Environmental Law

The unintended consequences of "environmental-friendly" regulation

By STEPHEN HOLZER

After publishing my previous post I came across this comment on the newpaper article:

"Lets look at some examples [of unintended consequences of suppsoed environemtnal-friendly bans/regulation]- 

"Banning phosphates in detergents - causing the use of more water, other chemicals, and energy to do the same amount of work.

"Limiting toilet tank capacity - result: two flushes to one in many cases - using MORE water...

"Ban on incandescent bulbs - requires consumers to purchase significantly more expensive replacements that contain mercury and are a hazard to landfills, that are shown to have mood affect (negative) as opposed to incandescent. I guess the sales of anti-depressants will increase...

"Ban on DDT (based on faked tests and data) - has cost millions of lives, particularly in Africa and other 3rd world nations.

"Another pesticide - Dursban - that has been banned from consumer use... a very effective lawn pst spray (and garden spray).

"Low-flow shower heads - so showers can take 20-30% longer... negating the water savings.

"RoHS standards for electronics - removes all lead and other heavy metals from electrical components. Yet despite much research, these new ?safer?components do not have the lifespan of the older materials. Circuits have a much higher failure rate. More landfill fodder...

"Again - feel free to add to the list...

"Automobiles with huge and highly toxic batteries being pushed... Yet where are all of these toxic batteries going when they wear out? What about in an accident?

"Paints - the regulation of VoC?s which are one of the primary parts of helping paints to adhere to surfaces. Automobiles are very heavily affected - notice that paint on vehicles today chips MUCH easier than before. Remember so many autos that shed their clear coat and/or entire paint layer down to primer when these VoC regulations kicked in. Still - paints do not last as long as they use too... and this is directly connected to the VoC content.

"The regulation of Chlorine Bleach in some areas - I have searched high and low and have found nothing that whitens (and sanitizes) like chlorine bleach. The new fake bleach (supposedly ?oxygen bleach?).

"Requiring Ethanol to be added to motor fuel... Is hell on 2-stroke engines (prevents oil in fuel from staying on cylinder walls), causes damage to natural rubber fuel line components, absorbs moisture (water in fuel), and uses food ingredients which could better be used as FOOD...

"MTBE - that other gasoline additive to supposedly make gas engines burn cleaner... now shown to be a major toxin in the environment... Way to go ..."

Thanks to poster TheBattman at www.freerepublic.com

Full post as published by Environmental Legal Blogs on July 17, 2010 (boomark / email).