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Posted by rexim on April 24, 2008 at 1:12:21 pm EDT
In reply to REI Pulling Polycarbonate Bottles; U.S. Draft Report says BPA Might Present Risks posted by Trailspace on April 21, 2008 at 1:18:00 pm EDT

At the risk of turning this thread into the type of philosophical discussion that gets members banned, let me just say that alerting people to the results of research does not necessarily constitute a "campaign of fear"; otherwise, any disclosure of potential risks could be unfairly labeled and ignored as a "campaign of fear." However, some people operate from the assumption that if they have information of possible health risks associated with a product, they have an ethical duty to disclose those risks. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I seriously doubt that people are distracted from "real environmental" threats by the BPA issue. Most can multi-task at least a little.

Moreover, it could be that Nalgene's deliberate steering of consumers to studies which conclude the products are safe, while ignoring the studies which conclude there may be risks, could be considered a "campaign of misdirection."

I'm no fan of pseudo-science; however, there is pseudo-science on both sides of many scientific issues. Witness the survey which reports that more than half of EPA scientists answering a survey reported they were pressured to alter or ignore their scientific findings, "especially among scientists involved in risk assessment and crafting regulations." http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jiG8PT3cEiOqXFkMJuutD97RCoeQD907NRL00

If you consider a desire to ban a potentially harmful product to be a "political agenda," I respond that political agendas have always driven public policy, and always will. One person's "political agenda" is another person's "public policy."

If Nalgene has found it more expedient to give in than to fight, good for them. Is our society any worse off because they switched to different plastics?

I don't want to turn Trailspace into a Poly Sci debate board, so I'll just shut up for a while.

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