The Trump/Pruitt Destruction of the EPA
By James Donahue
The Organic Consumers Organization recently issued a disturbing newsletter pointing out the destructive impact of the Trump Administration’s decision to cut staff, funding and the power of the Environmental Protection Agency on the nation’s foods and consequently on public health. It also has withdrawn the federal Food & Drug Administration’s control for labeling of organic and non-genetically modified foods so that buyers have a healthy choice in what they eat.
The letter warns that the nation’s food industry is currently getting away with serving “a fatal harvest” caused by “water and air pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, the obliteration of pollinator populations and biodiversity in general, food contamination, aquifer depletion and climate destabilization.”
The organization notes that the United States currently spends an estimated $3.5 trillion a year on healthcare; more than any other nation on Earth, which is caused by over 84,000 “industrial and agricultural chemicals and a steady diet of cheap, unhealthy grub dished up in supermarkets, restaurants, schools and institutional settings.”
While these statistics are well known to the EPA and government leaders, the Trump Administration is clearly more interested in protecting corporate profits than safeguarding public health. Not only has the Obama health care plan been under severe attack, but Mr. Trump and his Washington hoodlums have been busy stripping budget money designed to help do anything about it.
The leader in what has become a general dismantling of the EPA has been Scott Pruitt, a man who made a name for himself as Oklahoma’s Attorney General when he opposed abortion rights, same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act and environmental regulations. He sued the EPA an estimated 14 times before Trump nominated him to head that embattled agency.
Pruitt denies the belief by science that carbon dioxide emissions are linked to climate change and recently called for a roll back of the Obama Clean Air initiative and fuel efficiency standards for new cars and light trucks. He is busy reversing and delaying a vast number of environmental rules, is relaxing the enforcement of existing rules, has laid-off staff and literally halted the agency’s efforts to combat climate change. He appears to be slowly dismantling this all important agency.
Trump now has nominated Peter C. Wright to help lead the EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management deal with hazardous waste cleanup with the federal Superfund. But Wright is also compromised for this task. For years he served as the legal advisor that specialized in helping Monsanto and Dow Chemical avoid cleaning up their toxic pollution. It is still up to the Republican controlled Congress to approve Wright’s nomination. Can we expect our elected legislators to do the right thing?
Politics and policy also are why the nation no longer places labels on genetically modified foods even though 90 percent of consumers want these labels. The Farm Bill now determines that taxpayers will subsidize the growing of GMO foods but not the growing of healthy, organic regenerative fruits and vegetables.
It now appears that the FDA may soon establish enforceable standards for the manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines. This could be the final step in forcing the elimination of home health care and driving low income citizens back into dependence on the medical and pharmaceutical industries for medical treatment.
Most recently the Trump Administration has moved to weaken present auto emissions standards and Trump has publicly declared war against California’s emissions standards, considered the toughest in the nation.
It all points to the Trump Administration’s campaign to protect multi-billion dollar fuel, food and pharmaceutical industries at the expense of the taxpayers and public health.
By James Donahue
The Organic Consumers Organization recently issued a disturbing newsletter pointing out the destructive impact of the Trump Administration’s decision to cut staff, funding and the power of the Environmental Protection Agency on the nation’s foods and consequently on public health. It also has withdrawn the federal Food & Drug Administration’s control for labeling of organic and non-genetically modified foods so that buyers have a healthy choice in what they eat.
The letter warns that the nation’s food industry is currently getting away with serving “a fatal harvest” caused by “water and air pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, the obliteration of pollinator populations and biodiversity in general, food contamination, aquifer depletion and climate destabilization.”
The organization notes that the United States currently spends an estimated $3.5 trillion a year on healthcare; more than any other nation on Earth, which is caused by over 84,000 “industrial and agricultural chemicals and a steady diet of cheap, unhealthy grub dished up in supermarkets, restaurants, schools and institutional settings.”
While these statistics are well known to the EPA and government leaders, the Trump Administration is clearly more interested in protecting corporate profits than safeguarding public health. Not only has the Obama health care plan been under severe attack, but Mr. Trump and his Washington hoodlums have been busy stripping budget money designed to help do anything about it.
The leader in what has become a general dismantling of the EPA has been Scott Pruitt, a man who made a name for himself as Oklahoma’s Attorney General when he opposed abortion rights, same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act and environmental regulations. He sued the EPA an estimated 14 times before Trump nominated him to head that embattled agency.
Pruitt denies the belief by science that carbon dioxide emissions are linked to climate change and recently called for a roll back of the Obama Clean Air initiative and fuel efficiency standards for new cars and light trucks. He is busy reversing and delaying a vast number of environmental rules, is relaxing the enforcement of existing rules, has laid-off staff and literally halted the agency’s efforts to combat climate change. He appears to be slowly dismantling this all important agency.
Trump now has nominated Peter C. Wright to help lead the EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management deal with hazardous waste cleanup with the federal Superfund. But Wright is also compromised for this task. For years he served as the legal advisor that specialized in helping Monsanto and Dow Chemical avoid cleaning up their toxic pollution. It is still up to the Republican controlled Congress to approve Wright’s nomination. Can we expect our elected legislators to do the right thing?
Politics and policy also are why the nation no longer places labels on genetically modified foods even though 90 percent of consumers want these labels. The Farm Bill now determines that taxpayers will subsidize the growing of GMO foods but not the growing of healthy, organic regenerative fruits and vegetables.
It now appears that the FDA may soon establish enforceable standards for the manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines. This could be the final step in forcing the elimination of home health care and driving low income citizens back into dependence on the medical and pharmaceutical industries for medical treatment.
Most recently the Trump Administration has moved to weaken present auto emissions standards and Trump has publicly declared war against California’s emissions standards, considered the toughest in the nation.
It all points to the Trump Administration’s campaign to protect multi-billion dollar fuel, food and pharmaceutical industries at the expense of the taxpayers and public health.