A Perfect Storm: Mercury and the Bush Administration, Part Ⅱ

摘要

For those who have watched the development of environmental policy since the early 1970s, the mercury debate cannot help but instill a strong sense of deja vu. Twenty years ago, EPA banned lead in gasoline, rescuing millions of children from irreversible neurological problems. The decision, which was controversial at the time, is widely regarded as one of the most important successes EPA has ever achieved. Not only were the doomsayers proved wrong and the costs of the ban dwarfed by the value of its benefits, the science on lead now provides definitive justification for its elimination from the marketplace. Mercury is lead's evil twin, and there are startling similarities between the arguments made against the momentous decision to ban lead and the arguments now being made in defense of mercury. At the moment, the debate is stalemated, with the government holding back action but facing a crescendo of public criticism. We can only hope that the forward momentum of the law, and the enormous and obvious flaws in the arguments of those who flout it, will overcome that stalemate, setting the stage for another victory o: behalf of our generation and those that follow.