On the Huffington Post, author and CIR editorial director Mark Schapiro responds to Dr. Elizabeth Whelan’s claims that his new book Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power is contributing to “unfounded health scares.”
Schapiro writes:
In her post, Dr. Whelan, President of the American Council for Science and Health, claims that “there is no evidence whatsoever—not even a hint—of health problems from phthalates used by children or adults.” Alas, there is far more than a “hint” of such evidence….
The problem, despite Dr. Whelan’s assertions, is not lack of evidence; the problem has been that no one in a policy-making position inside the U.S. government has been willing to listen to their or any other American scientist’s research on the potential endocrine-disrupting effects of phthalates.
Schapiro also points out:
One thing that Ms. Whalen neglected to mention: the American Council on Science and Health, of which she is President, has forty percent of its budget paid for by corporations, according to a statement on the group’s website by Whalen herself. The group no longer lists the names of its funders, but in the past, those named have included Chevron, Dow, DuPont, and Pfizer and company foundations including those of Procter&Gamble, and Merck.
These companies are among the key players which have helped create, through their influence in Washington, a laissez faire regulatory approach to chemicals that is increasingly leaving the United States behind the rest of the world in our approach to the growing evidence of harm to humans and the environment from toxic chemicals.
>> Read Mark Schapiro’s essay on the Huffington Post.
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