will affect
humans or wildlife. There is little scientific evidence about the long-term effects. The federal
government does not require drinking water to be tested for drugs, so we do not know for certain
whether a particular source of drinking water is contaminated. Requiring that water be tested—and that
4. The effect of the release of substances that contribute to global warming, like pollution
generally, does not respect political borders. Indeed, one of the reasons that the federal government
became involved in environmental protection was that state regulation alone could not solve the
problem of air or water pollution. This underscores the fact that the world is a global community. What
