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Stepping Off Toxic Treadmills |
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Compiled by GayToday
Worldwatch Institute
Evidence from three sectors that are major sources of these pollutants-paper manufacturing, pesticides, and PVC plastics-shows that non-toxic options are available at competitive prices in today's markets. "Poisonous products are so embedded in our lives, it's easy to think that we can't do without them," said Anne Platt McGinn, author of Why Poison Ourselves? A Precautionary Approach to Synthetic Chemicals. Not only are we harming ourselves, we're paying to do it. We don't need to be exposed." In the report, McGinn analyzes the available alternatives in each sector:
The harmful effects of long-lasting compounds may not emerge for years, sometimes generations after the initial exposure. And even then, it is very difficult to find a 'smoking gun'. Scientists are only now discovering that many of these chemicals cause irreversible damage in people and animals at levels that were dismissed as inconsequential by the experts less than a decade ago. The catalog of the destructive effects of POPs is long and growing, from cancer and reproductive health effects to learning disorders and reduced immunity. People receive about 90 percent of their total intake of these compounds from foods of animal origin. Something as common as a McDonald's Big Mac carries 30 percent of the World Health Organization's recommendation for daily dioxin intake. New studies are shedding light on the potential health hazards from PVC. Phthalates, a group of chemicals that are mixed into PVC to add flexibility, continuously leak out of the material and into the surrounding environment. Children absorb these compounds when they suck on toys or crawl on vinyl flooring. Swedish researchers recently reported that male workers in PVC plants have a risk of developing a form of testicular cancer - seminoma - that is six times that of the general population. McGinn argues that cost-effective, workable substitutes exist for the bulk of PVC's current uses. In construction, where 60 percent of PVC is used, replacements in siding, pipes, cable insulation, flooring, and window frames include non-chlorinated plastics and modified, traditional materials like aluminum, wood, and ductile iron. Some communities now prohibit PVC from transportation, building, and infrastructure projects. Paper production has long been recognized as a source of toxic pollutants, but some innovative companies within the industry have set a new industrial standard, designing toxics out of production altogether. A growing share of manufacturers have switched their bleaching processes to oxygen, hydrogen, and ozone-based methods, which do not use chlorine, and therefore do not produce toxic organochlorines like dioxin. In agriculture, proven alternatives are available. Growing ranks of farmers are going completely pesticide-free, profiting from consumers who now spend $22 billion a year on organic products. Simply requiring companies to pay attention to their toxic releases can produce large reductions. In 1989, the state of Massachusetts began requiring major chemical users to produce a detailed toxics use reduction plan, with no legal obligation to implement any of the identified steps. Nevertheless, some 80 percent of the 1,000 companies with plans have carried them out. In the process, they have saved a total of $15 million in operating costs, while increasing production by one-third. On-site emissions at such facilities were down 80 percent between 1990 and 1997. Under current regulations, high risk chemicals are treated as innocent until proven guilty. McGinn calls for governments to change this presumption and adopt the precautionary principle in its place. This principle states that in the face of scientific uncertainty, the prudent stance is to restrict or even prohibit an activity that may cause long-term or irreversible harm. "Adopting the precautionary principle is a way to take out an insurance policy against our own ignorance," said McGinn. "We rarely understand environmental risks until after the damage is done, as we've seen over and over with POPs. The precautionary principle shifts the burden of proof to the industry, requiring them to prove that the risks are not unreasonable." |
Synthetic chemical pollutants that are poisoning both people and wildlife could be largely eliminated without disrupting the economy, reports a new study by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington DC-based environmental research organization.
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