Why The US Is Losing The Fight to Ban Toxic Chemicals

TPM Article Topics
1

This article first appeared at ProPublica.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1442307
2

We have the best government money can buy.

8 Likes
3

And soon the SC will rule that unless Congress passes legislation (signed in blood🩸) which lists the specific molecular structure with absolutely no variation, there can be no governing oversight whatsoever.

As the founders intended, by divine inspiration and intervention.

10 Likes
4

Capitalism is sick. (…and I don’t mean that in a good way.)

5 Likes
5

My first thought after the third paragraph.

3 Likes
6

None of this surprised me. 5 or 10 years ago I read that Europe removed 12,000 chemicals from makeup, the USA removed 1200. No. 7 and Burt’s Bees appear to be the safest brands to use.

It is always about money. And the wealthiest call the shots in this country. Very depressing.

5 Likes
7

Everything that is is good. Everything is composed of chemicals. Therefore, chemicals are good./s

3 Likes
8

There’s a brilliantly vicious circle here: as long as you don’t have adequate government funding for collecting toxicity and other data about chemicals, most or all of the research will be funded by industry, and they will have the obvious criteria for picking whom to fund.

It’s also brilliant that you have to prove something is unsafe before you can start regulating it, rather than providing evidence something is safe before you start selling it (which is the way things work for FDA-regulated substances.).

6 Likes
9

Lobbyists have no souls.

3 Likes
10

Why The US Is Losing The Fight to Ban Toxic Chemicals

Look no further than the obvious answer: GREED.

4 Likes
11

profit for chemical companies, profit for Cancer Treatment Centers, profit for drug companies -
Profit all around!

12

and they don’t live near waste dumps

1 Like
13

This is what happens when we have unregulated capitalism running amok.

1 Like
14

Thank you for publishing this article at TPM! Toxic chemicals are an ongoing concern and it is a crime that the EPA continues to be ineffective as it has become, hobbled by lobbyists and chemical industry scientists who have a direct financial benefit derived from not regulating these chemicals sufficiently.

2 Likes