Tuesday, December 26, 2017

The Poison Papers: Disregard for the People's Will


Hat Tip: Thanks Dave!

Protecting human health and the environment upon which we depend should be our top priority if we value long-term human survival. Unfortunately, long-term survival is systematically de-prioritized in chemical development and deployments.

Regulatory failure is illustrated by systematic gaps in the hazards regulated in legislation.

A number of years ago one of my graduate students wrote a thesis on the political communication surrounding Monsanto's Round-Up (here).  When researching the history of chemical regulations, she found records of hearings on chemical safety that ultimately culminated in the US Toxic Substance Control Act:
TSCA 1976: US LAW 15 USC (C. 53) 2601-2692 From Wikipedia: "When the TSCA was put into place, all existing chemicals were considered to be safe for use and subsequently grandfathered in.[1] Its three main objectives are to assess and regulate new commercial chemicals before they enter the market, to regulate chemicals already existing in 1976 that posed an "unreasonable risk to health or to the environment", as for example PCB's, lead, mercury and radon, and to regulate these chemicals' distribution and use." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_Substances_Control_Act_of_1976 

The very interesting thing my student and I found in documentation of the TSCA's hearings was the chemical industry's insistence that genetic changes and damage not be included in regulations on effects.

Toxicity emerged as the only hazard measured. Policy guidelines for studying reproductive toxicity were added in 1996 https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-11/documents/guidelines_repro_toxicity.pdf

The TSCA was and remains undermined by limitations in chemical safety data, limitations in scope of regulation, and limitations in enforcement.

In 2015 an incredibly concerning book titled Poison Spring was published by a former insider documenting systematic FRAUD IN TESTING that occurred in the labs contracted to evaluate many of the chemicals subject to TSCA. You can read a review of the book here.

Now a new source of information is available documenting irregularities in research and review of chemical safety.

THE POISON PAPERS
EXCERPTED: The Poison Papers are a compilation of over 20,000 documents obtained from federal agencies and chemical manufacturers via open records requests and public interest litigation. They include internal scientific studies and summaries of studies, internal memos and reports, meeting minutes, strategic discussions, and sworn testimonies. 
The majority of these documents have been scanned and digitized by us for the first time and represent nearly three tons of material. The regulatory agency sources of these documents include: the EPA, the USDA Forest Service, the FDA, the Veterans Administration, and the Department of Defense. Chemical manufacturers referenced in the documents include: Dow, Monsanto, DuPont, and Union Carbide, as well as many smaller manufacturers and the commercial testing companies who worked for them.

The Poison Papers are a project of the Bioscience Resource Project and the Center for Media and Democracy. The Poison Papers were largely collected by author and activist Carol Van Strum
. https://www.poisonpapers.org/the-poison-papers/
The Poison Papers document the history of regulatory capture and fraud that has crippled our ability to protect human health and the environment.

Today life expectancy in the US is declining for particular populations. Although this decline is attributed to drug addiction, researchers found that pain was a leading cause of drug addiction (see my post here: http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2016/04/life-expectancy-declines-for-white.html).

The rate of autism diagnoses continues to rise. Neurological diseases, in general, are occurring in the young and the elderly with greater frequency. (see my post here: http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/neurological-diseases-in-adults-growing.html).

Cancer rates continue to rise among children https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-in-children/key-statistics.html

Infertility grows and the sperm counts and quality among many of the world's men, especially in highly industrialized areas of the northern hemisphere, decline. (see my post http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/collapsing-human-sperm-count-and-future.html).

Why must our global societies consistently DISCOUNT the FUTURE, the future of humanity itself?

The global public, now referred to as "consumers," want SAFE products, but our industries and regulators are unwilling to comply. Why?


RELATED POSTS:

Must Read Analysis of EPA Standards and Review of Radionuclides in Water http://majiasblog.blogspot.com.uy/2012/09/must-read-analysis-of-epa-standards-and.html

Who Decides Level of Risk http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2016/04/who-decides-level-of-risk.html

3 comments:

  1. People want to avoid reality, when things get bad, from poor choices. Republicans and Trump supporters start talking about woo woo bullshit like UFOs, conflated conspiracies, and other rabbit holes. This is happening now, as the reality comes home that their candidate does not give a crap about them or anybody really.

    If an individual purposely sprayed one of these toxins on another, criminal charges would be pressed. The solvents and poisons Trump just deregulated, are among the most toxic poisons known to man. Now, corporations will be free to disperse them, into the environment and, around people. Corporations will be able to do this, with no criminal or civil liability.

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  2. For decades, agricultural workers and landscapers have been exposed to RoundUp. I was one of those people. Using a backpack sprayer the mixture sloshed onto my back - my boss said not to worry, I'd get used to it. About three weeks later I had incredible electrical zapping in my arms and lost strength in my hands. The first Dr said it looked like Carpal Tunnel. The CT tests always came out negative. the week after the onset of the injury, my immune system fried. It wasn't until 11 months later that I read an article the described the damages to ag workers. I started detox programs. I did get better, but more than a few years after I frequently had sinus infections, problems with my hands and lethargy. Misdiagnosis and lack of medical data leads to unreliable epidemiology data.

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    Replies
    1. I'm sorry to hear of your terrible experience GrantResearch.

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