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How chemical industry hoodwinked California Legislature
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper)


San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper), May 16, 2015
Posted: May 24th, 2015
http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/diaz/article/How-chemical...

Grant David Gillham, former legislative staffer ... knows how to work the system. Three major manufacturers of fire retardants went to the right person in 2007 when they enlisted him to help defeat legislation that would ban two classes of retardants believed to cause cancer. Their instructions to him: Dont worry about the science. Run a political campaign. Oh, and by the way, he was not to reveal his association with the industry. Now Gillham is speaking out in a big way, and his story ... illustrates the extent to which the legislative process can be manipulated. The chemical industrys main trade group, the American Chemistry Council, denied any connection with Gillham after a 2012 Chicago Tribune series exposed that the advocacy group he created, Citizens for Fire Safety, was not as it claimed, a coalition of fire professionals, educators, community activists, burn centers, doctors, fire departments and industry leaders, [but] was funded by three manufacturers who controlled 40 percent of the global market for the targeted chemicals. The strategy worked in California Lenos bill to ban chlorinated and brominated fire retardants died on the Senate floor on Aug. 26, 2008 and Citizens for Fire Safety went on to help defeat similar bills in other states. The manufacturers claims of the lifesaving benefits of fire retardants have been contradicted by scientific studies that suggests their flame-resisting properties are minimal, and are more than offset by their negative effect in making fires more toxic.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing stories about manipulation of mass media and corporate corruption from reliable sources.


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