Meanwhile, Obama's Food and Drug Administration wants to keep pace with the FDA, as the Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) tells us:
Forgive us for wondering if Joe Biden had a hand in writing the FDA's recent pronouncement on bisphenol A (BPA), because it sounds strangely similar to his gaffe during the swine flu scare that travelling on airplanes was completely safe, though he wouldn't recommend it for his family.
Like airline travel, BPA is everywhere in our lives. It's found primarily in such hard plastics as baby bottles and the interior lining of canned goods, but it is also sometimes present in CDs, dental fillings, store receipts, kitchen appliances, newspaper ink and Blackberries. It's there to help maintain the structure of objects and provides a protective coating for wires and cans. Without BPA, people would be exposed to more harmful metals and substances.
Nonetheless, BPA has suddenly become ground zero in the endless enviro war against chemicals.
A preview of the BPA battle is available for viewing in Canada. In their book "Slow Death by Rubber Duck," Canadian activists Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie chronicle how they used the media to terrify soccer moms who then petitioned the government to ban BPA.
In 2007, after Canadian environmentalists outfitted babies and toddlers with "Don't Pollute Me" signs, panicked retailers yanked baby bottles and other products containing BPA from their shelves.
But the head of Health Canada's investigation of BPA declared in a speech that "exposures [to BPA] are so low as to be totally inconsequential, in my view." He was reassigned.
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But if the FDA can't get the job done, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), is looking into empowering the EPA to do accomplish it--he wants to put more teeth in the Kids Safe Chemicals bill he proposed in 2008. His legislation would replace the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act.
Yes, we should be protected from toxicity, but we should also be shielded from junk science and agenda-driven environmentalists who seemingly oppose everything.
"Chemical" is a loaded word, and the assumption that all chemicals are by definition anathema to society needs to be reversed.
The chemical industry has an obvious self-interest in producing safe products. It employs many people, and an overagressive government might hamper chemical firms. Which of course could mean fewer jobs.
And perhaps dirtier air.
Chemicals are used in batteries that power electric cars, solar cells can't operate without them.
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