The EPA Lies About Chemicals

As I’ve reported before in this blog, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as a rule, allows companies to keep new information about chemicals they use in their products a secret from the public. This includes compounds and additives that have been shown to cause cancer, respiratory problems and immune reactions. This boils down to a conspiracy of sorts, whereby the EPA and the companies they protect lie to the American people.

In a recent investigation, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper examined more than 2,000 filings in the EPA’s registry of dangerous chemicals for the past three years. In more than half the cases, the EPA was shown to have agreed to keep the chemical name a secret. In hundreds of other cases, it allowed the company filing the report to keep its name and address confidential.

 

Totally Crude and Worth a Look

As of today, now playing in a theatre near you, is a film with a fascinating new look at the oil industry and it’s dark side. CRUDE, the film, tells a shocking story that Chevron, the 5th largest company on this planet, does not want the world to know. Like, The Cove, another documentary about the uglier side of industry, this one is a bombshell that should awaken everyone who sees it to the environmental tragedies that are ongoing here on Earth and the battle to save our planet.

Three years in the making by acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster), CRUDE chronicles the epic legal battle to hold Chevron accountable for its systematic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon. If you are not aware of the disaster, it was an environmental tragedy experts call the “Amazon Chernobyl,” and believe is the worst case of oil-related contamination on Earth. I have had my own firsthand experience with the self absorbed and mostly indifferent oil industry in my own life; we had a property that was contaminated by big oil and basically lost our fight. I know how hard it is to battle these powerful people.

But here’s the story on this current battle. While drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964 to 1990, Texaco, which is now called Chevron, deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, spilled roughly 17 million gallons of crude oil, and left hazardous waste in hundreds of open pits dug out of the forest floor. The company selfishly resorted to substandard practices that were obsolete in order to increase its profit margin by a mere $3 per barrel of crude. Of course, the local people and ecosystems paid the price instead, and at a much higher price than $3.00. In fact, many have paid with their lives and their livelihoods. But, good for them, they have been fighting back and this is where the film comes in.

 

Taking Vitamins Means Chewing Lead

This is something you need to know. I realize that they say it’s not dangerous, that the levels in each vitamin is small, but lead builds up in your system over time. Your body does not dispose of it and it ends up in your brain and other muscle tissues. We freak out when it’s in paint or children’s toys, but can you imagine you and your kids taking it in small doses every single day.. and thinking your doing your body right at the same time? This is the ultimate betrayal.

I’m a little behind the eight ball on this one, it seems they made this discovery about a year ago and somehow I missed it. But in survey data released by the FDA in August 2008, of the 324 multivitamin-mineral products available over the internet tested, only FOUR vitamins failed to show the presence of lead. All others contained trace amounts which, as I already said, the FDA does not consider dangerous. I must repeat, however, that lead is a heavy metal that builds up in our systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urges parents to prevent lead exposure to children by identifying, controlling and removing hazards safely.

 

Ozone Kills People

According to a study done last year in 48 U.S. cities, researchers discovered that death rates tended to be higher on days when the ozone pollution in the area was higher. In this study they researched over 2.7 million deaths across the country in every area. As with all health risks, the elderly were more vulnerable. Although this might seem to reduce the value of the research in that elderly people are more likely to die at any given time no matter what, it must be considered that in this case elderly women were more at risk than men. Overall, in all other causes of death the risk is greater for men. The study also revealed an interesting twist that says a lot for the validity of the study. It showed that blacks were more vulnerable than other racial groups, with elderly black women the most vulnerable.

Just on the face of it, this study seems to warn that black women should not be living in polluted cities. And most especially elderly black women. As in other studies of health risks, people with health conditions were affected more than the healthy among us. In this study it showed that people with atrial fibrillation, which is a disturbance of heart rhythm, seemed to be dieing on days with poor air quality. This would not be an assumption. In fact, it’s an anomaly.

This study was conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health. It is a credible published study that can be found online.

 

Bathtubs Full of Lead

Depressing news for those you who love old bathtubs. In fact, I don’t know anybody who doesn’t love a deep, solid porcelain tub, especially the ones with little feet or fancy faucets. But guess what! They are full of lead! I’m not kidding. We’ve been soaking ourselves in these gorgeous tubs and getting a max whop of lead exposure in the process.

Studies have found high levels of lead that trace back to bathtubs and this is not a fluke, it appeared in a number of cases. There was even one where a middle aged man underwent personality changes, becoming irritable, aggressive and paranoid. The doctors discovered that he also had short term memory loss, abdominal pain and constipation. All of these are classic symptoms of serious lead poisoning. It turns out he was drinking wine made from grapes that had soaked in a bathtub with a lead enamel glaze.

 

Arsenic Appearing in Forests

For years the use of monosodium methanearsenate, or MSMA, was prevalent in British Columbia as a means to control Pine Beetles. Sold for a long time under the trade name, Glowon, it was considered safe and useful, posing no threat to the environment or to human health. This sounds like a song I’ve heard before, how about you? Even though this product was no longer in use as late as 2005, mainly because the manufacturer did not renew the permit, the residue of this product remains all throughout the region. IN fact, they are now issuing maps of areas that they are urging loggers to avoid because the residue is that bad. And what is the residue? Arsenic.

Now, my first question, as an intelligent, alert individual with common sense, is to ask how on earth anyone could think that arsenic, a known volatile and dangerous poison, could be environmentally safe and non toxic to humans? Seriously. To it’s credit, the US EPA decided in 2006 not to re-register MSMA as a pesticide because it “posed a cancer risk”. This is because of it’s potential to “transform to a more toxic inorganic form of arsenic in the soil with subsequent transport to drinking water.” Yep. You heard right. Drinking water is likely contaminated with this poison through natural run off.

And the Forest Practices Board recommended, in it’s 2004 annual report, that the ministry track MSMA treated trees to ensure they are not harvested or milled. This board found, in it’s studies, that MSMA was used near human habitation and that treated trees had been logged and milled within the past year. Therefor the restriction on access to these trees was decided upon.

Guess what? MSMA is still being sold in the US. I don’t know if anything will amaze me but this does upset me… does it you?