Toxins in the Environment

After listening to an interview with Mark Schapiro, I have added his latest book, Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power, to my reading list.

Mr. Schapiro points out that in 1970's the United States was the world environmental leader. The Environmental Protection Agency was the first of it's kind. Unfortunately, that is not true today. The European Union and other countries are moving ahead of the United States on initiatives to ban toxic chemicals in cosmetics, electronics, toys, automobiles, etc. Europe uses the "precautionary principle" and tries to prevent harm before it happens. In contrast, the U. S. has been setting up more and more obstacles in the regulatory process that makes banning a chemical nearly impossible.

Companies are actually reformulating products and removing banned chemicals for the European market but still selling the older products in the U.S. market.

I think everyone needs to become knowledgeable of material in this book.