Re: Deadly Waste

[BLHamrick@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 07/10/2002 8:28:08 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ncohen12@comcast.net writes:



> I gotta ask - whats wrong with toilet paper? Don't tell me its radioactive! Or were you looking at the bleaching process? 


I'm looking at all the chemical processes and pollutants arising from paper production.  BTW, it is radioactive, as is virtually all organic material.


I'm not clear about your last comment - are you saying that the polluter should not 

> pay, since in the end we all pay for the pollution clean up anyway? I'm not sure I'd agree with you - for example, when GE settled ith EPA to pay to clean up PCB's in the Hudson, how can you show that consumers paid more for a washing machine? At times, isn't it 'just' stockholders who are hurt for a quarter or two until profits go back up? 


I'm not saying the polluter should not pay.  I'm saying that the polluter will pass the costs on to the consumer.  We need to recognize that.  Do you honestly believe the GE executives took a hit on that settlement?  I doubt it.  The costs are passed on to the consumer through direct price increases, and through indirect increases, such as where GE's insurance company takes a hit, and passes that loss on in increased future premiums to all insureds, not just GE.  Where the entity is federal, state, or a federal or state contractor, we absorb the costs by either increased taxes, or loss of other services.  We pay.  


Barbara