Dow Chemical & Gov’t Corruption
Dow Chemical Pulls Strings to Void Government Pesticide Findings
Monsanto clearly isn’t the only multinational company pulling strings within the U.S. government. During the Obama administration, the EPA concluded chlorpyrifos, a nerve gas-cum-pesticide made by Dow Chemical, which is widely used on citrus, apples, cherries and other crops, could pose health risks to consumers.
Even tiny doses were found to impact brain development in infants. A ban of the chemical’s use on food had been proposed, but the Trump-installed EPA chief, Scott Pruitt,27 recently denied the petition.28,29
Earth Justice called the decision “unconscionable,” vowing to fight the decision in court. A major problem with this chemical is that it’s become a common water contaminant, and the EPA’s own evaluation found it poses serious risks to 1,778 of the 1,835 endangered plants and animals assessed.
Despite this damning evidence, a legal team representing Dow Chemical and two other organophosphate manufacturers sent letters30 to the agencies responsible for joint enforcement of the Endangered Species Act,31,32,33 asking them to ignore the EPAs findings, saying the agency’s scientific basis was unreliable.
It’s interesting how on the one hand, Monsanto claims the EPA is the best judge of toxic chemicals when it suits them, while other industry giants accuse EPA scientists of not knowing what they’re doing when the evidence impacts their bottom line.
Bloomberg recently reported Dow Chemical’s first-quarter lobbying expenditures for 2017 are nearly eight times greater than its 2008 expenditures,34 and financial filings reveal the company hired a lobbying firm to meet with Congressmen in the weeks before the USDA’s and EPA’s deadline to take action on chlorpyrifos.
Trump also appointed Dow CEO Andrew Liveris to head a White House manufacturing council. All of that considered, is it any surprise that chlorpyrifos gets a free pass? With conflicts of interest such as these running the show, the health of Americans is in serious jeopardy. You simply cannot depend on government agencies to protect your best interests anymore.
