"THE DELAY GAME"

This is a very troubling report written by the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) . The sub title is "How the Chemical Industry Ducks regulation of the Most Toxic Substances". It follows, in some cases, decades long attempts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess the toxicity of common and ubiquitous chemicals used by industry in both Canada and the U.S. . The three examples used in this report are TCE (Trichloroethylene), Formaldehyde and Styrene. According to this report, various industry groups have formed for the purpose of intentional delay of both assessments and reassessments of chemicals with serious human health effects. This report by the NRDC names not only specific industry groups but also specific U.S. politicians whom they allege have run interference on behalf of the Chemical Industry. They are very blunt in their assessment that business and politicians are willing to sell out the health of citizens in exchange for continued profits.

On Saturday (Oct. 15/11) I had suggested that there was a local Waterloo Region connection in this report . Indeed, that is in the section describing the trials and tribulations of the TCE reassessment. There is an insert described as "Debbie's Story". This refers to Debbie Vitez of the Bishop St. community in Cambridge. Debbie is also the owner of the Cambridge Advocate website whose link is on the right side of this page, here in the Elmira Advocate.