Chinese Villagers Storm Polluting Lead Smelter: Countless Others Continue to Pollute Highlighting “Pollution Disparity”
August 28th, 2009
The Western press, including the Wall Street Journal, are reporting the government of China has briefly shutdown several large smelters. After villagers realized hundreds of children had been made ill in one community with dangerous levels of lead found in their blood, the parents took matters into their own hands and stormed the local facility. As a parent of two small children myself, I can sympathize with their anger.
This is the second major lead pollution scandal in China recently, but unfortunately there are “countless” small smelters all over the country, often partially owned by local officials. The central government has been unable or unwilling to make changes that will actually clean production methods up. Lead and many other toxic chemicals are pouring into local air and rivers, and into products that exported around the world including the USA. Unfortunately, no one is testing products at our border.
Our present “open” trade system with China actually encourages them to pollute while punishing American manufacturers for doing the right thing environmentally. Factories in China need to be held to our environmental standards for the sake of their own children and our own!
Plus, this ridiculous pollution double standard has left the USA in a position where it is cheaper to close our own factories and move production to China, where the cost of environmental sound production methods are ignored. I call this extreme difference in toxic chemicals produced in the USA and the heavy pollution in China the “Pollution Disparity”. The media talks about wage difference between the USA and China, but that is only one of multiple issues. I can say as former business executive that lived for years in Asia, that the Pollution Disparity is at least as much of the difference as wages. It must end, as China must raise its production standards, for the sake of children of both nations, and reduce reckless cost advantage it gives China that is costing America millions of jobs.
Washington needs to get off its rear and do something positive for a change. Every category of product imported from China needs to be reviewed at the source and border for the pollution it causes and dangerous chemicals children here and there are being exposed to.
I will discuss this at more length in the future.
Todd Lipscomb
Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com your source for American-Made products
Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 4:31 amand is filed under Uncategorized.
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