Maine's new governor is an embarassment

turbo

Yesterday, Paul Le Page fired Dr. Dora Anne Mills. She supported banning bisphenol-A from children's products, though LePage's spokesperson denied that was a reason for her firing. Mills is very popular with members of both major political parties in the state.

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/l...011-02-23.html

Now, here is what Le Page has to say about BPA. Ignorant, insensitive, and misogynistic are all words that come to mind.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_827208.html

Conservationists of the left and the right are well-aware that Le Page wants to gut environmental rules that businesses find "burdonsome", undoing the decades of work that it has taken to clean up our rivers to the point that some anadromous fish are beginning to make spawning runs once again. His efforts echo the efforts in the House to curb actions by the EPA to enforce the standards of the Clean Air Act. This tea party will leave us all with regrets, I fear.

talk2glenn

Won't somebody please think of the spawning fish?

How we got from the termination of the state Medicaid program to the plight of salmon, I cannot say, but surely there's a connection somewhere.

As to BPA:

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Public.../ucm064437.htm

This is, of course, code for non-standard tests that find possible correlative effects in small-scale studies of such a tiny magnitude that they aren't differentiable from noise. In larger, standardized testing, the results aren't replicated.

http://www.bisphenol-a.org/pdf/LowDo...ctober2002.pdf

Maine jumped on a chemical-scare bandwagon with an unwarranted ban despite both the FDA and EPA finding no experimental basis for changing existing guidelines (which isn't to say they won't be changed; the same politics driving the Maine decision could easily drive new decisions at the federal-level).

With respect, not being a biolgist, I think I'll defer to the results of conventional, large-scale studies whose results are repeatable, controlled, and applicable to the human condition (ie, not involving direct injection of BPA into animal subjects).

turbo

From the Sentinel article.

IMO, her position is sensible and protective of children's health, as befitted her position. Now she has been fired.

See how scientific and well-informed his "opinion" is? He is not qualified to hold an opinion on the matter. Dr. Dora Mills is - and she is a specialist in public health.

As for spawning fish, it's not just salmon that can be affected by roll-backs in enforcement of our environmental regulations. Shad, alewives, sturgeon, etc, have all made some pretty decent comebacks in the last decade or so, thanks in part to the removal of a couple of dams whose owners refused to install fish-ladders. And due in part to cleaner rivers. Biodiversity is quite important to the heath of rivers and the raparian environment. George Smith, a very conservative Republican and former president of the Maine's Sportsman's Alliance has been quite vocal about resisting the LePage/tea party drive to gut enforcement of environmental regulations. Believe me, talk to him for 2 minutes and you would be thoroughly disabused of the notion that he is a liberal tree-hugger. A clean environment is good for all of us.

Meanwhile, LePage holds meetings and breakfasts with business leaders to build a wish-list of regulations that need to be ignored or rescinded to the advantage of businesses, while holding conservationists (even very conservative ones like Smith) at arms' length. Ignorance combined with blind ideology is a very dangerous thing.

chemisttree

He did say that he "... didn't want that!" regarding the little beards. :)

Maybe miscogynistic is a bit strong. He is clearly ignorant and insensitive, though.

Since you are so concerned with the health of fish and BPA's impact on that, I'm sure that you are also campaigning against birth control pills? ... and beer?

edward

When I read about the male smallmouth bass in the Potomac river I was convinced.

The male bass have eggs in their testes.

BHA has already been banned in childrens products in a number of countries.

http://www.batangastoday.com/bpa-use...ed-by-eu/6487/

turbo

His comments are worse than insensitive, though clearly ignorant, in respect to the actual effects of BPA on humans.

I have made NO statements about the effects of BPA on fish. Not a single one. Nor do I intend to, unless there is some actual science. The additional comments that I made were regarding Le Page's intention to roll back all environmental regulations that "encumbered" businesses. His campaign cry was "Maine is open for business" and he pledged to roll back all regulations that businesses complained about. Guess what? Requiring mills not to pollute the air and water and soil are big ones, and it has taken decades to get modest improvements in these regards.

nismaratwork

BPA is safe?... fine, but there's no tangible benefit to providing in baby bottles, which are at higher risk of being overused and overheated.

I'm with Turbo-1 on this, and frankly I expect the science to catch up now that we're looking at clinical studies and not just warring meta"studies". Firing someone as a result of complete ignorance and stupidity is reason enough to be... relieved... of your position... forget the reasons. It's not as though this fool read or could understand the studies mentioned here, this is a purely ideological move.

Then again, why take away one possible risk among many... it's just your kids. As I understand it, the right wing doesn't care about them once they're out of the womb, or old enough to be placed into the prison system.

Evo

I agree Maine's governor is a loser. I don't agree that BPA is an issue.

nismaratwork

With respect,

Trust the FDA to be ahead of the game at your own peril... or are you still popping phen-phen?

Oh, and where are you getting this fish thing from?... Is this a form letter you get when you give up your ability to think independently?

edward

A sub link in the FDA link doesn't sound quite as benign as the FDA statements on BPA.

There is an entire page of advice on how parents can avoid BPA exposure in their babies.

http://www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa/

WE need to be damn sure on this. It is not just plastic bottles, every metal can (food container) is lined with a coating of BPA. Traces of BPA are found in canned liquid baby formula.

russ_watters

Really? You don't find this to be benign? Translation: 'BPA is almost certainly safe, but worry-warts are freaking out over nothing, so if you're a worry-wart, here's what you can do to calm your freak-out.'

chiro

Is this the same FDA that suddenly allowed aspartame to be legalized even after it denied it previously for nearly a decade?

nismaratwork

When there are studies showing what many small doses of endocrine disruptors from multiple sources does, I'd try to minimize exposure in your kid. That is purely IMO, and friendly advice.

nismaratwork

...And Thalidomide, Fenfluramine, Dexfenfluramine, Terfenadine, so many others, and... oh yes...


These: (Just the ones being explored by the horribly understaffed FDA) http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/.../ucm111085.htm

That's just the drugs, never mind medical devices, flame retardants, plasticizers... etc.

chemisttree

Don't forget birth control pills.

SAVE THE FISH!

nismaratwork

Save the strokes...

Amp1

Hopefully, the FDA is being transitioned into people that do care about the health and welfare of their own babies, and kids. Ohh, hasn't plastic or plastic byproducts of some sort been found in the bloodstreams of practically the entire pop. of people in the U.S. thats been tested.

http://st4tic.wordpress.com/2008/01/...chen-plastics/

http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/21/tox...isruptors.html