Chemical Association's PR To Make You Safer

Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on

The American Chemistry Council wants you to know that you're safer than you may think when toxic chemicals end up in your local groundwater and air. ACC has announced the hire of ex-Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Lisa Harrison as its new vice president of communications. Says Ms. Harrison, in celebrating her new position: "I am excited at the challenge of educating and informing opinion leaders about the benefits of American chemistry in our every day lives, and the value that the industry and the ACC bring to Washington D.C." Among her Administration appearances: defending the EPA's "Clear Skies" program that exaggerated cuts in airborne sulfur dioxide emissions and defending toxic sludge. A few days before Harrison joined ACC, the organization released a new defense of the Bush Administration's proposed rollback of the Toxics Release Inventory. The Environmental Working Group has led a blistering critique of the proposed rollbacks.

Main Source: 
American Chemistry Council, April 26, 2006
Topics: 
Sludge
Environment
Public Relations
Science

Comments

9c4542ks03f7hsle 2 replied on

Once again, let's add crystal meth into the discussion. The government is so concerned about the poisons released into communities from the huge proliferation of small meth labs, but not with the poisons released in many times greater amounts from large chemical companies. Let's examine the hypocrisy. The police and communities see the hell being caused by crystal meth not only among the users. The officers involved in the busts have become sick and died from contact with the extremely toxic meth lab chemicals. Remember that crytal meth is made with by-products from common cold medicines with pseudoephedrine, which are manufactured and taken in huge amounts daily.

Think of the political side-effects now that some of the powers that be have made propaganda use of the fact that the police officers symptoms are caused by exposure to meth chemicals. If meth is produced with some of the same chemicals that are involved in the production of more benign products, I think we might be on the lookout for subtle attacks launched through back channels by chemical company lobbyists against the police who say their illness is caused by exposure to meth lab chemicals. There are high stakes in fighting the knowledge that chemicals can cause illness.

mel218 replied on

As reported on the ES&T news 4 Apr 07:

New research provides an indirect way to estimate pathogen concentrations in aerosols produced during the spreading of dewatered class B biosolids.

As more and more farmers spread solid waste from sewage treatment plants onto their fields, people living in rural areas have begun reporting sicknesses that could be related to the dispersal of these biosolids.

Read the full article at:
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/apr/science/nl_biosolids.html

~ Melanie, Madison, WI