If this TED talk by toxicologist Susan Shaw isn't depressing and a powerful call to arms, then nothing is.
She begins by mentioning the chemical industry, which is all but completely unregulated, and how many chemicals can be found in our bodies. In Europe, the numbers are vastly, vastly lower. The worst offender: flame retardant. It's in everything you can imagine (your clothes, cars, furniture...), including your blood stream now! At least we are less likely than the rest of the world to spontaneously combust!
But her talk is on the deadly cocktail that is the chemical dispersants and the oil combination designed to cause the oil to drop to the bottom of the Gulf so we don't see the damage it is doing. Apparently the deadly dispersants make the oil vastly more likely to enter the organs of body through the skin. We don't even know all of the compounds in the dispersants because the chemical industry is not required to disclose them by law. What a revolting shock!
Our US government has completely failed to protect people. What good is it?!
I just get so angry at what we as Americans tolerate without a second thought! Such short-sighted, live for the comfort of the moment idiocy!
I find it so unspeakably maddening that important, reflective, intelligent voices of reason such as Susan Shaw's, are ignored in mainstream media because the influence peddlers would prefer we receive a steady diet of buffoons like Sarah Palin! Dear god!
Related articles:
- TEDTalks: Susan Shaw: The oil spill's toxic trade-off (huffingtonpost.com)
- "Toxic Chemicals Industry Designs PR Campaign for Survival: Exclusive Leaked Footage!" and related posts (naturalpapa.com)
- Cancer panel: Unregulated chemicals pose serious risk (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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