Slowly poisoned: health
consequences of pollution and
environmental toxins
Martin Donohoe, MD, FACP
Portland State University
Campaign for Safe Foods, Oregon
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Overview
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Public health approach
Air pollution
Garbage
Toxins
Education/Corporate Influence
Progress and Solutions
Some Major Sources of Air
Pollution
• Industry - #1
• Agriculture
• Automobiles
Some Major Sources of Air
Pollution
• Indoor combustion of coal and biomass (wood,
charcoal, crop residues, and animal dung) for
cooking, heating and food preservation
– Used by almost 3 billion people worldwide
– Causes 2 million deaths/yr
– Associated with multiple pulmonary conditions
– Solar cookers may replace
Air Pollution
Air Pollution
Air Pollution
• Top ten most polluted cities in the
world are in China and India
• Most polluted areas in US:
–LA, Houston, San Joaquin
Valley in Central California,
Pittsburgh
Health Effects of Air Pollution
• Causes approximately 60,000 75,000 premature deaths/yr. in
U.S. (656,000 in China)
–More than are killed by auto
accidents
• 1.8 million worldwide
Health Effects of Air Pollution
• Air pollution causes asthma and
impairs lung development and
function
• Deaths from cardiopulmonary
diseases correlate with air pollution
levels in US cities
–Both day to day and over time
Health Effects of Air Pollution
• Increased admissions for CHF,
asthma, COPD, PVD, and
cerebrovascular disease (stroke and
TIA)
• Increased ventricular arrythmias
• Increased lung cancer mortality
• Decreased exercise tolerance,
increased pulmonary symptoms
Health Effects of Air Pollution
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Increased risk of DVT
Increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis
Impaired sperm production
Premature births (1/3 more common
in large towns/cities)
Health Effects of Air Pollution
• Increase in SGA and LBW infants
• Increased risk of appendicitis
–?Via link with inflammation?
• Increased numbers of migraines
• Days lost from work/school
Ozone Destruction
• Ozone hole over Antarctic (2½X size of
Europe)
• Arctic ozone hole larger
– 40% of Arctic ozone destroyed
• Increased cataracts (UV damage)
• Increased lifetime melanoma risk
–1/1500 - 1930
–1/68 - today
Automobiles
Automobiles
• Number of autos
-US: 1 car / 2 people
-Mexico: 1/8
-China: 1/100 (increasing; leaded
gasoline)
• 1 billion cars worldwide
• Global auto population to double in
25-50 years
Automobiles
• Average miles traveled/car/year in U.S.
– 1965 - 4,570 mi.
– 1975 - 6,150 mi.
– 1985 - 7,460 mi.
– 1995 - 9,220 mi.
– 2008 – 12,000 mi.
Automobiles
• 25 lbs. of CO2 produced for every
gallon of gasoline manufactured,
distributed, and then burned in a
vehicle
• U.S. energy costs exceed $500
billion/yr. (plus military costs to keep
foreign oil flowing)
Automobiles
• Average fuel efficiency of U.S. autos
stagnant
– Ford Model T – 25 mpg (1908); Avg. Ford
vehicle – 22.6 mpg (2003)
– Cars: 27.5 mpg required by 2011, 37.5 mpg
required by 2015; 54.5 mpg by 2025
– Light trucks / SUVs: 23.5 mpg by 2011, 28.6
mpg by 2015
– European and Japanese standards higher
Automobiles: Alternatives
• Relatively low oil prices (until recently)
• Growing market (until recently) for lowefficiency pickups, minivans, and SUVs
• Rapid transit
• Electric cars
– killed by oil companies, automakers, tire
manufacturers in early 20th century
– Convicted under Sherman Antitrust Act
Automobiles: Alternatives
• Car sharing
• Pay-as-you-drive auto insurance
• “Peak Pricing” and “Congestion Fees”
– E.g., London → 21% decrease in traffic, 43%
increase in bus ridership, cleaner air
• Bicycles/walking
– 30% of all trips by bike in Amsterdam; 2% in Portland,
OR
Automobiles: Alternatives
• Busses
• Trains
–15 x more efficient per passenger
than autos
• Natural gas and/or gasohol
-generate less CO2
Automobiles: Alternatives
• Telecommuting
• Biodiesel
– Vegetable oil-based fuel
– Problem: Cheapest biodiesel is oil from palm
trees; Indonesia, Malaysia deforesting areas
to plant palm trees, leading to increase in
global CO2
Automobiles: Alternatives
• Solar cars
• Hydrogen-powered cars
–Byproduct = water
–Problem: Hydrogen production
requires fossil fuels
Energy Spending/Research
• Since 1947, the U.S. has spent $145
billion on nuclear R and D vs. $5 billion on
renewables R and D
• < 5% of the DOE’s budget pays for energy
efficiency and renewables
• BP invests $100 million annually in clean
energy = amt. it spends annually to market
its new name and environmentally-friendly
image of moving “Beyond Petroleum”
Garbage
• 98% of the country’s total refuse is
industrial waste; 2% municipal waste
• American produce 4.4 lbs/d garbage
• In a lifetime, the average American
will throw away 6500 times his/her
adult weight in garbage
Garbage
• In one year, Americans generate
236 million tons of garbage
–30% recycled
–164 million tons thrown away
U.S. Garbage Composition
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Paper and Paperboard - 39%
Yard Waste - 13%
Food Waste - 10%
Plastics - 12%
Metals - 8%
Glass - 6%
Wood - 5%
U.S. Recycling Rates
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Tires - 22%
Plastic containers - 25%
Overall plastics – 5%
Glass containers - 28%
Yard waste - 41%
Paper and Paperboard - 42%
Aluminum packaging - 54%
Steel cans - 60%
Auto batteries - 93%
Garbage
• Landfills (2300 in US)
• Incinerators
• Garbage exports
Toxins
Annual World Production of
Synthetic Organic Chemicals
• 1930 - 1 million tons
• 1950 - 7 million tons
• 1970 - 63 million tons
• 1990 - 500 million tons
• 2000 - 1 billion tons
Toxins
• 6 trillion tons of over 85,000 chemicals produced
annually
– 2000-3000 new chemicals registered each
year
• 2/3 of those introduced since 1983 marked
“trade secret,” making investigation difficult
– More than 90% have never been screened for
toxicity
– Consequence of 1976 Toxic Substances
Control Act
Toxic Pollutants
• 85,000 known or suspected hazardous
waste sites in the U.S.
– Plus up to 600,000 lightly contaminated
former industrial sites (“brownfields”)
• EPA estimates that there will be 217,000
new hazardous waste sites by 2033
– Will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to
mitigate environmental impacts
Toxic Pollutants
• 1 in 4 U.S. citizens lives within 4 mile of a
Superfund site (approximately 1,305 sites
listed; another 2,500 sites eligible)
• Taxpayers paying increasing share of
cleanup costs
– 54% in 2003
– Vast majority presently
– Overall funding decreasing
Toxins
• Body burden of industrial chemicals,
pollutants and pesticides high
– Environmental Working Group
(2004)found 287 pesticides, consumer
product ingredients, and wastes from
burning coal, gasoline, and garbage in
umbilical cord blood
• Many other compounds not even tested;
numbers undoubtedly higher
Fetuses and Children are Most
Vulnerable to Toxins
• Greater pound-for-pound exposure
• Immature, porous blood brain barrier
• Lower levels of chemical binding
proteins, allowing more chemicals to
reach “target” organs
Fetuses and Children are Most
Vulnerable to Toxins
• Organs/organ systems rapidly developing,
thus more vulnerable to damage
• Systems that detoxify and excrete
industrial chemicals are not fully
developed
• Longer future life span allows more time
for adverse effects to arise
Toxins in breast milk
• Human babies at the top of the food chain
• Fat soluble toxins concentrated in breast
milk
– Benefits of breast feeding still exceed
risks
• Birth defects, learning disabilities
increasing
– Toxins play important role
Toxins and gender
• Sex ratio changing:
– Normal = 105 boys/girls born (skewed by
early male mortality)
– Fewer boys being born in industrialized
countries
• Other causes include obesity, older parental age,
stress, fertility aides
Pesticides
• 5 billion lbs/yr pesticides
worldwide
–1.1 billion lbs/yr in U.S.
–About 3 lbs/person/yr in U.S.
Pesticides
• EPA estimates U.S. farm workers suffer up to
300,000 pesticide-related acute illnesses and
injuries per year
– Possibly linked to higher rates of sarcoidosis
in agricultural workers
– Pesticide-exposed men have impaired semen
quality, which is associated with reduced
fertility and testicular cancer
Pesticides
• NAS estimates that pesticides in food could
cause up to 1 million cancers in the current
generation of Americans
• Linked to autism, Parkinson’s Disease, diabetes,
obesity (with prenatal exposure), depression,
ADHD
• Children living on or near farms score 5 points
lower on IQ tests and other mental and verbal
tests
– May be due to pesticide exposure
Anthropological Study of
Children Exposed to Pesticides
Children from villages
practicing organic agriculture
Children from villages
practicing non-organic
agriculture
Pesticides
• 1,000,000 people killed by pesticides
over the last 6 years (WHO)
• US health and environmental costs
$12 billion/yr (2005)
Pesticides
• Only 5 states (CA, LA, MI, TX, NY) currently
track pesticide sales and use and/or collect data
on pesticide-related illnesses
• 2008: USDA axes national survey charting
pesticide use
• EPA, NAS currently allows pesticide testing in
humans, despite strong opposition
• Monsanto’s Roundup purchased by US
government for aerial spraying in Colombia as
part of “War on Drugs”
Pesticides
Pesticides
• $2.4 billion worth of insecticides and fungicides
sold to American farmers each year
• Pesticide runoff contributes to coastal dead
zones
– Baltic Sea, Mouth of Mississippi in Gulf of
Mexico
– Red tides
• Pesticides inhibit nitrogen fixation, decrease
crop yields
Pesticides
• Evidence suggests that pesticides
promote pests (vs. natural pesticides)
• 30% of medieval crop harvests
were destroyed by pests vs. 3542% of current crop harvests
–Implies organic farming more costeffective
Pesticides and Produce
• The Dirty Dozen: peaches, apples, bell
peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries,
cherries, kale, lettuce, grapes (imported),
carrots, pears
• The Clean 15: onions, avocados, sweet
corn, pineapples, mangos, asparagus,
sweet peas, kiwis, cabbages, eggplant,
papayas, watermelon, broccoli, tomatoes,
sweet potatoes
Lead
• 2 million US children with elevated
levels
• 120 million people with level >
10mcg/dL worldwide
–Due to increased environmental
exposure and, possibly, early umbilical
cord clamping
• #s affected dropping
Lead
• Affects brain development, associated with
lower IQ
– No safe level for neurological development
• Levels between 4 and 10 significantly
increase risk of cardio- and
cerebrovascular disease
• Elevated levels associated with crime and
violent behavior
• Poor, African-Americans more commonly
exposed
Lead Poisoning: S/S, DX, and RX
• S/S: AP, CP, arthralgias, myalgias, HA,
anorexia, ↓libido, ↓memory, anemia,
nephropathy, HTN, cataracts, CV dz,
cancer, ↓sperm count, lead line on teeth,
basophilic stipling
• Dx: lead level, FEP (free erythrocyte
protoporphyrin)
• Rx: ↓exposure, CsEDTA, DMSA
Toxic Pollutants – Economic
Costs
• Birth defects, learning disabilities
increasing
– Toxins play important role
• Americans pay more than $55 billion
annually for direct medical expenses plus
special schooling and long-term care for
pediatric diseases caused by lead
• This excludes the greatest toxic pollutant tobacco
Mercury
• Released into air by coal combustion,
industrial processes, mining, waste
disposal, and volcanoes
– 4500 tons/yr
• Travels throughout atmosphere and
settles in oceans and waterways
• Bacteria convert it to toxic methyl-mercury
• Travels up food chain via fish
Mercury
• 16% of women of childbearing age exceed
the EPA’s “safe” mercury level
• Freshwater fish mercury levels too high for
pregnant women to eat in 43 states
• Mercury dental amalgams pose health
risks to pregnant women, unborn babies,
and children (FDA)
• Contaminant in high fructose corn syrup
Mercury: S/S, Dx, and Rx
• S/S: neuropsychiatric symptoms,
inflammation of gums with excessive
salivation, rash, nephropathy, hearing loss
– Linked to autism
• Dx: mercury levels in air, blood, urine
(>100 mcg/l in blood and/or urine = toxic)
• Rx: chelation with BAL, penicillamine,
DMPS, DMSA
Arsenic
• Contaminates groundwater in Bangladesh, also,
India, China, Mexico, Argentina, Thailand, and
parts of the U.S.
– 13 million Americans have drinking water
exceeding EPA’s “safe level”
– Exposure also via rice (esp. brown), seafood
• Used to pressure treat wood in US and
elsewhere
Health Consequences of Arsenic Exposure
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Miscarriage, low birth weight
Pigmentary skin changes
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Increased risk of lung, bladder, and skin
cancers
Ayurvedic Medicines
• Lead, mercury, or arsenic found in 1/5 of
both U.S.- and India-manufactured
Ayurvedic medicines purchased via the
internet
Manganese/Cadmuim
• Manganese:
– Welders exposed via fumes
– Causes “manganism” (like Parkinson’s
Disease)
– Welding companies covered up link for
decades (like lead paint, etc.)
• Cadmium
– Neurological damage, osteoporosis,
periodontal disease
Phosphorus/Phosphates
• Phosphorus in dishwater detergents
– Contribute to eutrophication, harmful algal
blooms
– Banned in 16 states
• Phosphate in fertilizers
– Agricultural runoff contributes to algal blooms,
dead zones
– World supply running critically low
– Composting would recycle, return to soil
Perchlorate
• Perchlorate
– Toxic air pollutant, endocrine and reproductive toxin,
likely human carcinogen, exposure increases risk of
bipolar disorder and PTSD
– Used in rocket fuel, dry cleaning
• Alternative = “wet cleaning” with compressed,
liquefied CO2
– EPA requiring phaseout of use in residential areas by
2020
Pepper Spray
• Contains TCE (trichloroethylene) and
PCE (tetrachloroethylene)
• Both can cause liver and kidney
cancer, lymphoma, and other
illnesses
Cell phones
• ?Link to parotid gland tumors?
• ?Link to brain tumors?
–Gliomas?
–Acoustic neuromas?
• Precautionary principle – hands-free
headset
–?Other safety benefits?
Toxic Pollutants
• Dioxin - from manufacturing, medical
incinerators, defoliants (“Agent Orange”)
-Love Canal
-cancers
• Nitrates/nitrites, trichloroethylene, vinyl
chloride, ozone
• PFOA (Teflon): multiple health effects;
being phased out by Dupont
Hazardous Waste and
Fertilizer
• Legal to dispose of hazardous waste by
turning it into fertilizer
• e.g. Uranium-laced fertilizer in Oklahoma,
lead-laced fertilizer in SW Wash., other
mixtures containing arsenic, cadmium and
dioxins
• Unclear if a health hazard
• No requirement that toxins be listed on
ingredient labels
Persistent Organic Pollutants
• Toxic, remain in environment longterm, resist degradation, can travel
long distances
• Bioaccumulate - higher
concentrations as you move up
the food chain
Persistent Organic Pollutants
• 10 of the these are endocrine disrupters
– egs. - DDT, chlordane, heptachlor, dioxins,
PCBs
– possible cause of decreasing male sperm
counts (100 million/ejaculate in 1950, 50
million in 1990) and increasing cases of
hypospadias. early puberty, and breast
cancer
– Cases of hypospadias doubled in U.S.
between late 1960s and early 1990s
Endocrine Disruptors
• Linked to:
– Obesity
– Insulin resistance
– Diabetes
– PCOS, endometriosis, uterine fibroids,
premature ovarian failure
– Male and female reproductive tract
abnormalities
Endocrine Disruptors
• Linked to:
– Impaired fertility
– Low birth weight, impaired fetal
development and fetal anomalies
– Multiple cancers (including breast,
colon, prostate, testicular)
– Thyroid disease
– Neuroendocrine abnormalities
Toxic Pollutants and DNA
• Toxins can damage DNA
• New evidence from rats of epigenetic
transgenerational effects of endocrine
disruptors on male fertility in rats
• In 1938, 0.5% of men were
functionally sterile
– 8-12% in 2006
Phthalates/Bisphenol A
• Found in construction materials, clothing, toys,
cashier receipts, cosmetics, pills, dental
fills/sealants, added to PVCs in IV tubing/other
plastics
– At least 47 million prescription meds
– Exposure levels very high
– FDA approves
• 5 million metric tons consumed by industry per
year (13% in the U.S.)
• Exxon Mobil and BASF dominate the market
Phthalates/Bisphenol A
• Wal-Mart, Target, Toys ‘R’ Us phasing out,
San Francisco, California, Europe, and
Canada have banned phthalates; Australia
phasing out use in baby bottles
– 9 states, Chicago, Multnomah County
(Portland), OR, and Suffolk County, NY
have banned BPA in baby bottles and
sipper cups
Phthalates/Bisphenol A
• Consumer Product Safety Commission
reforms of 2008 eliminate lead and
phthalates from toys and children’s
products
• Sugar-derived epoxy lining could replace
BPA in cans
Phthalates/Bisphenol A
• 2009: Ban Poisonous Additives Act (to ban use
of BPA in food and beverage containers and
items used by young children) submitted in U.S.
House and Senate
• 2009: BPA-Free Kids Act (to ban BPA in food
and beverage containers and utensils marketed
for children aged 3 or younger) introduced into
U.S. Senate
• 2011: EPA to propose ban on BPA in baby
bottles and sippy cups
Phthalates/BPA
• 90% of government-funded studies found adverse health
effects
– vs. 0% of industry-funded studies
• Associated with:
– demasculinization and alterations in genitalia in male
infants
– low birth weight
– lower and higher testosterone levels
– PCOS in women
– lower sperm counts in adults; impaired sperm function
– male sexual dysfunction
Phthalates/BPA
• Associated with:
– Infertility
– childhood behavioral, emotional, and conduct
problems
– obesity
– asthma
– heart disease
– diabetes
– elevated liver enzymes
Phthalates/PVCs and Medical
Devices
• EPA regulations weak, based on 50year old study
• FDA has advised healthcare
providers to use alternatives to
DEHP-containing PVC medical
devices, esp. in neonatal units
• Banned by EU, CA, and WA
– Federal legislation pending
Teflon (PFOA –
perfluorooctanate)
• Non-stick material made by Dupont
• Chemicals released under high heat and
when cookware damaged
• Exposure linked with cancer, birth defects,
and liver damage
• Dupont hit with largest-ever civil penalty
($10.25 million) in 2006 for concealing
health consequences and transmission
from mother to fetus
Environmental Racism
and Toxic Imperialism
• Environmental Racism
– Polluting factories/waste dumps/incinerators
more common in lower SES neighborhoods
– “Cancer Belt” (Baton Rouge to New Orleans)
– More cardiovascular disease
• Toxic Imperialism
• WHO estimates toxic chemical exposures
responsible for 4.9 million deaths and 86 million
DALYs in 2004
Mining and Pollution: Gold
• Cyanide “heap leach” gold
mining
–cyanide dripped over crushed
rock to extract gold
–taxpayers often stuck with
cleanup costs
Mining and Pollution: Gold
• International gold mining linked to
human rights abuses
• 84% of gold becomes jewelry
–To save the environment, consider
not buying gold jewelry
Should I Send Flowers?
• Most commercial flowers grown in sealed
greenhouses in developing countries (e.g.,
Colombia, India China, Mexico)
• Carry 50 times the amount of pesticides allowed
on food
– One fifth of chemicals used banned in U.S.
• Workers underpaid, 50-60% suffer from
pesticide poisoning
Electronic Waste
• Only 5-10% of computers recycled
• Most sent overseas, children disassemble
– Some returns to U.S. in children’s jewelry
• EU now requires electronics firms to
recycle and to eliminate lead, cadmium
and mercury from their products
• Dell, www.computertakeback.com
Electronic Waste
• European laws re extended producer
responsibility and product liability
–Similar San Francisco resolution
• Maine passed first law requiring
elctronic manufacturers to pay for
recycling their discarded products
Medical Waste
• The 6,000 US hospitals generate 2
million tons of waste per year; clinics
and doctors’ offices an additional
700,000 tons
• 850,000 tons incinerated
– 15% infectious waste
– incinerated pollutants include dioxin,
mercury, cadmium and lead
Medical Waste
• One hospital bed generates between 16
and 23 lbs/day of waste
• Outbreak of hepatitis B in India due to
black market in medical waste and
supplies (2009)
Medical Waste
• Solutions:
– Strengthen EPA regulations
– Segregation and alternatives to
incineration would cost < $1/patient/day
80% of thermometers no longer contain
mercury
– Remove PVCs from medical supplies
(e.g., IV tubing)
Medical Waste
• Organizations:
–Health Care Without Harm
–Green Health Center Movement
• NAS: Hospitals built and operated on
more environmentally sound
principles save money and produce
better patient outcomes
Water Pollution
• 40% of U.S. waters are unfit for fishing or
swimming
– beach closings
• The Jordan River (believed to be the
gateway to the Garden of Eden and the
place where Jesus was baptized) is now
more than 50% raw sewage and
agricultural runoff
Willamette River
• One of the most polluted rivers in the
American West
– Arsenic, lead, mercury, DDT
• 5.5 mile stretch Superfund site
• Current law allows polluters to calculate
discharges using “toxic mixing zones” to
get around limits on discharges
Water
• In developing countries, 90-95% of
sewage and 70% of industrial wastes are
dumped untreated into the local water
supply
• 13,000-15,000 deaths per day worldwide
from water-related diseases
• 4/10 people worldwide have no access to
any latrine, toilet, bucket or box
Water Pollution:
Bathtub=Toilet=Source of Drinking Water
Infamous Industrial Disasters
• Minimata, Japan, 1920s-1970s (Chisso
Corporation) - methylmercury poisoning
-400 dead; 10,000 injured
• Bhopal, India, 1984 (Union Carbide, purchased
by Dow in 2001) - methyl isocyanate gas
– 7000-10,000 dead within 3 days, 15,00020,000 more over next 10 years; tens of
thousands injured
– persistent water and soil contamination
Minimata Disease
W Eugene Smith
Infamous Industrial Disasters
• Love Canal:
– Hooker Electrochemical Company
(parent company Occidental Petroleum)
dumps over 21,000 tons of chemical
waste in 1940s and 1950s
– Miscarriages, birth defects, cancers
– Occidental found liable
Infamous Industrial Disasters
• Leads to Superfund Law
• Today only seven states prohibit
construction of schools on or near
hazardous waste sites
–Half-million children attend schools
within ½ mile of toxic waste dumps
in NY, NJ, MA< and MI alone
Infamous Industrial Disasters
• Chernobyl, USSR, 1986 - nuclear power
plant explosion
-25-100 dead, up to 1,000 injured
acutely, NCI estimates 10-75K thyroid
cancers
• Alaska, Exxon Valdez, 1989 - oil spill
-wildlife devastated, $5 billion damage
• 2006 BP Alaskan pipeline ruptures
Since Exxon Valdez
• At least 1.1 million tons of oil have
spilled from tankers worldwide
–Equivalent to 30 Valdez
incidents
• 2010 BP Gulf oil disaster
(Michigan too)
• 2011: Yellowstone River
Oil Pollution is Expensive to Clean
Up
Oil Slicks Kill Marine Life
The Military and Pollution
• World’s single largest polluter
• 6-10% of global air pollution
• 2-11% of world raw material use
The Military and Pollution
• 97% of all high level and 78% of all low level
nuclear waste
– 1054 U.S. nuclear tests since 1940s, 331 in
atmosphere
– 104 U.S. nuclear reactors
– More than 210 million liters of radioactive and
chemical waste stored at Hanford, WA
• Site plagued by leaks, cost overruns
The Military and Pollution
• Pentagon generates 750,000 tons
hazardous waste/year
• Numerous toxic waste sites
• Exempt from most environmental
regulations
The Military and Pollution
• “The more birds that the [Department of
Defense] kill[s], the more enjoyment
[people] will get from seeing the ones that
remain: ‘Bird watchers get more
enjoyment spotting a rare bird than they
do spotting a common one.’”
– 2002 court summary of the U.S. Defense
Department’s argument for exemption from
the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918
The Military
• Small arms and rocket propelled
grenades
• Land mines
• Nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons
Military Waste
• More than 27,000 toxic hot spots at the
pentagon’s 8,500 properties
– less than 400 toxic waste dumps have
been cleaned up
– costs to clean - immense: likely never to
be completed
• Military exempt from most environmental
regulations
Worrisome Trends
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GATT
NAFTA
CAFTA
Other trade agreements
SLAPP/SLAPP-Back
• Strategic Lawsuits Against Private
Parties/ Countersuits
• SLAPPs- designed to harass
environmental groups, deplete their
financial resources through
threatened or actual litigation
Politics: Bush Administration
• Key administrators/committee
members/regulators former industry
representatives and/or lobbyists
• Corporate profit before public good
• Unsound/distorted/suppressed science
• Eco-harassment
– Criminalizing activists
Bush Administration
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Rollbacks of key environmental laws
Lax enforcement of existing laws
Huge tax cuts primarily benefit wealthy
Federal and state government deficits
astronomical
– Program and funding cuts
Would You Sign a Petition to
Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide?
1. It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
2. It is a major component in acid rain
3. It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
4. It can kill you if accidentally inhaled
5. It contributes to erosion
6. It decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
7. It has been found in tumors of terminal cancer
patients
Environmental Ignorance
• A majority of Americans believe that electricity in
the U.S. is produced in nonpolluting ways
– 25% knew that majority (70%) comes from oil,
coal and wood
• 1/3 assumed that spent nuclear fuel (from our
104 plants) is stored “in a deep underground
facility in the West”
– Only 17% were aware that it is mostly stored
on-site at powerplants pending a long-term
solution (30,000/tons)
Pseudoscientific Beliefs
Percentage of Americans who believe
“at least to some degree” in these
“phenomena”
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Astrology
UFOs
Reincarnation
Fortune-Telling
1997
37%
30%
25%
14%
1976
17%
24%
9%
4%
Greenwash
• Public relations / ad campaigns
-Chevron’s “People Do” Campaign,
butterflies/refinery
-Dupont Freon Campaign in 1970’s
-Grants to a few scientists who
challenge environmental warnings
-tobacco ads in 1950’s
Astroturf and Corporate Front
Groups
• Artificially-created grassroots
coalitions
• Corporate front groups
– The American Council on Science and Health
– The Oregon Lands Coalition
– National Wilderness Institute
– The Foundation for Clean Air Progress
Corporate PR tactics
• Invoke poor people as beneficiaries
• Characterize opposition as
“technophobic,” anti-science,” and
“against progress”
• Portray their products as
environmentally beneficial in the
absence of (or despite the) evidence
Sponsored Environmental
Educational Materials
• Corporate-sponsored and
supported by a loose
coalition of antiregulatory
zealots, corporate polluters,
lapdog scientists and
misguided parents
Sponsored Environmental
Education Materials (Examples)
• Exxon’s “Energy Cube”
-“Gasoline is simply solar power hidden in
decayed matter”
-“Offshore drilling creates reefs for fish”
• Pacific Lumber Company
-“The Great American Forest is. . .
renewable forever”
Sponsored Environmental
Education Materials (Examples)
• International Paper
-“Clearcutting promotes growth of trees
that require full sunlight and allows
efficient site preparation for the next
crop”
• American Nuclear Society’s “Activities
with the Atoms Family”
• Dow’s “Chemipalooza”
“Doubt is our product”
Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company
Memo, 1960s
Progress and Solutions
The “Benefits” of Sterility-Causing
Chemicals in the Workplace?
12 September 1977
Dr. Eula Bingham, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health
[Regarding] worker exposure to DBCP.
While involuntary sterility caused by a manufactured chemical may be
bad, it is not necessarily so. After all, there are many people who are now
paying to have themselves sterilized to assure they will no longer be able to
become parents...
If possible sterility is the main problem, couldn’t workers who were old
enough that they no longer wanted to have children accept such positions
voluntarily? Or…some [workers] might volunteer for such workposts as an
alternative to planned surgery for a vasectomy or tubal ligation, or as a
means of getting around religious bans on birth control when they want no
more children?
Sincerely,
Robert K. Phillips, National Peach Council
Environmental Success Story
The Montreal Protocol (1987)
• Phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by 1996
• Developed in 1920s; the chief working fluid in
refrigerators, aerosol spray cans, insulating foams, and
industrial solvents and cleaning agents
-1 million tons/year manufactured in 1970s
-major cause of Antarctic and Arctic ozone holes
-should disappear by 2060
-current substitute, HCFCs, much less damaging to
ozone layer, also to be phased out
The Montreal Protocol
• 1980 - 880,000 tons CFC’s produced
worldwide
• 1996 - 141,000 tons
• 1996 - all industrialized nations stopped
producing CFC’s
• Today: Illegal CFC trade, once quite large,
starting to taper off
• 2010 - rest of world expected to stop
The Montreal Protocol
• However, the Bush administration has
withdrawn from the Treaty, under
pressure from agribusiness and
chemical lobbyists, who favor
increased spraying of the pesticide
methyl bromide (the most dangerous
ozone-destroying chemical still in
use)…..
Toxic Pollutants:
The Basel Convention
• The Basel Convention on the
Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes
(designed to control dumping of
hazardous wastes from the
industrialized world in developing
countries)
Toxic Pollutants:
The Basel Convention
• Ratified by 170 countries
• Despite being the largest producer of
toxic pollutants in the world, the U.S.
has signed but not ratified this
agreement
Persistent Organic Pollutants
• UN Environmental Program
organizing worldwide phaseout of top
12 through the Stockholm Convention
on Persistent Organic Pollutants
– Including DDT, PCBs, and dioxins
–US has signed, but not ratified
Lead
• American Assn. of Pediatrics now recommends
toxic lead be removed from all housing and that
all children be tested once during their first two
years
• 25% of U.S. homes still contain significant
amounts of lead-based paint
– Cost of removing lead from 4 million seriously
affected homes: $28 billion
• Cost savings each year thereafter: $43 billion
(higher IQs, increased earning power, increased
tax revenue, lower health care costs, less crime)
Leaded Gasoline
• Banned in Canada in 1990, US in 1996 (after
25-year phase-out period), EU in 2002, Africa in
2006
– Ban fought by industry for decades
– Lead paint banned in U.S. in 1978 after
decades of industry push-back
• 6 countries still sell small amounts of leaded
gasoline:
– North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria,
Myanmar/Burma, and Yemen (all to phase out
by 2013
REACH
• Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization
of Chemicals
• European Treaty requiring companies to
test chemicals already on the market by a
set timetable and test new products before
putting them on the market
REACH
• Cost of evaluations < 1% of chemical
industry’s total sales
• Economic analyses show REACH could
bring environmental benefits worth €95
billion over the next 25 years and result in
health cost savings of €50 billion over the
next 30 years
Medical Waste
• Organizations:
– Health Care Without Harm
– Green Health Center Movement
• Hospitals built and operated on more
environmentally sosund principles save money
(NAS):
– Costs recovered more quickly, patients get better
sooner, patients’ families happier, medical errors
reduced, steaf turnover/absenteeism/workers’ comp
claims drop
Solutions
Based on the Precautionary Principle
“When evidence points toward the
potential of an activity to cause
significant, widespread or irreparable
harm to public health or the
environment, options for avoiding that
harm should be examined and
pursued, even though the harm is not
yet fully understood or proven”
The Precautionary Principle:
Practical Essentials
• Give human and environmental health the
benefit of doubt
• Include appropriate public participation in
the discussion
• Gather unbiased, scientific, technological
and socioeconomic information
• Consider less risky alternatives
The Precautionary Principle
• Endorsed by APHA, ANA, CMA,
others
– Institute of Medicine/National Research
Council have endorsed for FDA policies
• Puerto Rico, San Francisco have
adopted, among others
• Big business, US Chamber of
Commerce oppose
The Precautionary Principle
• "All scientific work is incomplete - whether
it be observational or experimental. All
scientific work is liable to be upset or
modified by advancing knowledge. That
does not confer upon us a freedom to
ignore the knowledge we already have, or
to postpone the action it appears to
demand at a given time." (Bradford Hill,
1965)
Contact Information
Public Health and Social Justice
Website
http://www.phsj.org
martindonohoe@phsj.org