The good:
American consumers are increasingly turning to green products, from arsenic-free lumber to pesticide-free pet food.
Several trends have combined to fuel the surge in such consumerism. The price of many green products - from hybrid cars to organic tomatoes - is now competitive with conventional alternatives, and consumers can find more choices of environmentally friendly products in more stores than ever before.
Consumers have also been alarmed by increasing reports of mercury in fish, antibiotics in meat and poultry, and hormone-mimicking chemicals in shampoos and cosmetics.
A recent survey of 2,000 adults by the Natural Marketing Institute found that 88 percent agreed that “it is important for companies to not just be profitable, but to be mindful of their impact on the environment and society.” More than 70 percent of those surveyed said that knowing a company is mindful of its impact on the environment and society makes them more likely to buy its products or services.
While there is often a gap between what consumers say they would ideally like to buy and what they actually purchase, it appears that more consumers are spending their cash on green goods.
The bad:
EPA Reviewing 24 Tests of Human Pesticide
Data from two dozen industry tests that intentionally exposed people to poisons, including one involving a World War I-era chemical warfare agent, are being used by the Environmental Protection Agency in approving and denying specific pesticides.
The controversial data come from 24 human pesticide experiments submitted to the EPA by companies seeking pesticide permits. The data, provided by the EPA to congressional officials, is being studied under a policy the Bush administration adopted last November to have political appointees referee on a case-by-case basis any ethical disputes over human testing.
Aides to two California Democrats, Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Henry Waxman, compiled and reviewed EPA data on 22 of the cases.
“Nearly one-third of the studies reviewed were specifically designed to cause harm to the human test subjects or to put them at risk of harm,” the aides concluded in a 38-page report and accompanying documents provided Wednesday to The Associated Press.
The ugly:
Senate Republicans are calling on the Bush administration to reassess U.S. financial support for the International Committee of the Red Cross, charging that the group is using American funds to lobby against U.S. interests.
The Senate Republican Policy Committee, which advances the views of the GOP Senate majority, said in a report that the international humanitarian organization had “lost its way” and veered from the impartiality on which its reputation was based. The Republican policy group titled its report: “Are American Interests Being Disserved by the International Committee of the Red Cross?”
The congressional criticism follows reports by the Swiss-based group that have faulted U.S. treatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Senate aide denied that the report, released Monday, was motivated by a desire to punish the ICRC for embarrassing the United States on its treatment of prisoners. In the aftermath of the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and elsewhere, the role of the ICRC has grown in importance, some experts said.
After 100,000 Iraqi dead, torture scandals in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and the steady infringement upon rights in the U.S., Republicans are worried about being embarrassed by the ICRC….
Just another day in Bushavic America.