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A huge and long overdue win for public health | McClatchy (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/27/134167/a-huge-and-long-overdue-win-for.html - broken link)
I'm referring to the ruling the Obama administration unveiled Dec. 21 to control toxic mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants. These rules have been 21 years in the making, and now, at long last, they will bring Americans some relief from a pervasive toxin.
Now we have taken aim at another Public Enemy: mercury. The president deserves enormous credit for sticking with his plan despite furious opposition from some in the power industry and their allies on Capitol Hill.
Every year, U.S. power plants release almost 50 tons of mercury into the environment. When coal is burned, some of the mercury in it deposits locally and some can travel hundreds of miles to contaminate rivers, lakes, animals, plants and ultimately our bodies. Mercury is highly toxic
Industry lobbyists have always complained about measures to protect the environment and public health. The Clean Air Act would lead to the "collapse of entire industries," said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1971. Phasing out CFCs would kill the refrigeration business. Removing lead from gasoline would mean huge price hikes. Despite these wild predictions, the sky never fell, the American economy continued to prosper, and costs have been far outweighed by the public health benefits. The Clean Air Act, for example, has dramatically reduced asthma
We can all look forward to the near future when millions of CFL lightbulbs find their way to local garbage dumps and leak mercury into our water supplies.
If you think that the majority of people are going to drive around looking for somewhere to recycle their light bulbs instead of just chucking them into the trash, you're kidding yourself.
The most amazing part of this is the fact that the biggest source of mercury toxicity for most people is in their head. Lot of money still being made from that and it is the least talked about issue regarding mercury. Yet tuna, products and environment are being regulated and talked to death. Though some progress appears to being made here to get mercury amalgam gone for good.
It reminds me of how the sun was vilified as this horrible source of killing radiation and cancer, yet nuclear (the elephant) much less other regular exposures w/ xrays and cat scans etc... are "good" for you.
Industry lobbyists have always complained about measures to protect the environment and public health. The Clean Air Act would lead to the "collapse of entire industries," said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1971. Phasing out CFCs would kill the refrigeration business. Removing lead from gasoline would mean huge price hikes. Despite these wild predictions, the sky never fell, the American economy continued to prosper, and costs have been far outweighed by the public health benefits. The Clean Air Act, for example, has dramatically reduced asthma
Quote:
The number of people with asthma continues to grow. One in 12 people (about 25 million, or 8% of the population) had asthma in 2009, compared with 1 in 14 (about 20 million, or 7%) in 2001.19
Besides the fact that the HFC refrigerants that have "replaced" (you still have 100's of tons of CFC out there) the CFC's (which are still being produced by the way) have a higher GWP (Global Warming Potential).
If businesses are not free to poison people with mercury is anyone truly free?
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