This Moment on Earth: on Corporations


John Kerry: Industry-sponsored chem safety research leaves US behind

A profound shift in the chemical-management paradigm has been adopted by the European Union (EU), where chemical producers are now required to provide authorities and the public with toxicity data on all high-volume chemicals. It is simply common sense: Before you release something into the environment, you must tell us about its health and environmental effects. Japan has banned the use of some phthalates in toys, and soon, certain phthalates will be permanently banned from use in all toys in Europe.

We also need to question whether industry-sponsored research will provide the sort of independent information required.

Source: This Moment On Earth, by John & Teresa Kerry, p. 42-4 Jan 1, 2007

John Kerry: Precautionary Principle: producers must prove harmlessness

The precautionary principle--which is being adopted in many places outside of the US, including the European Union--is based on this very simple and logical idea: The burden should be on the manufacturer to prove that the chemicals they sell do not have harmful effects, rather than on the consumer to prove that they do. It is certainly the wisest, cheapest, and best approach to the toxic dilemma. Manufacturers should not sell products to us until we have proof that they will not harm us. Period. As the world's leading industrial nation, the US must embrace this practice.

Convincing elected officials of the harmful effects of toxic substances can be difficult in part because the manufacturers are working hard to convince them otherwise.

We must not allow our bodies to be used as part of an uncontrolled experiment without our knowledge and without our consent. And we do not need to quietly accept the presence of industrial and synthetic chemicals as a necessary condition of living in today's world.

Source: This Moment On Earth, by John & Teresa Kerry, p. 48-9 Jan 1, 2007

  • The above quotations are from This Moment On Earth, by Teresa and John Kerry.
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Page last updated: Feb 18, 2019