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Should public policy be decided solely in the laboratory? Industry flacks (and Henderson) would like us to believe so. Why? Because the nature of the issues is so technical and layered with complexity that achieving conclusiveness is virtually impossible. In other words, the environmental health and safety issues at stake are so complex and vast that industry lobbyists will always find wiggle room to challenge scientific findings that don’t suit their purposes. And true to form, industry has done just that in the face of an independent science advisory board agreeing with EPA recommendations (made after an examination of 5,000 scientific studies) that new fine-particulate standards should be developed. So while industry is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into grinding down EPA’s efforts, thousands of Americans will continue to suffer and even die from respiratory illnesses related to particulate matter. It’s not conclusive, Mr. Henderson, but the evidence is pretty damn strong.
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This corporate paradigm is now so pervasive–and why not, corporations own America’s media–that supposed alternative reporters like Henderson can’t even think outside the corporate box. So we’re left with a pollution of a different sort, and that really stinks.
In announcing its proposal, EPA said it had reviewed “86 PM-related human-health studies,” not 5,000. Perhaps Mr. West should let them know where to find the other 4,914.
