A stalking horse, for hunters, is something of a moving blind. The idea is that the prey – often birds – would be startled by the appearance of a human, but not a horse or cow, so the hunter uses the stalking horse (“stalking cow” doesn’t have the same ring) to approach unseen, until the prey is within weapon’s range.
In the modern world, a stalking horse is a metaphor for some third party that tries out an idea or technique for someone else, to see how it goes over, without exposing the ulterior party to the negative side effects of failure.
The stalking horse is the way to go in the 21st century. This week’s famous stalking horse is the Heartland Institute of Chicago, Illinois. Isn’t that such a nice name, the Heartland Institute? What pleasant folks they must be!
Actually, not. The Heartland Institute is a right-wing think tank for hire. If you’ve got cash and a libertarian idea, they’ll be happy to cook up some bogus nonsense to promote it and hide your identity. There’s the “Free to Choose Medicine” which opposes the Food and Drug Administration’s “extreme tunnel focus on safety,” you know, making sure drugs that are supposed to cure you don’t kill you instead. How could Big Pharma not like (and contribute to) that? Continue reading
Poisoning Continues, Now with Government Approval
Twenty years ago, as a young(er) toxics campaigner, I and many others worked to limit the effects of the industrial uses of chlorine. Short version: when we put chlorine in the front end, we get a host of pollutants out the back end that persist in the environment and cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive disorders.
Dioxin was the poster child for this class of toxicants. (The phrase “poster child” was derived from the practice of charities raising funds by printing posters with photos cute children who are afflicted with a disease. Perhaps dioxin is better termed “poster child enabler.”)
In 1991, the Environmental Protection Agency undertook a three-year reassessment of dioxin’s toxicity. In typical fashion, the first results of that reassessment were released last week, 21 years later (and late on a Friday before a holiday weekend).
The EPA concluded, “current exposure to dioxins does not pose a significant health risk.” I’m used to my government agencies putting a polluter’s spin on science, but that’s not spin, that’s an out and out lie. I guess EPA was waiting for all its real scientists to retire or die, so the political hacks that replaced them could shovel this load of manure out the front door.
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