BAIT & SWITCH GUIDELINES (RISK ASSESSMENT)

First of all these are another method for dishonest brokers such as polluters and governments to use on citizens. They are best served along with prevarication, deceit, psuedo science, puffery and heavy duty bullsh.t. I discovered these different guidelines on page 91 of the text during a fish consumption discussion. Many years ago we in Elmira were advised in writing of Tissue Residue Guidelines (TRG) for fish. Then sampling was done and surprise, surprise all kinds of fish in the Canagagigue Creek surpassed the TRGs for DDT, dioxins, mercury and PCBs. It was obvious and it was a no brainer that both Uniroyal Chemical pollution and allegedly some other source or two had contaminated the fish well beyond consumption limits. The TRG for DDT in fish is 14 parts per billion (ppb) and the TRG for dioxins in fish is a much smaller .7 parts per trillion (ppt). Both of these were unsurprisingly exceeded in the Canagagigue Creek. .............................................................................................................. Now more than three decades after local citizens involvement with the Ministry of Environment and a multitude of other lying officials we learn that well no TRGs really aren't what counts. Apparently in 2012 Health Cnada came up with a Human Consumption Guideline for DDT which is 5,000 ppb. To add insult to injury in 2020 the Government of Canada decided that 20 ppt dioxins was an appropriate guideline. Talk about moving the goalposts and or a huge Bait & Switch. This is not the first time that our authorities have moved criteria and guidelines albeit they usually claim it's due to new data. My belief is it's due to new requirements for an industry that can't make the cut. In other words for political reasons. Decades ago there was game playing going on with Trichloroethylene (TCE). Industry cried that the 5 ppb. guideline was too rigorous so they got a temporay reprieve as the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) were raised to 50 ppb. for TCE. Later they were lowered again. This is your government looking after the financial health of industry rather than the health of their citizens.