difference between nerve gas and gasoline

[christine <c_ziebold@yahoo.com>]

I wonder how many of us needed the reminder that government has
regulated the traffic of hazardous and radioactive substances. However,
Ms Gawarecki appears not to be aware  that the Department of
Transportation can and does exempt shippers. As was pointed out on the
listserve, branches of the U.S. military ship hazardous materials (DU
munitions) without the "Radioactive" or 'explosive' placard. In an
accident the price for this secrecy would be paid by first responders
and the public with their inadvertent exposure to radioactive material,
exactly the case which government in its good forsight tries to prevent
with regulations. 

Ms Gawarecki argues that there are "plenty of chemical tankers on the
roads every day with loads that are every bit as dangerous as nerve
gas". This argument emanates from a utilitarian philosophical
perspective, ie all these chemicals serve their rightful purpose in our
society, all have a right to be transported etc. Most people interested
in  protecting the environment will not embrace this perspective. The
fallacy of equating nerve gas secondary waste with chemicals used in
consumer products was already pointed out by  Steve Taylor from MTP in
his comment yesterday. 

The same utilitarian logic operates when Ms Gawarecki  does not "see
any difference in being killed by a crash of a truck carrying nerve gas
vs. the explosion of a gasoline tanker." I beg to differ, as I see a
difference. There are issues beyond our own fate, for example other
people, the environment, public health, 7 generations, the common good.
These do not seem to enter linear utilitarian logic, however, which
serves to sanction unsafe practices, ignoring the contexts of
production and life cyles. 

Christine Ziebold MD PhD MPH
Community RAB member
Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP)  




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