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After completing the final three chapters of Exposed, I have once a gain been opened up to another realm suspicious events occurring within out own government. The final three chapters titled: Chemical Revolution, Transpacific Drift, and The New Diplomats; really summed up the purpose of this book and continued to reiterate the message that the author has been portraying.
Ch 7: Chemical Revolution
This chapter is broken into five categories, Human Test Dummies, Fall & Rise of the Environmental Mohicans, Chemical Reaction, Making of a Transatlantic Lobby, and American Missionary in Brussels. This first looks at the amount of toxic chemicals found in grandmothers and grand daughters and looks at the amount to toxic chemicals we as citizens are exposed do. The next section discusses REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals) and the Europeans effort to make this common practice. Making of a Transatlantic Lobby discusses the fact that the European Union’s biggest opposition is the United States and their huge contingent of lobbyist that represent major chemical companies and seem to always be standing in the way of what the EU is attempting to complete
Ch 8: Transpacific Drift
Through this chapter the main theme was ‘China and the Next Big Thing’ and how if the European Union is to make REACH work, the manufacturing powerhouses throughout the globe would have to be on board. The chapter discusses how China’s vast economic and ecological footprint are not only reshaping the global economy but also reshaping global climate. Since China is second only to the United States in Greenhouse Gas emotions, and the EU has pretty much given up on the U.S., the primary focus of environmental health throughout the world has now been shifted to china. The chapter concludes by stating how China was faced with the decision to go one way or the other with its environmental process and they chose to follow the path of Europe, once again leaving the U.S. with a lot of catching up to do
Ch 9: The New Diplomats
The final chapter of this book looks at how the United States used to play a groundbreaking role in the conservation of our environment. A professor at Brown University who was interviewed for the book states, “my students have no memory of U.S. environmental leadership. When I talk about how the United States was a pioneer of global environment standards, they look stunned, like I’m some kind of crazy Apologist for the U.S. government.” The remainder of this chapter continues to discuss how the U.S. used play a significant role in the preservation of the environment throughout our world, but some where along the line morals and value were traded for money and greed.
Overview:
After reading this book I was truly amazed at the amount of information I gathered. I assumed that it would be a lot more vanilla than it really was and the fact that it went hand-in-hand for some of the course work we have been doing helped out greatly. The three most significant things I learned would have to be the impact that the European Union has had on the safety of the entire world, the openness that every other country except for the United States has had to following the research and ideas of the EU, and finally the absolute blind-eye that the U.S. turns to certain issues, especially those that effect its citizens in severely hazardous ways. This book opened my eyes to see what truly is going on in ‘Corporate America’ and educated me to become more informed about the things I am not only putting into and on my body, but to all of the products that I encounter on a daily basis and what goes in to creating them.
As a whole I would recommend this book to others because of its educational purpose, but also because it cultures you to realize that other countries do truly care about their citizens and the appropriate measures are being taken to protect people in this world.
I found this review on Amazon.com, and I think it reflects my feelings on this book in almost an identical way:
I had not realized till I read this book that Europe seems more interested in health than corporate profits, as evidenced by how closely they watch modern products. The US used to be a leader in this regard, but now govt agencies are tools of big business. It's sad, but the hope is that the standards that the Europeans set (and by osmosis, Japan and China) will gradually improve the safety of products in the US. No company likes having two versions of a product.
