Many of us have been fighting toxic pollution for decades. So, we’ve known what some acolytes of former President Trump have recently discovered: protecting our families and friends from toxic chemicals is a priority for all of us, regardless of who we voted for.
Too often, politicians in both parties have put the profits of the polluters ahead of our public health. That was certainly the case during the administration of former President Donald Trump. And the contrast with the administration of President Biden and Vice President Harris could not be any clearer.
There are many examples. For starters, Trump is for using more asbestos, which is known to cause mesothelioma, a devastating lung disease. The Biden-Harris EPA banned asbestos. But, perhaps the best example is action taken to address PFAS, the toxic “forever” chemicals linked to cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Trump failed to take action on PFAS, also called forever chemicals
When Trump had the chance, he failed to protect us from PFAS, which has so far been detected in the drinking water of more than 7,000 communities and poses unique risks to firefighters. By contrast, the Biden-Harris EPA required water utilities to remove PFAS from our tap water – an historic decision that will provide more than 100 million people with cleaner water.
Biden and Harris pledged in 2020 to make PFAS a priority and they delivered. No administration has done more to address the urgent threat posed by these toxic forever chemicals. Trump’s team said they would protect us from PFAS; the Biden-Harris team actually got the job done.
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While the PFAS drinking standard came too late for people like Amara Strande, Joel Stelt, and countless others who were poisoned by PFAS polluters without their knowledge or consent, rescinding or delaying the standard – as Trump’s cronies have pledged to do – would be an insult to their families, who have fought tirelessly to bring justice for what can only be described as one of the greatest environmental crimes in our history. All of us want water, food, and everyday products that are free from toxic forever chemicals. Only one of us would put the polluters back in charge of the EPA.
PFAS is just one example of Trump’s failure to protect us. Trump’s EPA rescinded a proposal to ban TCE, an industrial solvent linked to cancer and other health harms. Biden’s EPA banned TCE. Trump’s EPA refused to ban toxic pesticides that threaten the people who feed us. Biden’s EPA banned dachtal and most uses of chlorpyrifos and acephate.
If Trump wins, toxic polluters will be in charge of White House
People are right to worry that the people charged with protecting us from toxic chemicals are putting our public health ahead of the profits of chemical companies and other polluters. But it won’t be public health experts who will be in charge of regulating toxic chemicals like PFAS if Trump wins. It will be the people who make the chemicals – and their lobbyists – who will calling the shots.
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If Trump wins, the polluters will be back in charge. Folks are right to be worried about toxic chemicals. They are wrong to think Trump will do anything about them.
After allowing polluters to poison their workers and neighbors for decades, we are finally making our public health, not polluter profits, our top priority. Polluters have known for decades that PFAS was building up in our blood and making us sick; our regulators knew and failed to act. Thanks to Biden and Harris, we’re finally getting the protections we all deserve.
Mark Ruffalo is an activist and actor from Kenosha.
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