Toxic sludge, anyone? |
I remember 'cancer' being a buzz word when I was a boy. It took to the airwaves in similar fashion as AIDS did two decades later - arriving as a new and horrific malady, and at a time where industrialisation and chemical agriculture was not only in full swing, but where enough years had elapsed since the post-WWII 'Green Revolution' for the laws of cause and effect to make their presence felt.
Tabacco companies, pesticide manufacturers, and other environmental 'death dealers' have long tried to place doubt and uncertainty surrounding any connection between their 'products' and the rise of cancer over the 20th century. Although poorly funded compared to the corporations making these products, eventually enough independent studies have taken place to arm people, in a few small areas at least, with legislation-promoting documentation.
In China today the glaring connection between ecological toxicity and human casualties is so undeniable that it is well worth making mention. At the very least, it provides opportunity for us to point, and emphatically state: "I told you so".
Of concern to me - above and beyond the poisons and the cancers - is that, in the west at least, battles against environmental pollution have been fought for so long, and with such exertion, and we are now so accustomed to businesses protecting their interests above community interests, that we no longer even consider it should be any other way. The necessity of such courtroom battles are not seen for what they truly are - a failure of human empathy and conscience. The corporate battle has rarely been one of objectively seeking truth and health - but agressively looking for loopholes and compromises.Foul air, filthy water and contaminated soil have led to a surge of tumours in China, where cancer is the main cause of death, the state media reported yesterday.
Worth every penny?
... In a ministry study of 30 cities and 78 counties, scientists found that air and water pollution - along with widespread use of pesticides and food additives - was to blame for the trend.
Chen Zhizhou, of a cancer research institute affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said the situation was getting worse. "Many chemical and industrial enterprises are built along rivers so that they can dump the waste into water easily," he told the China Daily. "Excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides also pollute underground water. The contaminated water has directly affected soil, crops and food."
In recent years, newspapers have been filled with reports of "cancer villages", where there are clusters of the disease near industrial plants or alongside polluted waterways. Many of them are in Jiangsu - one of China's richest and most developed provinces - which accounts for 12% of all cancer cases nationwide. Last year, a construction official said a single river in the province contained 93 different carcinogens because so many factories were dumping untreated waste.
... According to the environment agency, one quarter of China's 1.3bn population drink substandard water. Such statistics - along with food safety scandals, rising healthcare costs and corruption cases involving drug regulators - have fuelled concerns that the country is becoming sicker and dirtier as it becomes richer. - Guardian
The logical result, of course, is the world in which we now live - a world of 'acceptable levels' and 'maximum recommended doses'. We live in a world where substances banned in places like the U.S. are still manufactured there, but exported for use in nations without such legal hindrances to market domination. Places like China.
As I've shared before, however - what goes around, comes around.
We need no convincing on this topic, but we remain 'captive consumers' yet - reluctantly gambling in our everyday lives, hoping the odds won't be stacked too highly against us. Fingers crossed, we'll manage to slip into the lucky percentile that escapes the worst, as opposed to the alternative - becoming a statistic; one of those dual-faceted entities from a corporate perspective - where we, ourselves, are both the final 'product' of the industrial and retail sectors and 'customer' to the medical establishment.Health officials in the United States say they are checking all shipments of toothpaste imported from China for contamination with toxic chemicals.
Cancer - an 'acceptable' consequence of industrialisation?
Panama and the Dominican Republic have reported finding diethylene glycol, a chemical used in engine coolants, in toothpaste from China.
The toothpaste scare is the latest involving products from China.
Earlier this year, contaminated pet food ingredients killed a number of cats and dogs in North America.
The toxic chemical, melamine, was found in wheat gluten exports from China for use in pet food, prompting a recall of at least 100 pet food brands.
The tainted wheat gluten was even thought to have made its way into livestock feed.
Cough syrup containing diethylene glycol originating from China killed more than 50 people in Panama last year.
... The former head of China's State Food and Drug Administration is facing trial, accused of taking large bribes to approve untested medicines. - BBC
Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to play the odds anymore - if we could envision, fight for, and win, a world where the only 'acceptable level' is zero.
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