Most media outlets thrive on sensationalism, especially at the expense of the plastic industry. For years there have been widely distributed stories depicting the harmful affects of fumes in plastic shower curtains, phthalate culpability in certain consumer products, excessive dioxins produced by halogenated plastics, the negative environmental impact of plastic bags and packaging and many other stories.
Wouldn't it be a breath of fresh air if the media outlets and anti-plastic extremists adopted a similar policy of the U.S. EPA as articulated by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson at a recent address to the National Press Club in Washington (and as reported in the March 15 edition of Plastics News) when she stated, “We have restored the rightful place of science as the first factor in all of our decisions.”
The plastics industry is founded on creative, documentable, and problem-solving scientific research. The industry welcomes inquiries on any of its products and processes,, however lets use science as the arbiter not campaigns of misguided, misinformed and misleading demagoguery that plays well in the media but has no valid scientific basis.
David A. Chasis
Chasis Consulting Inc.
Austin, Texas
