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Final Thoughts?

Final Thoughts?. Environmental Quality: Better Living through Chemistry?. Introduction. The chemical basis of life on earth is well known

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Final Thoughts?

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  1. Final Thoughts? Environmental Quality: Better Living through Chemistry?

  2. Introduction • The chemical basis of life on earth is well known • Largely unknown, or more accurately largely ignored, are the chemicals that we ingest, inhale, and imbibe as food and medicines and the large number of chemicals to which we are exposed in our day-to-day lives • The course will examine public policy issues surrounding the ubiquitous use of chemicals in the United States • The course has two objectives • to understand federal public policy regarding chemical use in the United States • to find and effectively use electronic data for research purposes

  3. Research will involve • the chemistry and occurrence of the chemical • its manufacture and use • its biological effects on lifeforms • its disposal and degradation • the law surrounding its manufacture, use, and disposal • the possible alternatives to its use • the monetary costs and benefits associated with its use • Illustrative rather than comprehensive

  4. Public Policy • A social construct for organizing behavior • Defines goals, establishes a reasons for changes in behavior • Defines, promotes, and rewards certain types of behavior • Defines, prohibits, and penalizes – implicitly or explicitly – other types of behavior

  5. Public Policy • Largely determined by the structure • Process and structure are historical

  6. Characteristics of Public Policy – the structure of published materials • Stability v dynamism • desire to maintain certainty and stability - means by which society is ordered and the rights, duties and obligations of members defined • need for flexibility in regulating a broad spectrum of human activities • Materials published by the federal, state, and local governments • statutory law (legislation, statute, act) enacted by the legislature • administrative law (regulation, rule) promulgated by the executive agencies • case law (opinion, decision, ruling) issued by a court (judge) • Materials published by commentators of public policy

  7. Governments • 87,504 governmental units in the United States • A federal government • 50 state governments • 87,453 units of local governments • 39,044 are general purpose local governments • 3,043 county governments • 36,001 subcounty general purpose governments - municipalities, townships • 48,409 are special-purpose local governments • 13,726 school district governments • 34,683 special district governments

  8. Federal Policy Regarding Chemicals – Manufacture, Use, and Disposal (Legislative action) • Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 • Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act of 1988 • Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act 1999 • Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 • Toxic Substances Control Act 1976 • Hazard Mitigation and Relocation Assistance Act of 1993 • Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 • Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 • Hazardous Materials Transportation Act 1975 • Hazardous Materials Transportation Act Amendments of 1976 • Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization Act of 1994 • Hazardous Materials Transportation Control Act of 1970

  9. Federal Policy Regarding Chemicals – Manufacture, Use, and Disposal (Executive action) • Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry • Agricultural Research Service • Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau (Justice) • Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Interagency Coordinating Committee • Federal Trade Commission (FTC) • Fish and Wildlife Service • Food and Drug Administration (FDA) • Food and Nutrition Service • Food Safety and Inspection Service • Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services • Foreign Agricultural Service • Forest Service • Fossil Energy

  10. The Various Paths of Public Policy

  11. Federal Policy Regarding Chemicals – Manufacture, Use, and Disposal (Judicial action) • Bhopal case • Tobacco litigation • Massachusetts et al v EPA • Defective and dangerous products • Toxic tort and product liability cases • Product liability litigation

  12. United States Supreme Court • The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices • At its discretion, and within certain guidelines established by Congress, the Supreme Court each year hears a limited number of  the cases it is asked to decide • Those cases may begin in the federal or state courts, and they usually involve important questions about the Constitution or federal law • Massachusetts v EPA (Northwestern University) • Massachusetts v EPA (Supreme Court) • Massachusetts v EPA (Findlaw)

  13. The Published Findings of the Federal Courts • The outcome of a structure and a process • Represents a dialogue between the past and the present • Provide answers to some of society’s most compelling questions • These answers may be long-lived or temporary

  14. The Behavior of Corporations? • Archer Daniels Midland • Monsanto • Dow Chemical Company • Ethyl Corporation

  15. Dicta • Knowledge is of two kinds; We know a subject ourselves or we know where to find information on it • Intelligence is not the ability to store information but the ability to find it • "Every man, when he enters into a society gives up part of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable a purchase … obliges himself to conform to those laws which the community has thought proper to establish" (William Blackstone. Commentaries of the Law of England. A Facsimile of the First Edition of 1765-1769 (1979) vol. 1 p. 121) • The more individuals occupy a particular space the less personal freedoms each individual can enjoy • The modern world is ambiguous and contradictory; its evolution replete with ambiguities and contradiction

  16. Dicta • The process of muddling through is a gutsy, down-to-earth process full of inefficiencies and inconsistencies. It takes an inordinate amount of time to take modest incremental steps forward and significant bold steps are clearly not in the cards …. It keeps this country pretty close to the middle of the road, while permitting slow faltering adjustments to change • (Warren Johnson Muddling Toward Frugality (1978) p.151)

  17. Cognitive Dissonance • We want medical care so we can live longer, but we don't want to work longer to help fund our retirement - Nor do we want to save for it • We want affordable health insurance, but we don't want to eat less to help make it affordable. Then we want to be able to sue the doctors if we are still sick • We want jobs, but we don't want to go to school more days per year so we can effectively compete for world jobs. Nor do we want to study the material that would help to prepare us • In the face of undeniable emerging energy shortages, we still want air conditioning and large vehicles

  18. Cognitive Dissonance • We want reliable and cheap electric power but try to construct a power plant or a transmission line • We want a pristine environment, but we continue to buy products with expensive and voluminous packaging, one of the most significant contributors to a degraded environment • Then we purchase many goods from China, whose firms have pollution rates several times the levels of U.S. firms • We are not realistic about our need to leave resources on the table for future generations

  19. Possible Solutions? • How about a tax on television sets, DVDs, and video games, with the proceeds going to support education? • How about repealing the tax on savings and instead, provide more resources for detecting tax evasion? • An increased tax on gasoline? • Such efforts might reduce the nearly $300 billion of missed taxes every year -- more than enough to fund Iraq and several other programs • Perhaps we should have lower levels of taxation on the gains from solid industrial investments that create jobs and higher taxes on the gains from speculative activities – “unearned income” • Eliminate the earnings ceiling on Social Security payroll taxes • Balance the budget – dammit!

  20. Phosphorus

  21. Ecosystems

  22. Sugar. A Cautionary Tale (FDA) • Sugar Consumption and Caries Risk: A Systematic Review • Sugar and Dental Caries (WSRO) • John Echternacht led Brainerd fluoride effort December 6, 2006 • The long-time dentist was a pioneer in the long battle to fluoridate the city's water supply.

  23. Today’s “News”? • Farm Report takes a tough look at the toll on our health • Report: Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America • Abstract

  24. Genetically Modified Organisms • Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303 (1980) • Breaking the Law of Life (Resurgence) • Lifeform Patenting • Genetically Modified Foods and Organisms (Human Genome Project) • Liability and Labeling of Genetically Modified Organisms • Genetics Society of America, Statement on Genetically Modified Organisms • Biosafety Protocol for Genetically Modified Organisms: Overview Biotechnology: An Overview • GM Organisms (New Scientist) • GMOs at the FAO • Dolly the Sheep • Life Form Patenting and Family-Scale Agriculture: Implications and Recommendations (Center for Rural Affairs)

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