A blog posting by Be In The Know NJ has a very challenging report. Personally it is sickening to suspect that are agencies are not doing all they can to insure our health and safety.
What are you doing as a baby boomer to contribute to the environmental safety of our nation and world? Now I know that is a huge question yet many of us that are doing something can encourage others to join the fight.
We all fight in various ways. Yet, if we each one of us work together as writers, speakers, teachers and prayer warriors we can really achieve much.
Very frightening report, but not surprising. It has become obvious that many government agencies have been weakened by the far-right idea that government needs to get out of our way. Also the idea that government is ineffective, which has become a self-fulfilling outcome. Think about the SEC and it’s failure to investigate Harry Markopolis’ complaints about Madoff. He practically handed them data on a silver platter and they ignored it. I think we will not fix this problem until we begin to make the leaders of these agencies liable for their deliberate lack of action. There must be consequences to irresponsoble behavior. I know it isn’t always easy to prove, but it’s no different than some of the outrageous behavior on the part of some CEO’s in recent years.
It really should come as no surprise how lax out government has been when it comes to protecting the health and welfare of its citizens. Just look at all of the over the counter drugs that NEVER have to be approved by the FDA. And then look at how many of those drugs end up causing deaths and have to pulled off of the market. With the insurgence of so many citizen journalists and bloggers, we could make a difference. Maybe a few designated days out of each year we should do nothing but write about issues affecting our world. We already know the media reads blogs for stories. Maybe that would create a stir and get some action! I’m game.
I think we need to get rid of lobbyists, and have some mechanism that prevents people moving directly back and forth from private companies to the regulatory agencies.