Something that was particularly refreshing about the Oliver Stone movie "Snowden" is how the Obama administration is held to task for privacy abuses.
Whereas more partisan directors would have protected Obama and laid the blame all on the George W. Bush presidency, Stone shows video of Obama promising "no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens" and that he "stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known."
Obama was less then truthful. The current occupant of the White House appears to be equally so.
While the Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have made grandiose promises about transparency and good politics, the recently held a rushed meeting to sneak onto the books some very damaging regulation about household chemicals through an increasingly secretive, partisan group of appointees.
What’s at stake is Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a diverse family of chemicals that have been manufactured in the U.S. for decades.
They’re used in a myriad of industries, according to the EPA, including food packaging, commercial household products, electronics, paints, and so on.
They’re an integral, invisible part of our daily lives.
PFAS regulation has been a hot topic for a few years now, and the issue has gained steam as part of a ruthless crusade by the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board.
The SAB has set its sights on PFAS chemicals, and has come to a conclusion that they are haram well ahead of its upcoming December meeting.
The group issued test orders that PFAS are harmful and need to be banned well ahead of its meeting, and is ignoring any kind of scientific procedure — this is despite the fact the EPA has never before mentioned PFAS in its list of common sources of drinking-water contaminants.
Now, if the EPA has been in error, it seems like it should determine that based on science, not based on The Science.
If PFAS contamination is serious, the issue should not have a rushed solution.
Science is more important than backdoor dealing and skewed agendas to benefit environmental activists who’ve become so misanthropic they’ve been denounced by the founder of Greenpeace!
Indeed, the new members of the SAB all seem like acolytes of this particular cult.
The group should have a mixture of industry representatives, academics and policy experts.
But it’s been purged of so many industry scientists they’re being sued for discrimination.
The SAB has been purged of nonbelievers in a way that would impress the Spanish Inquisition. And now these people are determining what substances are "harmful."
If PFAS chemicals are stripped from our daily lives, the effects would be enormous. We wouldn’t have affordable smartphones. PFAS are critical for semiconductors, which are currently in global short supply.
Burdensome regulations would drive up the costs for the country’s 275 million smart phone users. That would be a small cost for most of us here, but prohibitively expensive for the unbanked in the developing world whose phones allow easy access to financial services they wouldn’t otherwise have.
Moreover, PFAS chemicals are an integral part of the medical industry, including many lifesaving medical devices and the PFAS polymers used in contamination-resistant gowns and drapes.
Single-use gown and drape sets give the healthcare industry the highest rates of disease control, and are only affordable because of PFAS.
But who would want to get behind the science of protecting people from infectious diseases during a global pandemic?
How could we enforce endless lockdowns if the disease is actually contained?
PFAS compounds are even used in reducing a car’s greenhouse gas emissions. Without them, modern emission standards would be unattainable.
Transparency is a very noble and valuable goal for every government agency.
As the EPA is looking at how to regulate one of the most important chemicals of our modern life, it must be held to the highest standards.
However, the new batch of SAB members — who care more about virtue signaling than real science — are pushing forward in an unfair, agenda-driven manner.
At the very least, this board needs to take the proper time to get all the scientific data rather than rushing to get a political win.
Otherwise, Oliver Stone will have to make a movie about this scandal, too.
Jared Whitley is a long-time politico who has worked in the U.S. Congress, White House and defense industry. He is an award-winning writer, having won best blogger in the state from the Utah Society of Professional Journalists (2018) and best columnist from Best of the West (2016). He earned his MBA from Hult International Business School in Dubai. Read Jared Whitley's reports — More Here.