Cut and run. This seems to be the on-going philosophy of certain CEO's of certain large scale companies with more than just a strong imprint on the environment, but in fact subtract their livelihoods from it. And its typical of a response from local politicians to kowtow and curry for the favour of these jobs providers to suport the influx of money and keep their own cities "alive".
My town , it appears, is not my town at all. Because the city I live in right now currently has the distinction of having hands down out and out the: "worst air quality in the entire Province of British Columbia."
This is no curmudgeon arm chair warriors crusty assertion but has been proven and shown in study after study.
I hope this town/city can learn from other industrial centered villas and cities to the East of the country, who flexed and beefed up the power of their municipal boards to bring these companies in alignment with the citizens desire to live in a healthy comunity. To eventually put the saying: I owe my soul to the company store as far back in the historical imaginaiton as possible.
No air care program for cars, smokers in the streets, industrial development with no oversight or toothless enforcement policies (Polluters not reporting to federal index) and even smoke from chimneys in a city that can find itself in the grip of winter by early November.
This in combination from health status reports that indicate a total over lower life span expectancy for citizens of this area, a dangerous place in owns own front yard that translates into higher accidents, more stress and poorer air, people are wanting and willing to make a change.
“There are 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and [Canada's] environmental record ranks 28th. When faced with a choice between protecting the environment or polluting industries, we continue to protect industries.” - David Boyd, POLIS Project on Ecological Governance
Pollution is killing up to 25,000 Canadians each year and costing the nation’s health care system up to $9.1 billion and 1.5 billion hospital days annually.
Environmental pollutants in Canada cause as many as 24,000 new cases of cancer and 2,500 low birth-weight babies every year.
Boyd co-authored the paper, “The Environmental Burden of Disease in Canada: Respiratory Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer and Congenital Affliction,” with Dr. Stephen Genuis from the University of Alberta.
Their research is the first to measure the magnitude of adverse health effects caused by Canadians’ exposure to environmental hazards such as air pollution (outdoor and indoor), pesticides, dioxins, heavy metals, flame retardants and other persistent organic pollutants.
n September, the David Suzuki Foundation released Boyd’s 152-page report, “Prescription for a Healthy Canada.” Boyd prepared the report based on a review of more than 100 recent scientific studies. It says Canada lacks a national system to track diseases and deaths from environmental causes. The report identifies five areas that it considers failings on the part of the federal government:
- A lack of legally binding national standards for air quality and drinking water quality
- The continued use of pesticides that have been banned in other countries
- The allowance of higher limits of pesticide residues on foods compared to other countries
- A lack of regulation of toxins such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, phthalates and polycyclic hydrocarbons
- Weak regulations for toxic substances such as radon, lead, mercury, arsenic and asbestos.
The full report.
And in the U.S. it is now known that North Americans have PBDE exposure levels up to 40X higher than Europeans, and it is speculated that this is due to the greater use of PBDEs in American products (used as flame retardants, common in TVs, computers, couches, cars and airplanes) and also for
BPA — mainly known for its use in #7 plastics for food and drink containers but is also used in metal can linings. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey of more than 2,500 people found BPA in 95 percent of urine samples. Studies have shown BPA to be an endocrine disruptor that may also cause reproductive and other developmental problems.
Push on to ban toxic baby bottles
Toronto Star, Canada - 17 hours ago
It's also used to create a resin that lines the tops of cans to prevent food contamination.
While there has been little to no effort on the federal level in the U.S. to take action against these chemical exposures beyond increased testing, states have begun to be more proactive in their effort to protect citizens. Some states — California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington — have started efforts to either ban phthalates and/or BPA in children's products or phase out PBDEs. It remains to be seen if similar federal legislation will follow.
The lack of information about new chemicals and their impact on humans is a major problem, and legislation has been introduced to address this knowledge gap. Sen. Barack Obamai??˜i?? (D-IL) introduced the Healthy Communities Act of 2007 (S. 1068) to specifically identify gaps in research and provide biomonitoring project grants.
Source for all this delectable information?
Study shows that toxins from everyday products leach into human system
SouthCoastToday.com, MA - 16 Nov 2007
Still, Ms. Saunders said they had not expected the contamination to be so copious
- - - - - -
Bon appetit!
Time to Protect Public Health and Drinking Water is Now
Huffington Post, NY - 13 Nov 2007
Salmon: It's what's for dinner (and breakfast)
MiamiHerald.com, FL - 8 Nov 2007
``But those fish also are bringing contaminants back, toxic chemicals, that they pick up in their migration. Now those are starting to show up in the...
Consumer Reports finds lead in unrecalled toys
White Plains Journal News, NY - 29 Oct 2007
Though the focus of recent toy recalls has been those imported from China, Mays said he didn't view lead contamination as a China problem.
Outsourcing, regulatory sloth blamed for unsafe toys
Consumer Affairs - 30 Oct 2007
testimony was also heard from marilyn furer, a 66-year-old grandmother from illinois who tested her own grandchildren's toys for lead contamination,
Get that toy out of your mouth, the message has never been louder.
BC, my Province, is soon to have the toughest anti-contaminant legislation in the Northern hemisphere and that will soon be a fact we can be proud of. For the drinks what we drink, for the toys that we let our kids play with..and the ones we play with ourselves.
Here is part of the package.
Going Green enshrined into law
- -
Thank you for visiting Machs Cafe and thanks to our host provider Lycos Tripod for the space and bandwidth and great blog tools to allow me to journal and blog online and please support the advertisers if you can.
"August Rush" | You're going to cry. Just accept it. Seattle Times
August Rush
special
don't ask
sharp
caffeinated
bright
a-ok
incredulous
chatty