Posted on 09/11/2006 1:45:30 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Is there a connection between toxic chemicals and high rates of breast cancer in the Bay Area? Do pesticides build up in the bodies of Salinas farmworkers? Do people living near oil refineries in Martinez or along freeways in San Jose absorb harmful levels of air pollution?
California may be on its way to finding out.
A bill that would set up the nation's first statewide program to measure exposure to toxic chemicals by testing thousands of volunteers has overcome industry opposition and reached the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The bill, SB 1379, by state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, and Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, would require the state Department of Health Services to establish a program for residents who agree to have their blood, urine and other body fluids tested for toxic chemicals and other pollutants.
The program would be based on an increasingly popular science known as ``biomonitoring.'' It seeks to track hundreds of potentially harmful contaminants -- such as lead, mercury, DDT, PCBs and flame retardants -- and learn more about their health risks by measuring how much, and in whom, they accumulate.
(snip)
Schwarzenegger's staff negotiated changes with Perata and Ortiz.
Similar efforts failed three years in a row after industry also opposed the funding sources. First, the bill was to be paid for by a cigarette tax, then fees on industry. Now the money would come from the state general fund.
...the California Farm Bureau Federation, American Chemistry Council, California Chamber of Commerce and others dropped opposition because they realized Schwarzenegger has made environmentalism a key part of his re-election campaign and is likely to sign the bill.
The bill is supported by the California Nurses Association, the American Medical Association, large labor unions, and environmental groups such as the Sierra Club.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Sounds like a good time for businesses to leave California. The findings, no mater how flimsly, will be perfect for launching extortions (otherwise known as law suits).
MTBE ((methyl tertiary-butyl ether)which has found its way into underground water and fields of unharvested crops may be a problem......it is costly; it was supposed to be removed but has it?
The very same MTBE that the state of California MANDATED be added to gasoline. To save the planet, doncha know?
Designated chemicals? Which chemicals? Who designates?
What tests?
Which volunteers?
Paid or not?
How much if paid?
Residents/Californians? Citizens or aliens?
Community based? Which comminunities?
The law is a bit low on details.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_1351-1400/sb_1379_bill_20060824_amended_asm.html
sounds like a job for Toxie (The Toxic Avenger)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toxic_Avenger
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