Time to note a major triumph brought about by action in the 1970s: bald eagles are able to reproduce in the Lake Superior Basin without interference from DDTs and PCBs. Governments banned both 30 or more years ago.
As others have pointed out, our greatest success in controlling toxic chemicals has been through bans, not trying to calculate "acceptable risk" and how much poison in the environment is tolerable, which is mostly what has happened since the 70s. Scores of chemicals still in use are known or suspected of causing cancer, birth defects, and development abnormalities. The Great Lakes region should be a leading advocate of banning these and finding safe substitutes.
http://www.iaglr.org/jglr/release/31/31_2_227-235.php
Posted by Dave at June 8, 2005 03:16 PM