Word: toxication
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...formidable contrarian is Bruce Ames, a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley. He contends that obsessive concern with cancer-causing chemicals in foods, pesticides and toxic wastes has produced a regulatory tangle at EPA and a superfluous Superfund to clean dump sites. Government restrictions on man-made chemicals are absurdly stringent in proportion to ; their risk, says Ames. He notes that while the public panicked last spring because of trace amounts of the synthetic growth regulator Alar found on apples, many fruits contain natural carcinogens in concentrations 1,000 times as great. Observes Ames: "Eating vegetables and lowering...
Conserving water is just as important as saving energy. Only 3% of the world's water is fresh, and 75% of that is locked away in glaciers and the polar ice caps. The scramble for what is left is growing ever more intense, as the water table falls and toxic chemicals make some supplies undrinkable. Saving the precious liquid can be simple: use a water-conserving shower head, which can reduce consumption by more than half. For older-model toilets, put a brick or two in the tank, since they use 7 gal. of water per flush. Better yet, install...
...think that the toxic-waste mess is all the work of big bad industry. The average homeowner uses more pesticide and chemical fertilizer per acre of lawn than farmers do on the same amount of land. Cut back on these potent pollutants as well as nonbiodegradable detergents, cleansers and solvents. An attractive alternative to buying chemical fertilizer is to compost fallen leaves and lawn clippings, which now constitute 18% of all municipal solid waste...
Along with curbing energy use, companies can take a hard look at the amount of waste they generate. Increasingly stringent environmental regulations have made it ever more expensive to clean up smokestacks and reduce releases of toxic chemicals. Thus, limiting factory waste can save money while it helps preserve the surrounding environment. Since 1975, the 3M company has cut its waste discharges in half by redesigning equipment, streamlining manufacturing processes and selling or reusing materials that used to be discarded. By not having to deal with that waste, 3M has so far saved $300 million...
...will not put them at a competitive disadvantage. So far, though, the Bush Administration has squandered the momentum generated by the Montreal agreement. Administration negotiators outraged nations in Africa, a prime dumping ground for hazardous wastes, by opposing important safety provisions in an international agreement on the shipment of toxic refuse...