Word: plasticizers
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Friends tell me how to this day, the smell of new plastic evokes Baby Tender Love. They recall the gust of freedom a new bike blew in, and the endless architectural possibilities provided by a tub of Legos: six bricks fit together in 102,981,500 ways. Will any of this season's hot toys leave marks so deep? Or would strapped parents do better to remember the toys that changed them and go looking elsewhere? (Facebook users, comment on this story below...
...proposal to slap a 5% tax on wrinkle fillers, Botox shots, breast implants and other elective cosmetic medical procedures as part of President Obama's health care reform package is raising disapproving eyebrows among some groups. A coalition of plastic surgeons, a women's group, medical associations and pharmaceutical makers were distraught when Senate majority leader Harry Reid slipped the so-called Botax levy into the health care bill late last month in hopes of raising $5.8 billion over the next 10 years. The tax would apply to elective but not reconstructive plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures...
Though it may seem like a stretch, opponents of the tax are making a populist cry. "This tax is not just a luxury tax," says Dr. Joanna Partridge, a plastic surgeon in North Brunswick, N.J. "This is a tax on the middle class, which is directly against what President Obama campaigned on." About 60% of those planning to have cosmetic medical procedures have an annual household income of $30,000 to $90,000, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS...
More than anyone else, doctors are mobilizing. "We're very much against the tax," says Dr. Renato Saltz, president of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. He notes that a similar tax adopted by New Jersey in 2004 has been a disappointment, with many patients simply having their procedures done in neighboring states. The New Jersey legislature tried to rescind the tax but was overruled by Governor Jon Corzine...
Opposition to the tax appears to be gaining momentum. A coalition of plastic surgeons and medical trade groups have sent letters to Congress and set up a website called stopcosmetictax.org, where people are urged to sign petitions and contact their Senators. (See the 10 worst fast-food meals...