Herbert Needleman, known for his work on lead poisoning in the 70’s, asks “Who is the EPA Protecting?” It is obvious from the case he presents that the EPA is not protecting the environment or the American people; they are protecting some special interests in industry. I concur, but, unlike Needleman, I think the problem is not the presence of industry, but rather the presence of the EPA.
Industry would not be able to get away with exposing its customers to dangerous chemicals and silencing honest scientists if the coercive power of the government did not protect them. Compounding the problem is that the average consumer believes that he or she is protected simply because the government agencies say they are protecting the public. So the average consumer does not take the initiative to learn about these dangers, and private alternatives to consumer protection are neglected.
We do not need evermore “protections” from the state – we all know that this has, does, and will lead to corruption and anti-protection. What we need is the elimination of coercive state agencies.
And, by the way, it is not bad that scientists are motivated by financial gain. Rather, the problem is that scientists are protected from legal action for fraud because they are part of the propaganda arm of the state teachers.
