New evidence seems to arrive dailyafrom stories about tainted pet food to toxic toysaof the dangerous consequences that lax environmental policies are having on the consumer products that we, and our children, use every day thanks to lobbying efforts by the U.S. chemical industry. Meanwhile, the European Union is forcing these global corporate giants to chart a new path that, by requiring safe products, is revamping how businesses can create safe products and make money. In "Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power" investigative journalist Mark Schapiro takes the reader inside the corridors of global power where tectonic battles are occurring that will impact the health of ourselves and the planet. Schapiroas exposA(c) shows how laws adopted by the European Unionawhere stricter consumer-safety standards are in placeahave forced multinationals into manufacturing safer products. And, short of such strong government action the United States will lose its claim of economic and environmental supremacy. Increasingly, products developed and sold in the United States are equated with serious health hazards, and many of those products are soon to be banned from Europe and other parts of the world. Schapiroas revelations in this thought-provoking work will change the way American consumers think about everyday productsafrom plastic softeners that can contribute to sexual malformations to lipstick additives that are potential toxins to the brain, liver, kidneys, and immune system. And it will stirthem into forcing our government to take the lead of others, including the European Union, China, and countries in Central and South America. "Exposed" is a revealing and fascinating look at global markets, everyday products, and the toxic chemicals that bind them. It will shock, inform, and warn American businesses and government leaders about the risks of being left behind in the international marketplace. Schapiroas book shines a light on Europeas evolving search for higher standards that places Brussels, not Washington, at the center of global market innovation.
Written by the poet-laureate of industrial ecology, "Radical Industrialist"...
Schapiro shows that Europe, by taking the environmental high road, is cleaning...
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The E.U. is currently implementing environmental safeguards that are much more stringent than those in the United States — eliminating toxic materials, overseeing the entire life cycle of a product, and generally holding up the precautionary principle as the guidepost for consumer safety decisions.So what does this mean for American manufacturing and consumers? As Mark Schapiro lays bare, it means a lot. Specifically, if American manufacturers want continued access to the buying power of the EU market, they are going to have to comply with EU standards.The principal objection to passing similar environmental regulations here in the States has been the issue of cost (and a reluctance to intrude on the sacred ground of the all-knowing market). The fear was, and is, that stronger regulations would price American manufacturers out of competition. In the EU, that has not been the case. Schapiro highlights case after case where industries have reformulated their products for the EU market and have continued to post standard margins of profit and growth. But if you insist on pessimism and are looking for a downside, here it is: these same industries may now have two separate production lines running – one that complies with EU standards and one that doesn’t. As it stands right now, the U.S. consumer market – yep, that’s us – is being positioned as the dumping ground for products that can’t legally be sold in the EU. As they say, caveat emptor.
Americans being sold down the river by their own government - it's not a new story, but it's still a compelling one. Mark Schapiro reveals the dirty business of major manufacturers - from cosmetics giants to companies producing household cleansers, electronics and even baby toys that are full of toxic chemicals proven to cause disease and sickness. Yet big business lobbyists have effectively quelched any new legislation requiring manufacterers to remove these harmful chemicals. Perhaps most shocking, is the fact that nearly all of the American products mentioned in this book are banned in other parts of the world, from Europe to China, while we unknowingly buy and use products deemed unsafe elsewhere. Schapiro also asks what will happen to Americans if our businesses can no longer compete in the global economy - a timely question given the current state of affairs.
This is a really good book about how the United States has become the dumping ground for all the toxic chemicals that the European Union and other countries have banned. Since the EU banned thousands of toxic chemicals based on the precautionary principle, multinationals have developed alternative less toxic products that meet EU standards while continuing the produce and sell the old toxic ones here because the gov't lets them. Plus, all these chemical companies are making great progress and money in the "green chemistry" revolution while American companies that still produce the old stuff are in trouble because other countries don't want this junk. Read it - it will make you furious and also have you checking labels. And get rid of those PVCs and flame retardants.
This book gives a good overview of the new EU environmental regulations that are going into effect, and how those are shifting the old America-as-global-ruler-in-everything paradigm. I must say that I was hoping this book would focus more on the environmental/social aspect of toxins and not just the political, but it still made for a somewhat interesting read. (Most annoying were the typos and blatant errors. Is David Wirth a professor at BC or BU?!) The one thing I found particularly interesting is how US companies, being forced to apply changes to their products overseas in the EU or even China, were at first very resistant to these changes, and indeed lobbied heavily against them. It was only after the regulations (such as RoHS, REACH, etc.) were passed that they began lobbying for similar restrictions back at home. Why? To ensure that smaller companies that do not export to the EU do not have a competitive advantage by not having to change their chemical formula. That said, the US is still home to toys filled with pthalates, genetically modified food, and toxic cosmetics, and the big industries don't seem to be changing their ways any time soon. Although I enjoy the optimistic tone of this book - things are changing! in a good way! - I dislike how the author glosses over other effects of rampant industrialism and global "free trade." Sure, maybe some industries are cleaning up their acts (in the EU), but that won't stop global warming, global food shortages and economic imperialism.
I picked this book up at a used book store, and it changed how I viewed global markets in one afternoon. If you cannot understand why corporations battle current environmental and health policy-making in Washington, this book will open your eyes to why those companies do not want change. If America does not adopt a preventative attitude like those policies that are developed in Brussels, you might count on this country becoming a third-world nation that suffers as a dumping ground for the world's toxic waste.
A werewolf gang-war mini-epic written in free verse (!!!). If it had stopped...
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