Flame retardants in the arctic; coal mining accidents
#1: Flame retardants accumulating in arctic animals. Polar bears and other arctic animals are suffering a variety of ill effects by accumulating flame retardants. PBDE's are flame retardants found in your children's pajamas, probably in your furniture, and in other textiles. Research with lab animals show toxic effects on thyroid functioning. Marla Cone, one of the best environmental reporters in the country, has written a nice summary in the LA Times of the latest work on how PBDE's and related chemicals are affecting wildlife. This also provides another instance of the how the Bush administration is failing miserably to protect the environment. PBDE's are being phased out in the European Union. But the Bushies, with their distorted views of how much evidence is required to take action to protect the environment, have failed to act to regulate PBDE's.
Some will say, "So what that polar bears an arctic terns are reproducing poorly. I'm a human, and besides who needs polar bears." Humans are part of nature. The concentration of PBDE's in women's milk in North America is rising dramatically, even while the concentration of PCB's drops. PCBs were phased out in the late 1970s after a two tragic poisoning incidents revealed that PCBs are powerful teratogens. Will it take something similar to lead to the phase out of PBDE's? I guess so, as long as the Bushies are in power.
But Marla Cone reports that because California and the EU have banned PBDE's, the substances are no longer being manufactured in the U.S. The California market packs a lot of punch, and so California pollution regulations often help the rest of the country. California required smog control on autos and banned lead in paint long before the rest of the country did.
The Bushies, who claim to support state's rights, would like for federal regulations to take precedence over state regulations when it comes to pollution. Are we one Supreme Court nominee away from that?
#2: Dangers of Coal Fired Energy. Advocates of nuclear power like to remind everyone that coal kills people. And the recent West Virginia coal mine accident shows they're right. I send my heartfelt condolences to the families. No one should have to die at work in the process of earning a living.
But the dangers of coal mining aren't a good argument for nuclear power -- rather coal mining accidents just make the case that industrial safety in the US needs attention. Uranium mining has an ugly safety record too.
The news reports on the WV coal mine fatalities documented a large number of serious safety violations in the operation of that particular mine. Coal miners are also exposed to a variety of pollutants on the job every day. An Eau Claire, Wisconsin, TV station reported today that 8 Wisconsin workers have been killed in gravel pit accidents in the last 8 years. Construction work in the US is unnecessarily hazardous. Here in Wisconsin workers were killed during the construction of Miller Park, and at least 2 workers have been seriously injured in construction accidents on the UW-Madison campus in the last 5 years. The US has lagged behind western Europe in industrial safety since the start of the 20th century. A good read on early industrial safety is the 1943 autobiography of Alice Hamilton, MD, "Exploring the Dangerous Trades." Dr. Hamilton pioneered inspections of the lead industry nationwide in order to prevent lead poisoning in workers.
What has changed for the better since Alice Hamilton's time? Unions helped force the safety issue, along with industrial health advocates. The US now has relatively safe coal mining, especially compared to China where thousands of workers die annually, and the Chinese government keeps making empty promises to improve safety and compliance with safety rules. Should we really be comparing our safety record to China? The US Mine Safety and Health Administration Director is quoted by the Voice of America (yep, that's the Voice of America, our government-supported world-wide news and propaganda network that actually does some darn good reporting in my opinion) as patting himself on the back for an extremely low number of deadly mine explosions in the US since 1984. Hurrah! What about other deadly events like cave-ins? And gravel pit miners being killed?
#3: Energy efficiency tax credits coming! Yes, bloggers, there's some good news for 2006. You can get money back on your 2006 taxes by making energy improvements to your home or business. These tax credits aren't as good as the ones we had under the Carter administration, but still they are a positive step. Maybe put some folks to work up-grading windows, furnaces, and installing renewable energy systems like geo-thermal heat and solar hot water and electricity.
Jan 8, 2006
