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by Ron Forthofer, Mary Forthofer, and Arden Buck
Originally published in the Colorado Daily, November 15, 1999.
"Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially."Carson, on the use of pesticides, said: "How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind?" Unfortunately, the warnings in her book have not been heeded and White’s quote is even more applicable today.
Why do we allow this poisoning and rape of the environment to happen? Carson, an insightful scientist, spoke of a public "fed little tranquilizing pills of half-truths. We urgently need an end to the false assurances, to the sugarcoating of unpalatable facts." She foresaw that corporate-controlled media would be very protective of its owners and advertisers and would not want to alarm the public into action. Moreover, our system of legalized bribery also gives corporations undue influence on Congress, legislatures and agencies. Instead of protecting us, these groups serve the interests of corporations who ‘own’ them.
We continue to poison the air, soil and water with thousands of new chemical concoctions - despite mounting evidence that these toxins are affecting us as well as the environment. Toxic Deception by Dan Fagin, Marianne Lavelle, and the Center for Public Integrity documents the current situation. Approximately 2000 new chemicals are introduced into commercial channels each year in the U.S., almost none of them screened for safety by the government before introduction. The onus is on us to prove we’ve been harmed. Because we are all exposed to hundreds if not thousands of chemicals each day, pinpointing the source of a rash, a headache, or a brain tumor is next to impossible. Meanwhile, the exposures continue. All together, about 70,000 different chemicals are now in commercial use, with nearly 6 trillion pounds produced annually in the U.S. for plastics, solvents, glues, dyes, fuels, and other uses. All six trillion pounds eventually enter the environment.
But aren’t these chemicals tightly regulated? Well, as of 1994, after 24 years of trying, EPA had issued regulations for only 9 chemicals. The EPA has officially registered only 150 pesticides, though there are thousands of others in daily use awaiting review by the agency. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has done only slightly better, setting limits on 24 chemicals after 18 years of effort.
Corporations have not only pressured state and federal governments; they have also influenced international rules. For example, new World Trade Organization (WTO) rules under consideration would allow corporations to increase the rate of destruction of forests around the world, forests that have helped in the maintenance of our climate for millennia. In addition, the WTO is used by corporations to threaten existing environmental laws. In 1997, the U.S. EPA agreed to weaken our Clean Air Act rather than pay fines to Venezuela and Brazil after a WTO decision against the U.S.
Perhaps even more insidious is the co-opting of national/international health organizations and events by corporate interests. For example, breast cancer ‘prevention’ campaigns rarely mention the environmental causes of the disease. Why? Well, Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) was founded by a British multinational chemical company that has veto power over BCAM educational materials. This corporation makes a pesticide that the EPA thinks causes cancer, as well as numerous other chemical products. It also manufactures a breast cancer chemotherapy drug and runs cancer treatment centers using that drug. Clearly, real cancer prevention would conflict with their business plan.
Is there any hope of changing things? If history is a guide, the public will be heard. Recently, people around the world spoke out against the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment and, at least temporarily, derailed this undemocratic plan. At the end of this month, 50,000 activists from around the world will gather in Seattle to bring attention to the WTO’s agenda. Power to the people!
To learn more about the effect of corporations on the environment, read
- Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly
- Toxic Deception by Dan Fagin, Marianne Lavelle, and the Center for Public Integrity
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson