Toxic Chemicals – PR Nightmare
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A recent unidentified White House staff email referred to a still-pending federal study on chemicals as “a public relations nightmare.” (Source: Annie Snider, EPA Move On Chemical Study May Trip Up Pruitt, Politico, May 16, 2018)
People do not grasp the depth and extent of toxicity throughout the country because, if they did, they’d be in the streets banging pots and pans in front of the con job White House as well as in front of the ultra-feeble bootlicking Congress.
Here’s why they’d be in the streets, angry, indignant, pissed-off: “Humans emit more than 250 billion tonnes of chemical substances a year, in a toxic avalanche that is harming people and life everywhere on the planet.” (Source: Scientists Categorize Earth as a Toxic Planet, Phys Org, February 7th 2017).
Making matters worse, and the reason why the public should kick and scream now: Scott Pruitt heads the EPA. And worse yet, only a small fraction of chemicals are analyzed for harmful human toxicity. Insanity? Yes!
Earth is categorized as a “toxic planet” by scientists, not by people in the streets. Problem is the toxicity takes effect i.e., harms bodily organs, over time, not instantaneously, eventually flaring up as one of several chronic diseases, like heart disease or Alzheimer’s, but usually considered a “life style” disease. But, maybe, just maybe “life style” is the wrong target? How about extensively poisoned ecosystem-crushing life expectancies?
A recent UN report takes dead aim at the dangers of chemical pesticides: “The assertion promoted by the agrochemical industry that pesticides are necessary to achieve food security is not only inaccurate, but dangerously misleading,” (Source: Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner)
The UN report points to the inherent dangers of pesticide chemicals such as (1) damage to water, (2) damage to soil, (3) damage to biodiversity, and (4) spread of acute chronic disease as well as health issues like cancer, neurological and reproductive disorders. “It is time to overturn the myth that pesticides are necessary to feed the world and create a global process to transition toward safer and healthier food and agricultural production,” Ibid.
As reported by Politico and mentioned at the outset of this article, emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act exposed an unidentified White House source revealing a still-pending federal study on chemicals as “a public relations nightmare.” Imagine that!
But, the news gets even worse. All of Capitol Hill is aware that the EPA helped to bury the federal study that should have prompted warnings about toxic chemicals in hundreds of water supplies. Allegedly, Pruitt intervened to stop the release after the WH warned of “a public relations nightmare.” The report was supposed to be released in January, until EPA intervened. Hmm.
Because of that disquieting statement, alarm bells should be going off in public squares all the way from Seattle to Boston. In fact, further to the point, the Environmental Working Group estimates that more than 1,500 American water systems serving up to 110,000,000 people may be contaminated with chemical toxins. Egad! Chemical toxins are the bad stuff people don’t want inside their bodies. And, that’s a lot of people exposed to chemical toxins.
As recently as February 2018, local officials at Blade, Delaware ordered residents to stop drinking tap water, which is the liquid that comes straight out of the faucet. Why? According to the Associated Press story of May 22, 2018: “Soaring numbers of water systems around the country are testing positive for a dangerous class of chemicals widely used in items that include non-stick pans and firefighting foam.”
Come to find out residents of Blades were ingesting perfluorinated compounds found in products including Teflon frying pans. Long-term exposure causes cancer, liver problems and/or destruction of immune systems. Fortunately for residents of Blades, after a couple weeks on trucked-in bottled water, a newly installed carbon-filtration system has returned city water back to acceptable drinking levels… hopefully.
But, the fact remains that deadly chemicals entered, and remain, in the water system, and who knows the full extent of deadly chemicals all across the country, coast-to-coast. Furthermore, nobody knows how long Blade residents were exposed. After all, a person can drink toxic water for years and suddenly get hit with symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Then, relatives whisper: “Oh, she’s/he’s getting old, some kind of a dementia; old age does that to people.” But, maybe yes, maybe no? Maybe poisoned ecosystems are at work.
The current threat involves thousands of compounds linked to a chemical family known as perfluoroakyls and polyfuroroakyls (“PFOA” and “PFAS”) used to make cloth, fast-food containers, and surfaces slippery and resistant to grease or water. Scientists believe these chemicals are at the root of serious health issues. Disturbingly, the chemical compounds are increasingly discovered in public water systems.
Within past weeks, senators urged Scott Pruitt to release the aforementioned federal study of findings on toxicity of chemicals, prompting the question: Will he release the findings to the general public?
Unfortunately, the EPA isn’t reactive. Even though hundreds of new chemicals are developed every year, EPA has not regulated a new contaminant under the Safe Drinking Water Act in more than 20 years.
Meantime, Pruitt is determined to dismantle the EPA; he’s spent a lifetime fighting its jurisdiction. He is the antithesis of EPA regulatory affaires. He’s Trump’s man appointed to protect the general public from harmful effects of chemicals, which are like the intangible ethereal demon of The Exorcist, a demon that is more powerful than a Freddy or a Jason. It can’t be shot or stabbed or detonated. But, it is there… and so is Scott Pruitt, the antipode of an effective EPA for all of America.
According to EWG President Ken Cook: “Only Scott Pruitt and the Trump administration would consider reducing drinking water contamination for the American people to be a ‘nightmare.” (Source: Alex Formuzis, At Pruitt’s EPA, Stricter Limits to Protect Americans from Toxic Fluorinated Chemicals are ‘Nightmare’, EWG, May 14, 2018)
The family of fluorinated chemicals reviewed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (“ATSDR”) known as PFAS chemicals, have been linked to several types of cancer, thyroid disease weakened childhood immunity and other health problems and contaminate drinking water systems serving 16 million Americans in 33 states, as well as military and industrial sites nationwide.
The family of fluorinated chemicals reviewed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (“ATSDR”) known as PFAS chemicals, have been linked to several types of cancer, thyroid disease weakened childhood immunity and other health problems and contaminate drinking water systems serving 16 million Americans in 33 states, as well as military and industrial sites nationwide.
Just at the time when America needs powerful leadership on the federal level to protect people from obscure dangerous chemicals, Trump is elected.
Postscript: “We farm workers are closest to food production. We were the first to recognize the serious health hazards of agriculture pesticides to both consumers and ourselves.” Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) Co-Founder the National Farm Workers Association
posted by Satish Sharma at
14:47
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