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Making The World Less Safe: The Unhealthy Trend In Health, Safety, And Environmental Regulation
Policy Report #137 Footnotes
1 This report is based in part on a larger project, directed by Richard Stroup at the Political Economy Research Center (PERC), investigating the effects of hazardous waste policy and exploring policy options for the future. Richard L. Stroup is Senior Associate at PERC and Professor of Economics at Montana State University, both in Bozeman, Montana. Donald Leal at PERC provided important assistance in the preparation of this report. back2 Aaron Wildavsky, Searching for Safety (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1988), p. 1. back
4 See discussion in Bruce N. Ames, Renae Magaw, and Lois Swirsky Gold, "Ranking Possible Carcinogenic Hazards," Science, Vol. 236, April 17, 1987, p. 272; and Richard Lipkin, "Judging Limits of Safety Is a Regulator's Nightmare," Insight, May 23, 1988, p. 16. back
5 Ibid. See also the discussion in Bruce N. Ames, Testimony before the California Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife, October 1, 1986 (hereinafter referred to as "Testimony"); and Richard Lipkin, "Risky Business of Assessing Danger," Insight, May 23, 1988, p. 11. back
6 On the recent spread of the natural carcinogen, aflatoxin, in Midwest grain crops, see Scott Kilman, "Spreading Poison: Fungus in Corn Crops, A Potent Carcinogen, Invades Food Supplies," The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 1989. back
8 Michael H. Levy, "A Plastics Packaging Perspective on Degradability," Plastics, December, 1987, pp. 136-137. back
9 Reported in Lipkin, "Risky Business of Assessing Danger," p. 10. back
10 An excellent review of the outrage factor, in the context of biotechnology risks, can be found in Peter Sandman, "Apathy Versus Hysteria: Public Perception of Risk," in L. R. Batra and W. Klassen, eds., Public Perceptions of Biotechnology (Bethesda: Agricultural Research Institute, 1987), pp. 219-231. back
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12 Harlan Austin, Philip Cole and Julian Kiel, "A Prospective Follow Up Study of Cancer Mortality in Relation to Serum DDT," American Journal of Public Health, January 1989, pp. 43-46. back
14 Elizabeth Whelan, Toxic Terror (Ottawa, Ill.: Jameson Books, 1985), p. 69. back
15 Science, Jan. 15, 1971. back
16 Superfund, technically the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), provided for "liability, compensation, cleanup, and emergency response for hazardous substances released into the environment and the cleanup of inactive hazardous waste disposal sites." It provided $1.6 billion to clean up abandoned sites. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), passed in 1986, authorized an additional $8.5 billion to finance the Superfund site cleanup effort. In addition, SARA enlarged the enforcement authorities for the purpose of compelling private cleanups. It intends also to shift waste management practices toward long-term prevention, rather than containment of wastes. back
17 The origins of the Love Canal crisis were revealed by the investigative journalism of Reason magazine. See Eric Zuesse, "Love Canal: The Truth Seeps Out," Reason, February 1981, pp. 16-33. back
18 Dante Picciano, "A Pilot Cytogenic Study of the Residents Living Near Love Canal, A Hazardous Waste Site," Mammalian Chromosome Newsletter, 21, (3). back
19 For additional details on the Love Canal crisis and the similarly tragic case of dioxin exposure in Times Beach, Missouri, see "Politicizing Environmental Risks," a working paper of the Political Economy Research Center, in Walter Block, ed., Economics and the Environment: A Reconciliation, (Vancouver, Canada: Fraser Institute), forthcoming. back
20 James Bovard, "The Real Superfund Scandal," Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 89, August 14, 1987. back
21 Ibid. See also, Aaron Wildavsky, Searching For Safety, (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1988) pp. 201-202. back
22 According to EPA's chief of Hazardous Waste Implementation, William Sanjour, "Hooker would have had no trouble complying with these (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) regulations." Only paperwork would have been required, he said. See The New York Times, June 30, 1980. back
23 Bovard, "The Real Superfund Scandal." back
24 For a summary of the key provisions of Proposition 65, see Richard J. Denny, Jr., "California's Proposition 65: Coming Soon to Your Neighborhood," Toxics Law Reporter, December 17, 1986, pp. 789-794; and Jerome H. Heckman, "California's Proposition 65: A Federal Supremacy and States' Rights Conflict in the Health and Safety Arena," Food Drug Cosmetic Law Journal, Vol. 43, 1988, pp. 269-282. back
25 Paul Jacobs, "27 Chemicals Added to the List," Los Angeles Times, June 19, 1987; and Richard C. Paddock, "56 Chemicals to be Added," Los Angeles Times, February 2, 1988. back
26 Jerome Heckman, "Proposition 65 -- A Legal Viewpoint: Reflections on the Political Science of How Not To Do It," paper presented to the American Industrial Hygiene Association's Toxicology Symposium on August 8, 1988 in Williamsburg, Virginia, p. 4. back
28 Michael Specter, "Some Medical Studies Make Life Needlessly Frightful, Epidemiologist Says," Washington Post, December 2, 1988. back
29 David Roe of the Environmental Defense Fund, a staunch proponent of Proposition 65 and defender of warning requirements, admits that business may trivialize the law with unnecessary warnings. Yet he believes that the withdrawal from the market of a few products is more than enough compensation. See Michael deCourcy Hinds, "As Warning Labels Multiply, Messages Are Often Ignored." The New York Times, March 5, 1988. back
30 "Houses With Warning Labels," The Sacramento Bee, July 25, 1988. back
31 Salano County v. Webb and Associates, et al. back
32 The danger is created by increased exposure to natural radiation. See Table III, below. back
33 W. Kip Viscusi, "Predicting the Effects of Food Cancer Risk Warnings on Consumers," Food Drug Cosmetic Law Journal, Vol. 43, 1988, p. 288. back
34 Under emergency regulations issued by the governor, products regulated by the FDA are exempt from Proposition 65. This ruling is being challenged in the courts, however, by environmentalists who claim that the exemption is "blatantly illegal" and a "massive loophole." See Heckman, "Proposition 65: A Legal Viewpoint," pp. 5-7 and p. 10. back
35 Quoted in Heckman, "California's Proposition 65, " p. 271, n. 3. back
36 Insight, May 23, 1988, p. 14. back
38 "Predicting the Effects of Food Cancer Risk Warnings on Consumers," Food Drug Cosmetic Law Journal, Vol. 43, 1988, pp. 287-288. back
39 Richard Doll and Richard Peto, "The Causes of Cancer," Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 66, June 1981, Table 20, p. 1256. back
40 Ames, et. al., "Ranking Possible Carcinogenic Hazards," pp. 274-275. back
41 This section is based in part on the testimony of Bruce Ames before the California Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife, October 1, 1986. The standing of Dr. Ames and the absence of conflict of interest in his position are indicated by the following statement prefacing his written testimony: "Professor Ames is Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry, University of California, Berkeley, and was formerly on the board of directors of the National Cancer Institute (National Cancer Advisory Board). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was the recipient of the most prestigious award for cancer research, the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Prize (1983), and of the highest award in environmental achievement, the Tyler Prize (1985). He does no consulting for the chemical, drug, or food industry, or for law firms." back
42 Lester B. Lave, Fanny K. Ennever, Herbert S. Rosenkranz, and Gilbert S. Omenn, "Information Value of Rodent Bioassay, "Nature, Vol. 336, December 15, 1988, p. 631. back 43 Doll and Peto, "The Causes of Cancer". back
46 Ames, et al., "Ranking Possible Carcinogenic Hazards," p. 274. back
47 Ibid. See also Bruce N. Ames, "Dietary Carcinogens and Anticarcinogens," Science, Vol. 221, 23 Sept. 1983, pp. 1256-1261. Not all scientists, of course, agree fully with either of these summaries. For one rather detailed exchange among scientists, including Ames and some of his critics, see "Letters," Science, Vol. 224 (18 May 1984), pp. 658-670, 757-760. back
48 Wong, "A Critical Look At Human Cancer Culprits." back
49 See Ames, et. al., "Ranking Possible Carcinogenic Hazards," pp. 275-276. back
50 For a recent review of the literature which is highly critical of inferring the risk to humans from rodent experiments, see Lave, et. al., "Information Value of Rodent Bioassay," pp. 631-633. See also Kenneth Chilton, "A Guide to Understanding Risk Assessment and Its Potential to Resolve Regulatory Conflicts," Center for the Study of American Business, Working Paper No. 118, May, 1988. back
51 "Out West, Food Safety: Can State Rule Nation?", The New York Times, August 10, 1988. back
52 In 1977, Congress passed a special act to keep the FDA from banning saccharin. back
53 Ames, et. al., "Ranking Possible Carcinogenic Hazards," p. 273. back
55 Wong, "A Critical Look at Cancer Culprits." back
56 Wildavsky, Searching for Safety, p. 198. back
57 Robert W. Crandall and John D. Graham, "The Effect of Fuel Economy Standards on Automobile Safety," The Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming. back
58 Sam Kazman, "TPA Foot-Dragging Costs 30 Lives a Day," The Washington Post, November 3, 1987. See, however, a study questioning whether TPA is more effective than alternative drugs: Harvey D. White, et. al., "Effect of Intravenous Streptokinase as Compared with That of Tissue Plasminogen Activator on Left Ventricular Function after First Myocardial Infarction," The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 320, No. 13, March 30, 1989, pp. 817-821. back
59 Richard B. McKenzie and John T. Warner, "The Impact of Airline Deregulation on Highway Safety," Center for the Study of American Business, December, 1987. back
60 Wildavsky, Searching for Safety, p. 195-203. back
61 Reported in Tom Hazlett, "Ingredients of a Food Phobia," The Wall Street Journal, August 5, 1988. back
62 See Aaron Wildavsky, Searching for Safety (New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1988), Ch. 3. back
63 Ibid., Table 2, p. 63. back
64 Jack H. Hadley and Anthony O. Osei, "Does Income Affect Mortality? An Analysis of the Effects of Different Types of Income on Age/Sex/Race Specific Mortality Rates in the U.S.," Medical Care, Vol. 20, No. 9, September, 1982, pp. 901-914. back
65 Peter Huber, "The Market for Risk," Regulation, March/April, 1984, p. 37. back
66 Wayne B. Gray, "The Cost of Regulation: OSHA, EPA and the Productivity Slowdown," American Economic Review, Vol. 77, No. 5, December, 1987, pp. 998-1006. back
68 See William B. Johnston, "To End Coverage of High-Risk Behavior Holds Society to Impossible Standard," Hudson Opinion, Hudson Institute, January, 1989, p. 1. back
69 See Richard L. Stroup, "Environmental Policy," Regulation, 1988, No. 3, pp. 46-51 for more on this topic. back
70 See Wildavsky, Searching For Safety, Chapter 8. back
71 See William C. Clark, "Witches, Floods, and Wonder Drugs: Historical Perspectives on Risk Management," in Richard C. Schwing and Walter Albers, Jr., (eds.), Societal Risk Assessment: How Safe is Safe Enough? (New York: Plenum Press, 1980), pp. 287-313. back