Thursday, April 19, 2007
NIH Will Review Contractor's Work On Chemical's Risk
From The Washington Post:
“The National Institutes of Health says it will review the work done on a chemical called bisphenol A by a contractor hired to assess its health risks. The agency fired the company because it was also doing work for the chemical industry.”
“Herman Gibb, the president of Sciences International, called the firing "unfair." He said his company's work for BASF predated its federal work on bisphenol A, and he described an 11-employee firm where workers assigned to federal jobs were unaware that other employees were working for industry. None of the science was compromised by the firm's business ties, he said.”
Right. I’m sure in a workplace with *eleven* employees, they don’t know what’s going on with every single person!
“Gibb acknowledged that his company was working for three chemical trade associations at the same time it was performing federal reviews of two chemicals linked to those groups.”
I know this sort of thing occurs frequently and it’s nothing new. But I can’t help but be continually shocked that our government is willing to let people suffer (and die) at the hands of the chemical industry. It’s so disheartening in my battle to try and control chemicals in my food and home. I’m not a purist. I don’t have the time and energy to research and control every substance. And even if I did, things that are deemed ok may not be. Also, due to the expense of buying all organic products, I'm just not able to all the time. I try to buy organic or local if price permits. It’s such a frustrating exersize, I almost want to say what the hell, I’ll just eat all the pesticides. What does it f*cking matter?
“The National Institutes of Health says it will review the work done on a chemical called bisphenol A by a contractor hired to assess its health risks. The agency fired the company because it was also doing work for the chemical industry.”
“Herman Gibb, the president of Sciences International, called the firing "unfair." He said his company's work for BASF predated its federal work on bisphenol A, and he described an 11-employee firm where workers assigned to federal jobs were unaware that other employees were working for industry. None of the science was compromised by the firm's business ties, he said.”
Right. I’m sure in a workplace with *eleven* employees, they don’t know what’s going on with every single person!
“Gibb acknowledged that his company was working for three chemical trade associations at the same time it was performing federal reviews of two chemicals linked to those groups.”
I know this sort of thing occurs frequently and it’s nothing new. But I can’t help but be continually shocked that our government is willing to let people suffer (and die) at the hands of the chemical industry. It’s so disheartening in my battle to try and control chemicals in my food and home. I’m not a purist. I don’t have the time and energy to research and control every substance. And even if I did, things that are deemed ok may not be. Also, due to the expense of buying all organic products, I'm just not able to all the time. I try to buy organic or local if price permits. It’s such a frustrating exersize, I almost want to say what the hell, I’ll just eat all the pesticides. What does it f*cking matter?
