Toxics

Toxics

Toxic waste from industry, hazardous household materials, pesticides and auto emissions are polluting our air and water and endangering our health at home and in the workplace.  More than 80,000 chemicals permitted in the United States have never been fully assessed for toxic impacts on human health and the environment. Cancer, learning disabilities, infertility and birth defects have all been associated with exposure to toxic chemicals. These chemicals have been found in children’s baby bottles and car seats, cleaning products, building materials, cosmetics, fabrics, toys, furniture, electronics, food and beverage containers and many other consumer products.

Cry Wolf Quotes

[Anything beneath the level of 50 parts per million parts per million (ppm) is] uneconomic and all but impossible to meet...[it would be] simply a requirement for liquidation of a major industry.

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The Manufacturing Chemists’ Association (MCA).

With no scientifically credible evidence to prove the need for such a low standard of 2 fibers per cc, it would be nothing less than complete social irresponsibility [to issue this standard].

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Henry B. Moreno, Senior Operating Vice president for John-Manville, the largest asbestos mining company in the world.
03/16/1972 | Full Details | Law(s): OSHA's Asbestos Standard

At this time we have no figures on the two fiver fiber level, if it can be in fact accomplished. These costs may keep us from being able to operate, but if they didn’t, labeling, as proposed, would surely put us out of business anyway.

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W.H. Beasley Manager of the Cement Asbestos Products Company
03/16/1972 | Full Details | Law(s): OSHA's Asbestos Standard

The restrictions make us waste oil every time we make gasoline [thus forcing costs up].

-
Werner T. Meyer, president of the Lead Industries Association. The Los Angeles Times.

Evidence

Backgrounders & Briefs

The Secret History of Lead

This immense article is an intricately detailed history of leaded gasoline, from the industry's early cover-ups to their attempts to defeat EPA regulations.

The Removal of Lead From Gasoline: Historical and Personal Reflections

First-person historical analysis of the leaded gasoline fight.