Relaxing health safeguards puts people at risk For most people, concern about the environment isn't about animals on the verge of extinction but about whether the water is safe to drink and safe to swim in. People want to eat fish without liver tumors.
Mothers are rightly concerned about how much dioxin they are passing to their nursing infants.
Our waters are the life's blood of us all but elected officials and those entrusted with protecting the health of our waters are in many instances moving in an opposite direction from people's real concerns. The EPA's proposed rule is especially disturbing at a time when the state Department of Ecology is reluctant to adopt sediment quality criteria that protect human health. The draft study seeks to confirm findings of a study sponsored by the General Electric Company. According to a PTI Environmental Services Technical bulletin, using the new standards would lower remediation costs and complete clean-up of PCB contaminated sites quicker. As reported last November, Ecology loosened standards for wastes classified as hazardous, dangerous, carcinogenic or toxic, allowing ordinary landfill disposal of what once required special handing.