License to Kill (reprint from OtherWords.org)

Without environmental regulations, many companies would gladly poison you to earn bigger profits.

By David Reingold

Regulations stink, right? Lots of politicians run on promises that they’ll get rid of them to make way for an economic boom.

Well, have you ever considered what our world would look like without regulations?

In the early 20^th century, almost all paint contained lead. Despite many reports documenting the dangers of lead exposure, especially on children, the lead industry did nothing about it. Indeed, it responded by establishing an organization that countered bad publicity with campaigns like an ad depicting Santa Claus encouraging children to paint toys with lead paint. The companies also refused to put labels on their products warning parents not to paint toys and cribs with that toxic product.

matthileo/Flickr

In the 1950s, it took local and state health officials to make the case that lead paint should be banned for interior use. The lead industry fought vigorouslyagainst that ban, which we now take for granted. Without regulation, paint would still have lead in it, and our kids would still be dying and suffering from brain damage because of it.

Historians Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner teamed up to document this shameful tale in Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution. Their book also tracks a second case of industrial foot-dragging, which involved vinyl chloride. That’s the ever-present stuff that PVC pipes, vinyl siding, and many toys are made from. The plastics industry first learned of animal studies in Italy suggesting that vinyl chloride caused cancer in 1970, but manufacturers hid this information from the public, the government, and their own workers for several years.

When the government found out, regulators proposed that the plastics industry lower the allowed level of exposure to vinyl chloride in its factories. The industry fought that logical measure, claiming that to lower exposure to the suggested levels would cost $90 billion and result in plant closings, job losses, price increases and massive economic dislocation, Markowitz and Rosner wrote. Government regulators overrode those concerns and lowered the permissible exposure level in 1975. The industry quickly found ways to comply with this new standard for less than $300 million, and none of those dire predictions came true. Those plastics manufacturers would never have done it on their own.

The stages of industrial denial are always the same:

1. X is perfectly safe.
2. Well, there’s evidence that X might cause some problems, but there’s no proof, and it could be something else.
3. OK, X is harmful, but it’s irreplaceable.
4. Well, there’s something else we could use instead, but it would be soooo expensive to change, and it would ruin our business and everyone associated with it.
5. A new product comes out that’s better and cheaper than the old one.

Whenever you hear of someone making those claims, whether it’s about fossil-fueled climate change, illness-causing fireproofing additives in furniture, pesticides suspected of making bees die off, the potentially hormone-disrupting antibacterial agents in your soap, or anything else, get skeptical.

Although there certainly are cases where chemicals suspected of being harmful ultimately prove harmless, companies almost always deny the claim that their product is dangerous.

Just remember, in a truly free market, many companies would gladly poison you to earn bigger profits. Predictions of dire consequences if we impose regulations, or benefits if we remove them, rarely come true. And anyone advocating the outright elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency, as several Republican presidential candidates did in our last election, is essentially saying they want to grant corporate America a license to kill.

David Reingold, a retired chemistry professor at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, now lives in Portland, Oregon.
Distributed via OtherWords (OtherWords.org)

Except where otherwise noted, content from OtherWords is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative 3.0 License.

Enabling Greed Makes U.S. Sick (reprint)

Enabling Greed Makes U.S. Sick (via Moyers & Company)
May 20, 2013

by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship

At the end of a week that reminds us to be ever vigilant about the dangers of government overreaching its authority, whether by the long arm of the IRS or the Justice Department, we should pause to think about another threat — from too much private power obnoxiously intruding into public life.

All too often, instead of acting as a brake on runaway corporate power and greed, government becomes their enabler, undermining the very rules and regulations intended to keep us safe.

Think of inadequate inspections of food and the food-related infections which kill 3,000 Americans each year and make 48 million sick. A new study from Johns Hopkins shows elevated levels of arsenic — known to increase a person’s risk of cancer — in chicken meat. According to the university’s Center for a Livable Future, “Arsenic-based drugs have been used for decades to make poultry grow faster and improve the pigmentation of the meat. The drugs are also approved to treat and prevent parasites in poultry… Currently in the U.S., there is no federal law prohibiting the sale or use of arsenic-based drugs in poultry feed.”

And here’s a story in The Washington Post about toxic, bacteria-killing chemicals used in poultry plants to clean more chickens more quickly to meet increased demand and make more money. According to Amanda Hitt, director of the Government Accountability Project’s Food Integrity Campaign, “They are mixing chemicals together in these plants, and it’s making people sick. Does it work better at killing off pathogens? Yes, but it also can send someone into respiratory arrest.”

As long as there are insufficient checks and balances on big business and its powerful lobbies, we are at their mercy.

So far, the government has done next to nothing. No research into the possible side effects, no comprehensive record-keeping on illnesses. “Instead,” the Post reports, “they review data provided by chemical manufacturers.” What’s more, the Department of Agriculture is about to allow the production lines to move even faster, by as much as 25 percent, which means more chemicals, more exposure, more sickness.

Think of that and think of the 85,000 industrial chemicals available today – only a handful have been tested for safety. Ian Urbina writes in The New York Times, “Hazardous chemicals have become so ubiquitous that scientists now talk about babies being born pre-polluted, sometimes with hundred s of synthetic chemicals showing up in their blood.”

Think, too, of that horrific explosion of ammonium nitrate in the Texas fertilizer plant. Fifteen people were killed and their little town devastated. The magazine Mother Jones noted, “Inspections are virtually non-existent; regulatory agencies don’t talk to each other; and there’s no such thing as a buffer zone when it comes to constructing plants and storage facilities in populated areas.” For years, the Fertilizer Institute, described as “the nation’s leading lobbying organization of the chemical and agricultural industries,” resisted regulation and legislators went along. People can lose their lives when federal or state government winks at bad corporate practices — 4,500 workplace deaths annually at a cost to America of nearly half a trillion dollars.

An investigator looks over a destroyed fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Pool/ LM Otero, Pool)

As Salon’s columnist and author David Sirota observes, “If all this data was about a terrorist threat, the reaction would be swift — negligent federal agencies would be roundly criticized and the specific state’s lax attitude toward security would be lambasted. Yet, after the fertilizer plant explosion, there has been no proactive reaction at all, other than Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry boasting about his state’s ‘comfort with the amount of oversight’ that already exists.”

Finally, consider this story from ProPublica’s investigative reporter Abrahm Lustgarten about a uranium company that wanted a mining project in Texas that threatened to pollute drinking water. The EPA resisted — until the company hired as its lobbyist the Democratic fundraiser and fixer Heather Podesta, a favorite of the White House. Her firm was paid $400,000, she pulled the strings, and presto, the EPA changed its mind and said yes, go ahead and do your dirty work. In fact, ProPublica found that “the agency has used a little-known provision in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to issue more than 1,500 exemptions allowing energy and mining companies to pollute aquifers, including many in the driest parts of the country.”

Of course, in a free society we’ll always be debating the role of government and its agencies. What are the limits, when is government oversight necessary and when is it best deterred? But it’s not only government that can go too far. As long as there are insufficient checks and balances on big business and its powerful lobbies, we are at their mercy. Their ability to buy off public officials is an assault on democracy and a threat to our lives and health. When an entire political system persists in producing such gross injustice, it is making inevitable wholesale defiance.

---

Asparagus and FAGE Greek yogurt recipe

One of the hottest new items in the grocery store is Greek yogurt. We had tried different brands from time to time and were always quite pleased with the thicker texture, but never really knew why or what the reason was for the difference from the regular yogurt we had enjoyed in the past.

After a little research, we learned that the primary difference between Greek yogurt and regular yogurt is amount of water/whey content. Greek yogurt is made by straining the regular yogurt at least three times thereby removing the whey. This makes Greek yogurt thicker and creamier.

Because more milk is required to make Greek yogurt, it is often more expensive, but it also is much more dense with proteins, calcium, and probiotics. The Greek yogurts have 10 to 14 grams of protein per serving compared with 3 to 10 grams in the other yogurts.

Our Daily Green had a chance to work with FAGE Total Greek Yogurt this past month. We received coupons to try their product in recipes, as part of Bobby Flay's Fill the Fridge recipe challenge. With asparagus in season locally around the nation and here in Ohio, we jumped on the opportunity to try:

Asparagus with Dijon Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup FAGE Total 2%
• 1 Pound Fresh Asparagus
• 1/4 Teaspoon finely chopped tarragon
• 1/4 Teaspoon finely chopped parsley
• 1/2 Teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 Teaspoon Dijon coarse ground mustard
• 1/8 Teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Preparation Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In small bowl, add yogurt, horseradish, both Dijon mustards, and stir to combine. Set aside, or refrigerate until asparagus is roasted.
3. Thoroughly wash and dry asparagus and trim tough ends. If using asparagus with thick stalks, peel lower half. Place asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and toss to completely coat. Spread in a single layer and sprinkle with black pepper.
4. Roasting time will vary depending on the thickness of asparagus. For very thin asparagus, begin checking after 8 minutes. Thicker asparagus, 12 – 20 minutes. Roast until tender, but still crisp.
5. To serve, arrange on platter and spoon Dijon sauce over roasted asparagus.

disclosure: Our Daily Green's owner, FreshGreenKim participates as a BzzAgent and received free coupons for FAGE yogurt. Nontheless, we only share products and information we think will be useful to our readers.  

Schwinn Windwood Bike Giveaway!

2013's annual Bike to Work Day takes place this Friday in cities around the United States. Biking not only saves gasoline, but in turn improves health. According to the website for the annual event, some of the benefits include:

• Reduced Health Care Costs – According to the Centers for Disease Control, moderate physical activity (such as bicycling to work) saves 5 to 12 percent in annual medical costs, compared with a 6.5 percent savings from employees who don’t smoke. The fitness program at General Electric’s Aircraft Engine unit saves an estimated $540,000 annually, including 760 fewer hospital days per year.
• Decreased Absenteeism  – A study by the National Center for Health Statistics found that physical activity is one of the few factors that have a statistically significant effect on absenteeism. Physically fit employees are absent an average of two fewer days per year. 
• Increased Productivity – Bicyclists and walkers arrive at work with less stress than those who commute by automobile. The Berkeley Wellness Letter reports that “chronic exposure to traffic congestion produces an increase in baseline blood pressure, lowering of frustration tolerance, increases in negative mood, and aggressive driving habits.”  In contrast,  bicyclists and walkers often report feeling relaxed and more alert after arriving at work, ready for a more productive day.
• Increased Corporate Social Responsibility – Being concerned about the environment is important these days and reflects well on your company.  Bicycling is part of being a green-minded company and helps to reduce your carbon footprint. 

In order to encourage bike riding, not just on one day a year, we've teamed with several partners to offer a a giveaway of the pictured bicycle from Schwinn, a brand synonymous with generations of bike riding enthusiasts. Schwinn has innovative designs of the highest quality. To enter, simply follow the instructions in the rafflecopter link at the bottom of this post.

Good Luck!

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

Sponsored by: Mom Blog Society | She Informed | My Dairy Free Gluten Free Life | Frantic Mommy 
Co-Hosted by: Jackie's Reviews | Geeky Gamer Mom | Swank Savings

May is Food Allergy Awareness Month

Our Daily Green is affiliated with The Allergy Kit. Learn more about what helped with our allergies.