The Environmental Protection Agency banned the sale on Thursday of Imprelis,
a weed killer introduced this year that landscapers link to thousands of
tree deaths around the country. DuPont, which held discussions with the
E.P.A. on the herbicide, suspended sales of the product last week and
announced plans for a refund program. The company already faces lawsuits
from property owners who lost numerous trees after landscapers began
applying Imprelis to lawns and golf courses this spring. A spokesman for
the E.P.A., Larry Jackson, said the agency acted because data provided by
DuPont showed that at least three types of evergreens - balsam fir, Norway
spruce and white pine trees - were susceptible to damage or death from
Imprelis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/sc...herbicide.html

--
Bobby G.

"Robert Green" wrote in message
...
The Environmental Protection Agency banned the sale on Thursday of
Imprelis,
a weed killer introduced this year that landscapers link to thousands of
tree deaths around the country. DuPont, which held discussions with the
E.P.A. on the herbicide, suspended sales of the product last week and
announced plans for a refund program. The company already faces lawsuits
from property owners who lost numerous trees after landscapers began
applying Imprelis to lawns and golf courses this spring. A spokesman for
the E.P.A., Larry Jackson, said the agency acted because data provided by
DuPont showed that at least three types of evergreens - balsam fir, Norway
spruce and white pine trees - were susceptible to damage or death from
Imprelis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/sc...herbicide.html

--
Bobby G.

There's lots of stuff still in use in America long banned in Europe because
it's known to be dangerous.
But the manufacturers lobby keeps it on the market poisoning Americans and
their kids.
There's capitalism for you.

On 8/13/2011 2:42 AM, harryagain wrote:
"Robert wrote in message
...
The Environmental Protection Agency banned the sale on Thursday of
Imprelis,
a weed killer introduced this year that landscapers link to thousands of
tree deaths around the country. DuPont, which held discussions with the
E.P.A. on the herbicide, suspended sales of the product last week and
announced plans for a refund program. The company already faces lawsuits
from property owners who lost numerous trees after landscapers began
applying Imprelis to lawns and golf courses this spring. A spokesman for
the E.P.A., Larry Jackson, said the agency acted because data provided by
DuPont showed that at least three types of evergreens - balsam fir, Norway
spruce and white pine trees - were susceptible to damage or death from
Imprelis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/sc...herbicide.html

--
Bobby G.

There's lots of stuff still in use in America long banned in Europe because
it's known to be dangerous.
But the manufacturers lobby keeps it on the market poisoning Americans and
their kids.
There's capitalism for you.



DuPont screwed up but your comment is incorrect.
I know of opposite examples, the most famous being Thalidomide which
caused birth defects in Europe but was not approved for use in US.

On Aug 13, 4:44*am, Frank wrote:
On 8/13/2011 2:42 AM, harryagain wrote:









"Robert *wrote in message
...
The Environmental Protection Agency banned the sale on Thursday of
Imprelis,
a weed killer introduced this year that landscapers link to thousands of
tree deaths around the country. *DuPont, which held discussions with the
E.P.A. on the herbicide, suspended sales of the product last week and
announced plans for a refund program. The company already faces lawsuits
from property owners who lost numerous trees after landscapers began
applying Imprelis to lawns and golf courses this spring. *A spokesman for
the E.P.A., Larry Jackson, said the agency acted because data provided by
DuPont showed that at least three types of evergreens - balsam fir, Norway
spruce and white pine trees - were susceptible to damage or death from
Imprelis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/sc...herbicide.html

--
Bobby G.

There's lots of stuff still in use in America long banned in Europe because
it's known to be dangerous.
But the manufacturers lobby keeps it on the market poisoning Americans and
their kids.
There's capitalism for you.

DuPont screwed up but your comment is incorrect.
I know of opposite examples, the most famous being Thalidomide which
caused birth defects in Europe but was not approved for use in US.

The heroine who prevented countless tragedies was Dr. Frances Kelsey.
She stubbornly fought powerful entrenched interests and succeded in
having Thalidomide banned in the U.S.

Read about her on many Web sites. Here's just one paragraph:

"Thalidomide affected more than 10,000 babies, mainly in Europe and
Canada, while in the United States, just a few women gave birth to
"thalidomide babies." These were women who had obtained the drug while
living abroad, or who had participated in investigational studies. Dr.
Frances Kelsey received the highest award for federal civilian service
from President Kennedy (see Figure 1), and on July 15, 1962, she was
hailed by the Washington Post as the "heroine…[whose] skepticism and
stubbornness…prevented what could have been an appalling American
tragedy, the birth of hundreds or indeed thousands of armless and
legless children."

This happened under Kennedy. Would it have happened under Bush?

HB

"Higgs Boson" wrote in message
news:816b411e-908d-46b7-b841-

Dr. Frances Kelsey received the highest award for federal civilian service
from President Kennedy (see Figure 1), and on July 15, 1962, she was hailed
by the Washington Post as the "heroine…[whose] skepticism and
stubbornness…prevented what could have been an appalling American
tragedy, the birth of hundreds or indeed thousands of armless and legless
children."

Her work, and others, was truly a medical detective tour-de-force. The drug
only caused deformities if taken on a certain few days of a woman's
pregnancy when limb buds first appeared in the fetus. As a result, though
1,000's took the drug throughout pregnancy, only a very few had deformed
babies and those were consistently claimed by the drug's maker to be from
other causes.

This happened under Kennedy. Would it have happened under Bush?

Maybe, maybe not. I think it was just one of those things. Just trying to
be non-partisan here. Ironically, Bush signed a consumer protection bill in
2008 that makes him look more liberal than Obama. No wonder Republicans are
trying to tacitly disown him.

http://www.jdsupra.com/post/document...3-2b4bc6f6724a

President Bush signed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008
('the Act') on August 14, imposing more stringent safety standards for
consumer products. The Act targets children’s products, restricting the use
of lead and phthalates and creating new safety standards altogether for
certain infant and toddler products such as cribs. In addition, the Act
mandates independent third party testing of all products subject to children
’s product safety rules, new tracking labels and registration requirements
for children’s products, and new rules for advertising children’s
products.

(Heybub, are you reading? "It's for the children!!" And it was from Bush!
And my, how Big Business screamed and moaned about the "burden" of having to
be more careful about killing children!)

I only point this out to bolster my contention that Federal law is largely a
history of business abuse of citizens. The Chinese pet food scandal, among
others, FORCED Bush and his fellow regulation-hating comrades to sign a bill
putting very tight reins on child-related businesses.

Since Federal law is largely the history of businesses running roughshod
over not only citizens but smaller competitors and the country, you can
began to see why Big Business is working so hard for small government. No
one wants to be reminded of their past sins. No one wants to be told what
to do. Yet a tour through most volumes of current law books will reveal
hundreds of thalidomide-like cases where businesses caused substantial harm
and injury to people and regulations were put in place to prevent similar
tragedies from recurring.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911 - 146 killed) rewrote labor laws from the
ground up. The rule of thumb about "tombstone agencies" (that count deaths
of citizens) is that when someone or something kills over 100 people in one
incident, there's going to be a lot of new Federal law aimed at preventing a
recurrence. That's one reason why commercial aviation is regulated to the
hilt. They routinely kill 100+ per accident, sometimes hundreds more. It's
also the reason the coal industry is so heavily regulated:

The three worst coal mine disasters in U.S. history:

1913 Stag Canon No. 2 Dawson, NM Explosion 263 dead
1909 Cherry Mine Cherry, IL Fire
259 dead
1907 Monongah 6 and 8 Monongah, WV Explosion 362 dead

Voters demand action when so many people are killed. And Congress and the
President almost always act by passing new laws and regulations. Contrary
to the propaganda put out by the USCOC and other business shills,
unregulated businesses have a history of killing people, often by the
hundreds. It is their misdeeds and NOT the zeal of progressives or anyone
else that demands regulations be put in place to prevent future disasters.
If I were Big Business, I too would be working overtime to undo Federal
regulation since it holds a very ugly mirror up to past misdeeds.

The thalidomide story proves the point:

================================================== ====
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...ht-399454.html

Thalidomide film premiere revives compensation fight
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Thursday, 8 November 2007


Germany's pharmaceutical industry spent more than a year trying to ban the
film, but last night a moving, controversial and widely acclaimed television
drama about the tragedy suffered by thousands of children crippled by the
drug thalidomide was finally broadcast to an audience of millions.

The two-part drama – entitled A Single Pill and shown at prime time –
amounts to a savage indictment of Grünenthal in Aachen which first
manufactured thalidomide, which was known in Germany as Contergan, in 1957.

Lawyers for Grünenthal spent 18 months trying to ban A Single Pill, arguing
that it mixed fact with fiction and distorted the truth. However last year,
judges at Germany's constitutional court dismissed all objections to the
film and ruled that in the interests of free speech it should be shown.

================================================== ===========

I wonder how much money the makers of thalidomide spent trying to erase
their past misdeeds from history? I wonder how Exxon would tell the story
of the Valdez if *they* were writing the history books?

I've seen a Canadian film about thalidomide babies born there as they grew
into adulthood. Everyone who saw it with me cried like a baby. It should
be shown every time someone complains that our government over-regulates Big
Business in America.

--
Bobby G.