Alberta Tar Sands sludge mining, in what used to be pristine boreal forest. Photo: Melina Mara, Washington Post .
In a recent speech,
a former premier says Alberta will have to go to the Supreme Court to
defend the oil industry's right to pollute when it accelerates tar
sands development next year, because the environmental damage will be
like nothing Canada has ever seen or imagined.
Paul Blanc's new book How Everyday Products Make People Sick: Toxins at Home and in the Workplace was nothing like what I expected. I thought I would get a laundry list (heh) of household and workplace products to avoid, why, and what to use in their place.
But
this book is essentially a history of how corporatists -- big corporate
oligopolies, 'bought' politicians and meek 'regulatory' agencies --
have colluded for over two centuries to poison workers and consumers
with products and processes deadly to human health and the environment,
and keep them ignorant of those dangers, all in the interest of profit.
In the process, perfectly safe and environment-friendly alternatives
have been suppressed and belittled by advertisers. And information on
the dead, diseased, poisoned, injured and ruined people and communities
as a result of these toxins in the air, water, soil and food has been
ruthlessly suppressed.
The emphasis in the book is on workplace
toxins, because that is where the cause-and-effect connection between
contact with these chemicals and health problems is possible to
establish, despite the hundreds of denials, cover-ups, and transfers to
anonymous numbered companies to reduce corporate liability. Public
disasters like Bhopal, Chernobyl, Minamata and Exxon Valdez are just
the tip of the iceberg. What the book can only suggest is the chronic
effect of these chemicals in our homes and the air we breathe, the
water we drink, and the food we eat. We know
that the corporatists have caused the massive suffering that these
chronic diseases have inflicted on billions of people, but we also know
it will never stand up in court.
The list of products connected
to chronic diseases runs the gamut of virtually everything we have in
our homes and offices, including substantially all man-made chemicals
and plastics. For example:
- Adhesives: glues, cements, furniture adhesives
- Automotive Products: fuel additives, rubber
- Cleaning
Products: dry cleaning products, soaps and detergents, turpentine,
ammonia, bromine and chlorine bleaches, muriatic acid, fumigants,
phosphates, formaldehyde
- Coatings: paints, dyes, wood preservatives (creosote, aresenides etc.), varnishes, sealants, tars, latex, leather sprays
- Food
Additives and packaging: preservatives, colourings, flavourings,
dietary supplements, cellophane, microwave popcorn, microwave containers
- Garden and Agricultural Products: fungicides, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, DDT, 2-4-D, 2-4-5-T,
- Fibres: acetate, asbestos, viscose, rayon, vinyl, cellulose wool, flame retardants, polypropylene, neoprene
- Industrial
Chemicals: mercury, benzene, resins, cellulose derivatives, brass,
zinc, cadmium and manganese products, cyanides, coal combustion wastes,
cotton dust, photographic chemicals, welding gases, electroplating and
galvanizing chemicals, hydrochloric acid, radium and other radioactive
trace elements, potash, manganese-treated steel, toluene, sulphuric acid
- Other
Household Products: aerosols, refrigerants, artificial leather, rubber
products (balloons etc.), heating briquets and oils, products
containing lead, polyurethane, insulation, PVC and other plastic
containers
- Other Products: animal euthanasia products, chemotherapy substances, explosives
- Personal Care Products: artificial nails, nail polishes and polish removers, condoms
- Pharmaceuticals: antibiotics, anaesthetics
The
list of diseases these poisons are associated with is almost as long,
and includes just about all chronic and non-infectious diseases (and
even some infectious diseases such as tuberculosis are aggravated by
poor working environments):
- Respiratory diseases: sick building syndrome, asthma, inhalation fever, asbestosis, silicosis, lung diseases
- Neurological diseases: parkinson's disease, ALS
- Organ
diseases: skin diseases, allergies, kidney diseases, cirrhosis of the
liver, cardiovascular diseases, eye diseases, tuberculosis,
hemochromatosis
- Cancers: all types, notably angiosarcoma, leukemia
- Blood diseases: anemia, lead poisoning
- Mental illnesses: dementias
And of course environmental toxins are also suspected in the spiraling epidemic of 40+ autoimmune diseases.
Kind
of a sad story about industrial society, isn't it? This is what 'our
troops' are fighting for in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the corporatist
interests and the Bushies and Harpers in their back pockets, who need
oil to continue to poison our world and sell us toxic junk that kills
us and causes devastating chronic illnesses.
Blanc's depressing
stories are accompanied by an edgy explanation of how the corporatists
have pulled off this scam so successfully for so long. He identifies
eight strategies:
- "More data are needed": Characterizing
scientific evidence about the dangers of these products and processes
as limited, exaggerated, insubstantial, or inconclusive, as Big Oil has
done hiring Lomborgian pseudo-scientists to produce junk science as
propaganda to counter damaging legitimate research
- "It must have been used incorrectly": Blaming the victim
- "We can self-regulate as needed": Arguing that regulation is overly costly and ineffectual
- "The
Precautionary Principle would bring the economy to a grinding halt":
Labeling opponents as unrealistic, idealistic, or reactionary
- "We
stopped CFCs when they were proved dangerous; workplace safety is in
employers' interests too": Insisting the 'market' will intervene to
require any corrections to corporate behaviour that may be necessary
- "We
still haven't had what we consider a fair hearing": Foot-dragging using
armies of lawyers, as with Exxon who still haven't paid for the Valdez
disaster
- "We settled, without acknowledging fault": As Koch
Industries has repeatedly done, bargaining with political friends for
slap on the wrist penalties while continuing to poison workers and the
Earth
- "We want an industry-friendly rep running that Agency":
Twisting the arms of politicians to have regulators run by those who
simply refuse to enforce the law against corporatist wrongdoing
They've been doing this for centuries, and it's still going on. They're still getting away with murder.
PS: Today, a coalition of health and labour groups issued a report
saying Ontario is steeped in chemicals and the province needs to take
immediate action in reducing toxic emissions and cancer-causing
substances in the environment. Yeah, like that's going to happen.
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