By Brian Brawdy
This stinks – literally. Once again, politicians busy themselves pandering to constituencies all the while ignoring scientific facts. The latest proposal comes from the State of California and Assemblyman Bill Monning, a Democrat from Santa Cruz. The legislation, AB 1824, would ban the use of holding tank products containing bronopol, dowicil, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, paraformaldehyde and para-dichlorobenzene, according to the proposed bill.
This “ban” or “proposed prohibition” is sponsored by the California Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds and the California Travel Industry Association and would make it a crime, and therefore you and I “criminals” for having a deodorant in our holding tank that uses any of the above additives when crossing state lines into California.
Don’t like being called a criminal? According to the current writing, “A violation of the hazardous waste control law is a crime.”
Forgetting, for the moment, the obvious bias from a organized group of RV Parks and Campgrounds that would rather point the finger at us as opposed to accepting their responsibility for the proper and sustained maintenance of community holding tanks, let’s add a bit of science to the insanity.
I asked Mary Burrows, Manager of Chemical Development for the Thetford Corporation about the bill. She provided me with an exhaustive list of scientific studies and summarized the results. “The results are clear. Properly sized and maintained waste treatment systems successfully treat high strength holding tank waste and the deodorants they contain. With normal use the deodorants work by controlling odors through chemical reactions with plenty of healthy bacteria left in the holding tank.” She went on to say that she has been sharing these third party studies with the proponents of the bill but has not yet seen them interested in the science.
Oh great. Now a non-disclosed governmental “department shall develop and adopt regulations to define non-biodegradable toxic chemicals.” Don’t you feel so much safer? I know I do. Do you feel any safer knowing formaldehyde is a natural occurring substance found in human blood, pears, apples, cabbage, carrots, green onions, spinach, tomatoes, pig and sheep meat products, poultry, cheese, milk, cod and even shrimp?
Those dastardly shrimp!
Think Assemblyman Monning doesn’t dig science? Wait a minute. According to his website, “Assemblymember Bill Monning expressed disappointment today at the announcement by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to propose registration of the pesticide, Methyl Iodide for use in California. The announcement was made yesterday through DPR’s website. Assemblymember Monning had these words to say in response to the news: ‘In light of the overwhelming scientific evidence put forth by the external peer review board, this decision was a disappointment. There are ongoing safety concerns about rural farm workers and residents who work and live in proximity to agricultural fields. The external review panel indicated there are high risks to human health and the environment to use of this pesticide. It appears that commercial enterprise has outweighed public health interests in this case. I hope that DPR will reconsider its decision.’”
Oh, so he does dig science and established scientific evidence after all? Hmmmm
Whenever a politician introduces a law void of supporting science—or molds it to fit his/her point of view– and ultimately vague in both its scope and definition, I always take pause.
California can’t keep out illegal aliens or marijuana but they can make sure you and I don’t mule toilet deodorants, that we don’t traffic in controlled commode chemicals? Perhaps we should boycott California, give them their own “Arizona Treatment” when and if this bill becomes law.
To learn more about Brian Brawdy, please visit BrianBrawdy.com