A Clear and Present Danger: Trump’s EPA
American fetuses are “soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury,” according to a report by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org). The group tested “umbilical cord blood that reflects what the mother passes to the fetus through the placenta.” The tests revealed 287 chemicals; 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests,” the report said. A Government Accountability Office report said the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the powers it needs to fully regulate toxic chemicals. (Reuters 7/14/05)
Instead of increasing the power of the EPA to protect human life and well-being, the Trump administration and the EPA want to remove more regulations. “There’s a Toxic Weedkiller on the Menu in K-12 Schools Across the U.S.” Monsanto’s glyphosate has been found in over 70% of oat-based breakfast cereals served to U.S. school children. (Common Dreams, 01/09/2019) Glyphosate, an herbicide that remains the world's most ubiquitous weed killer, raises the cancer risk of those exposed to it by 41%, a new analysis says.” (CNN-02/25/2019)
March 9, 2017, EPA chief Scott Pruitt met for half an hour with Dow CEO Andrew Liveris at a hotel in Houston, Texas. Less than three weeks later, the EPA “unexpectedly reversed course” and approved use of the pesticide, chlorpyrifos, that is manufactured by Dow. (https://www.businessinsider.com-06/28/2017; AP-06/30/2017)
Chlorpyrifos is in a class of pesticides known as organophosphates that are used on crops, animals, and buildings. It has sickened farmworkers and is known to cause brain damage in children. (AP-06/29/2017) Most home uses of chlorpyrifos were banned in the U.S. in 2001. (Scientific American - 08/21/ 2012).
A recent study in the peer-reviewed journal, PLOS (Public Library of Science) Medicine, concluded that no level of exposure by pregnant women is safe, as organophosphates have been found to cause serious brain damage in babies. Children suffer from reduced IQ, autism, attention disorders and other learning disabilities as a result.
On August 9, 2018, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the EPA to ban the sale of chlorpyrifos in the U.S.within 60 days. “But most important, the court sided with science and public health when it gave the government two months to get chlorpyrifos out of our food.” (Washinton Examiner-/08/24/2018)
The Trump Administration appealed the ruling. (The Hill-09/24/2018).
On May 2019, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation announced it will “cancel the registration that allows chlorpyrifos to be sold in California”, a process that could take up to two years. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Coal-fired power plants have been dumping residue from burning coal into unlined pits for decades. According to the EPA, there are more than 1,000 coal ash disposal sites across the country, and a recent analysis by Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project found that 91% of the coal plants filing monitoring data required by the 2015 rule are polluting water with unsafe levels of toxic contaminants including arsenic, chromium, lead and mercury that cause or contribute to cancer and neurological and cardiovascular diseases. (cbsn-05/07/2019)
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler crowed that a new rule — that extends the deadline for closing some leaking ash ponds and allows states to suspend groundwater monitoring and set their own standards — will save utilities as much as $31 million. (truthout.org 7/11/19)
Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are used in consumer goods, such as cleaners, textiles, leather, paper and paints, and wire insulation. They are also found in firefighting foams used by airports and military landing fields. PFAS have been linked to thyroid disease and kidney, liver, pancreatic and testicular cancer. The chemicals also impact childhood development, low birth weight and immune system health.
“This should be frightening to all Americans in many ways,” David Andrews, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group, told CBSN's Anne-Marie Green. "These chemicals... don't break down in our body and they don't break down in our environment and they actually stick to our blood. So levels tend to increase over time."
(cbsn-05/07/2019)
According to a recent study by the Environmental Working Group and Northeastern University, these chemicals threaten the drinking water supplies of an estimated 19 million Americans. (ewg.org-07/12/2019; cbsn-05/07/2019)
A 2018 Union of Concerned Scientists report, meanwhile, found that PFAS water contamination at 130 military bases across the country exceed the 11-parts-per-trillion safety threshold determined by the Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Nearly two-thirds of the sites had contamination that was more than 100 times higher than the safe level. (truthout.org 7/11/19)
A Marine buddy, Roberto Pachecano, died from poisoned water at Camp Lejuene and Agent Orange at Con Tien but his name will never be on The Wall.
There have been no protests, no pickets, no violence by Pro-life Pretenders because what the polluters for profit and the government officials that pander to them for profit have in common is that they are all Pro-Life. It doesn’t make sense to be Pro-Life and poison your own children but it’s not supposed to make sense. It makes money,
“Pro-Lifers” are, or include, those who are willing to harm the unborn to protect profits and those who are willing to harm the born to protect their abusers.