Word: toxicants
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...midst of a cleanup of toxic financial waste that will cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, at the very least. The primary manufacturers of these hazardous products pocketed multimillion-dollar paychecks for their efforts. So why aren't we making them...
This is, after all, what Congress decreed in 1980 for producers of actual toxic waste. Under the Superfund law enacted that year, polluters pay for the messes they make. Environmental lawyer E. Michael Thomas sees no reason lawmakers couldn't demand the same of financial polluters and force them to ante up some of the bank-bailout money. "This is a directly parallel policy judgment," he says. "It's beautiful in its simplicity, and it's also beautiful in its justice...
...look as though it's packing up to 7 lb. (3 kg) of lead. Every day Americans throw out more than 350,000 cell phones and 130,000 computers, making electronic waste the fastest-growing part of the U.S. garbage stream. Improperly disposed of, the lead, mercury and other toxic materials inside e-waste can leak from landfills. (See pictures of China's electronic waste village...
...meantime, green groups are pressuring electronics manufacturers to take responsibility for the afterlife of their products. The strategy is working. By reducing toxic metals like mercury and using fewer small pieces of aluminum and glass, companies like Apple now design their laptops to be more easily recycled. Sony has pledged to work only with recyclers that pledge not to export e-waste. And Dell, which since 2004 has offered free recycling for its products (customers arrange shipping online), recently announced an in-store recycling program with Staples. To confirm that its recyclers are really recycling, Dell uses environmental-audit firms...
...health risks, researchers are only beginning to discover both the possible benefits and the real hazards of prescription stimulants. The effects of chronic, high doses of amphetamine are toxic; it can cause psychosis, depression and cognitive deficits, which are sometimes irreversible. That's why the street drug methamphetamine rightly has a terrible reputation. But lasting problems don't usually emerge from the therapeutic use of prescription stimulants - while the drugs do carry a risk of increased blood pressure, which raises the chance of heart attack and stroke, close medical monitoring reduces that risk...