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Like a weed that keeps reappearing in your garden, the myth that the Federal Government has BANNED the incandescent light bulb continues to crop up and cause angst among consumers. And what’s worse, pundits and elected officials who should know better are doing their best to help it spread. It is particularly distressing to hear free-market conservatives
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A study by the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health recently concluded that the REACH regulation in the European Union will require $13.6 billion to implement over the next 10 years— six times more than previously anticipated [T Hartung and Constanza Rovida, Nature , 2009, 460 , 27; available for a fee online]. The principal reason
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This morning brought an announcement of another “official” government finding concerning the hazards of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical building block used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. If you’ve paid even minimal attention to current events the past few years, you know that BPA, while enormously useful, effective
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Earlier this week I attended a day-long seminar at a DC law firm that provided a status report on implementation of REACH, the ground-breaking regulatory program for chemicals under construction in the European Union. In a landmark “paradigm shift,” the entry-into-force of REACH in 2007 made suppliers, not government, responsible for assuring
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Last week saw many months of effort by NEMA staff and member company reps rewarded by introduction in the US House of Representatives of HR 2420, The Environmental Design for Electrical Equipment Act ("EDEE Act"). This proposed legislation would codify into US law Phase I of the NEMA Call to Action, the industry's voluntary commitment
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The FOX media network’s “Green It-Mean It” video campaign took a turn for the bizarre recently with a segment on single-use batteries. Entitled “Batteries,” the video asserts that most batteries sold each year are disposed in landfills where they “leak toxic chemicals into our land and air.” Behind a menacing figure of a skull and crossbones (not much
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This week I flew to the West Coast to make a presentation on behalf of several NEMA sections at a solid waste management industry conference. The morning after my arrival, I took the opportunity to stroll the conference exhibit hall, where a number of waste industry product and service providers were manning display booths, handing out literature, and
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The punishing impact on business of over-reaching government regulation is always painful to watch - the latest example is especially poignant given the time of year. Several recent stories in the mainstream press are highlighting the immense difficulty and expense suffered by toy manufacturers as they struggle to comply with product testing requirements
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Last week, Environmental NGOs in the European Union released their long-promised "SIN List" of chemical substances that the activist community in the EU believes should be designated as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) under the REACH regulation. SIN, which stands for "Substitute it Now," is an unfortunate acronym for this
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For the second time this year, the Washington Times OP-ED page contains a commentary that lashes out against the national transition to modern, energy efficient lighting (David Deming, “Fluorescent Light Bulb Folly” ). As a leading media venue for conservatives, WashTimes is generally effective in highlighting instances of government over-reach and