THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 209, October 3, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE EPA'S LONG WAR ON CHEMICALS
By Alan Caruba
THE INDISPENSABILITY OF CHEMICALS IN SOCIETY & COMMERCE: ENVIRONMENTALISM VERSUS THE USE OF
CHEMICALS IN INDUSTRY -- THE ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENT & ITS STEADY DRUMBEAT OF SCARE CAMPAIGNS TO
DRIVE HOME THE MESSAGE THAT CHEMICALS ARE DANGEROUS -- THE ROLES OF JUNK SCIENCE & AN ILL-INFORMED
MEDIA IN THE PROCESS -- THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S UNPARALLELED POWER TO OVER-REGULATE
MANUFACTURING, REMOVE VALUABLE PRODUCTS FROM THE MARKET, & HOBBLE COMMERCE -- THE DEVASTATING
EFFECTS THAT THE EPA'S CHEMICAL ACTION PLANS COULD HAVE ON AMERICA'S LIMPING ECONOMIC RECOVERY
FULL STORY:
One of the shows I enjoy watching on the Science Channel is “How It’s Made.” All manner of things we use to
enhance our lives start out as raw materials and the process of manufacture is a miracle of transformation.
Virtually all forms of manufacturing require some chemical element, often several. Given the indispensability of
chemicals in society and commerce, does it strike anyone as odd that, if you were born after 1960, there’s a high
likelihood that you grew up being told that “chemicals” are bad?
In 1962, Rachel Carson kicked off this bizarre notion with her bestselling book, Silent Spring, and
environmentalist groups have maintained a steady drumbeat of scare campaigns to drive home the message that
chemicals are dangerous. However, it is rarely noted that most of the claims she made in her iconic book have long
since been disproved by science.
One branch of science is called toxicology. Among its most honored truths, attributed to Paracelsus (1493-1541), is
that “All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison.” This has been
shortened to the statement that “The dose makes the poison.” The truth of this is obvious to most people and
perhaps best illustrated by vaccines. By introducing a minute element of a disease into our bodies, our immune
systems can build resistance to it.
But problems arise when an ill-informed media latches on to the latest junk science craze and splashes misleading
stories across newspapers and TV. Missing from virtually all of these stories are key facts — that a bunch of
laboratory rats have been exposed to some chemical in doses far higher than would normally occur or in ways that
would never happen in real life. Calling it a threat is, in fact, a misrepresentation. But humans are not rats and this
kind of sloppy science and extrapolation comes with serious issues of data interpretation.
This is one way in which the Environmental Protection Agency’s long war on chemicals is perpetuated. Much of the
EPA’s abuse of power comes in the form of chemical action plans, which involve little oversight, even less
transparency, and little-to-no public accountability. However, their power to over-regulate and remove valuable
products from the market and hobble commerce is almost unparalleled.
Currently in the EPA’s chemical action plan crosshairs are siloxanes, a type of silicone which, in turn, comes mostly
from sand. Siloxanes are inert, non-allergenic, odorless, and colorless. They’ve been safely used for decades in
thousands of consumer and industrial products – everything from medical cream and sunscreen, lipstick to
automobile tires, high-efficiency insulation, and spacecraft.
There are a wide variety of siloxanes, but the Environmental Protection Agency isn’t saying which ones have been
targeted, making it almost impossible for outside parties to provide any sort of meaningful input to the process. If
you wanted to stack the deck against something, that would be a great way to do it.
Another aspect of this latest EPA caper is that the agency draws much of its power from the Toxic Substances
Control Act, otherwise known as TSCA. But TSCA is in the process of a congressional overhaul, which will probably
spill over into next year, when a new and possibly Republican-controlled Congress returns in January. Why would
EPA want to rush through a chemical action plan for siloxanes, when it knows that Congress is still working on TSCA
reform?
An unduly harsh chemical action plan for siloxanes could have devastating effects on our limping economic recovery.
There is no single substitute for siloxanes that performs as well, so industry would be faced with costly reformulations
for their products and their manufacturing processes.
If a particular business found this too expensive, they’d have to shut down, throwing more Americans out of work. If
they can afford it, those costs would undoubtedly be passed along to consumers. And for what? No amount of
research has shown any environmental benefit to banning siloxanes.
Since its establishment by an executive order in 1970, the EPA has become the master of misinformation and
disinformation intended to drive all manner of beneficial chemicals out of the marketplace and to maintain a level of
public fear concerning anything that involves chemicals. Siloxanes and the people who depend on them are possibly
in line to become the latest victims of the EPA.
It should be renamed the Ministry of Propaganda.
---------------------------------------
© Alan Caruba, 2010
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Science, Ethics, & Human Health:
Human Health & Public Policy
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, commentator and business and science writer,
he is the Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about "scare campaigns" designed to influence
public opinion and public policy.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity