Richard Wiles Quotations

The persistent, toxic chemicals we identified in this study are important, heavily used industrial substances, some of which are produced in quantities up to 500 million pounds a year. At the very least, Americans have a right to know if companies are releasing these pollutants into their communities. In fact, we should have begun tracking these pollutants years ago. Instead of curbing reports on the most worrisome pollutants to please industry, the Bush Administration should be expanding the tracking system to inform and protect the public.

Major shifts in transportation priorities are essential to achieving energy independence and maintaining national security, ... A serious commitment to rail and transit has been a missing element in the U.S. strategy to reduce our dependence on Middle East oil.

Mr. Bush likes to point to the fact that Texas is an industrial state and that's why it's so polluted. That's not the case. In fact for the industries we look at, California has far more of these big industrial smog polluters. But California enforces the law. Texas doesn't.

If they're so confident the situation is not a safety risk, they need to release the data to prove it. The only data available to the public contradict their claim.

Hundreds of thousands of women would get unsafe exposures to mercury if they followed the FDA's advice and ate freely of all fish in the food supply except the four that they've prohibited during pregnancy,

I think it's a very powerful tool for parents as well as kids. We know in our society right now that we have some real issues with obesity ... and maybe this will be the insight that will in turn make a difference.

We know that these chemicals are toxic. And we know that they're exceeding the levels the government has set for these chemicals in water,

We would like to see the parents use that as goal setting, whether it's from a student perspective, from the home or a school perspective where we can actually address this based on what our students needs are.

We are very concerned that total fluoride exposure is not safe for children. EPA is relying on outdated science to support this increase in fluoride exposure, and in our view has not discharged its legal duty to thoroughly consider the effects of fluoride on infants and children, from all routes of exposure, based on a thorough review of the most recent peer-reviewed science.

Benzene is a potent carcinogen that has no place in foods and drinks targeted to children. We urge the FDA to immediately issue a statement telling consumers which ingredients in foods and drinks can combine to form benzene.

Our concern is that this is a very unique chemical. It lasts, literally, for eternity, and now it has been determined to be a likely human carcinogen. That ranks it up there with DDT, PCBs and dioxin as a very serious hazard. It needs to be banned.

This information is not being adequately disseminated to pregnant women. If the food pyramid can't get it right, how can ordinary Americans?

They don't provide any data to substantiate their claim.

It's a major public health failing on (the FDA's) part, ... and we feel quite strongly that they need to aggressively look into the problem of mercury contamination of fish, expand the list of fish that women need to avoid and get this information out to the medical community and to women in a much more aggressive way.

Once again, the FDA has sided with industry and against the public, in this case by concealing simple information that would allow people to easily avoid benzene in the drinks they give their children. Once people have this information, we are convinced that food and drink manufacturers will simply reformulate their products, as many already have done, and as FDA originally intended in 1990.