Possibly the worst part of the Trump (mal)administration so far, and I know how hard it is to choose, what with the rampant misogyny, racism and anti-LGBTQ agenda running amok in all corners of government, is the total lack of any kind of oversight into what anybody at any given time is actually doing. Having the s**tposter in chief taking up the first few pages of news every cycle means that any random lunatic with an agenda that defies reason, logic, science and common sense can push something truly abominable through under the radar.
So it is this week, with a perfectly reasonable push by the Trump administration to loosen regulations on how many rads our benevolent corporate masters would be allowed to subject us to under federal law. This is going to end well. A few outlets that I can find have picked up on the story, including Charles Pierce over at Esquire and HuffPost, mainly because of how utterly bat guano the whole story is, but it’s going largely unnoticed as of this morning and will probably have been cycled out by this afternoon, much of the media’s attention being understandably focused on Brett “Kegger King” Kavanaugh. I swear, children born after (hopefully at the latest) 2020 will think we’re making all of this up.
It’s not just the fact that they’re attempting to deregulate radiation, that’s par for the course with these guys, but the reason that they are putting forward. It’s… novel, to say the least. The lunatics with an armory full of axes to grind this time are Steven J. Milloy and Edward J. Calabrese, and they are pushing a concept called radiation hormesis. The concept is broadly that a small dose of some types of radiation is actually good for you! If you think that this sounds suspiciously like homeopathy, you’re not wrong. It also has about as much scientific “evidence” going for it.
Inevitably in the hands of the professional know-nothings of this administration this leads to “Radiation is good for you! Let’s deregulate radiation!” You may also recognize the concept as the one pushed by Ann Coulter when she opined that the Fukujima reactor meltdown was an actual boon for the Japanese locals. The Japanese, having had some small experience with radiation poisoning, beg to differ.
Now, in defense of Mr. Calabrese, he actually seems to be studying the possible effects and is a true believer. He may be horribly, horribly wrong, and questionably sane, but he seems honestly wrong, at least. Someone has incidentally edited his Wikipedia page recently:
“He will be lead witness at a congressional hearing Wednesday, October 3, 2018 on the Trump Administration's EPA proposal to allow more radiation to be released. If his "outlier" science is wrong, his testimony could lead to the illness, or death of thousands, or perhaps millions.”
So, low stakes, as it were.
Mr. Milloy, on the other hand, is a professional lobbyist and general ratf**ker. He’s worked as such for those well known paragons of integrity, Fox News, Phillip Morris, ExxonMobil and Murray Energy (eat s**t, Bob!) as well as being one of the infamous point men of the Trump administration at the EPA during the transition. He has a history of pushing fraudulent claims about tobacco and cancer, climate change and a host of other subjects at his web site junkscience.com. I invite you all to not go on over there, unless you’re looking to experience an aneurysm. In the mean time, here is his rationalwiki page and his desmog blog profile. He’s quite the character. Conspiracy theorist, deadbeat dad, he’s even s**tposted The Pope! Twice! The best people!
As an aside, one of the most common radioactive pollutants is not, as you may have expected, the byproduct of nuclear energy, it’s coal ash. I’m sure that has nothing whatsoever to do with this policy proposal. Probably complete coincidence.
Anyway, I’m off to book my summer vacation in Chernobyl. Going to soak up some rays.