Deregulate!

[stpioc]

An insider in the tobacco industry has revealed some of the unscrupulous tactics it is using to avoid new restrictions governing the marketing of cigarettes that come into force next month. One strategy – sticking competitive pricing labels on packets, a move designed to attract cost-conscious poorer smokers who make up the majority of the market – is already in breach of the regulations, according to legal advice obtained by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash). The whistleblower, until recently employed by Imperial Tobacco, one of the UK’s largest companies, told the Observer that all four of the industry’s main players were employing a range of branding initiatives involving pack design to differentiate their products before the new regulations come into force on 20 May. From this date, cigarettes must be sold in dark green packs of 20 that carry health warnings covering at least 65% of the box.

How tobacco firms flout UK law on plain packaging | Society | The Guardian

[stpioc]

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday rolled back an Obama administration attempt to reform how student loan servicers collect debt. Obama issued a pair (PDF) of memorandums (PDF) last year requiring that the government’s Federal Student Aid office, which services $1.1 trillion in government-owned student loans, do more to help borrowers manage, or even discharge, their debt. But in a memorandum (PDF) to the department’s student aid office, DeVos formally withdrew the Obama memos.

DeVos Undoes Obama Student Loan Protections - Bloomberg

[stpioc]

McKay Jenkins, author of "ContamiNation" and "Food Fight," explains the disturbing truth that certain products in the US contain chemicals that Europe banned due to health concerns.

US still uses chemicals that are forbidden in Europe - Business Insider

[stpioc]

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Friday afternoon directing his Treasury Secretary to review tax regulations issued over the last year, aimed at eliminating those that “add undue complexity” and “exceed statutory authority.” Trump has pitched the order as a way to reduce excessive burdens on business and taxpayers alike. The White House said it will focus on those that “impose an undue financial burden on American taxpayers,” but it’s business that seems most poised to reap the benefits.
That’s because the most likely candidates for getting rolled back are regulations issued by the Obama administration aimed at reducing corporate tax avoidance..

Trump poised to roll back a sweeping crackdown on corporate tax avoidance

[stpioc]

Let's make America fat again!

Michelle Obama had a strikingly successful record of fighting the obesity epidemic and improving nutrition — both symbolically and through advocacy for legislation. But many Obama-era efforts to push the food industry in a healthier direction are now under threat. Over the last couple of weeks, a number of reports have surfaced suggesting that the food industry is trying to capitalize on Trump’s anti-regulation agenda and push back on reforms aimed at making our food supply healthier. 

The food lobbyists, emboldened by the current White House, are reportedly pushing back on recent healthy food and transparency mandates that would hurt their bottom line. Some of the key battlegrounds — school lunches, food and menu labels — are familiar terrain for anybody who has been watching the efforts to clean up the US food supply. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s been happening, and the top three areas to watch.

Donald Trump is taking on Michelle Obama's healthy food legacy - Vox

[stpioc]

Airlines dragging paying customers off planes, what's the Republican answer? Deregulate!

On Tuesday, May 2, America’s airline executives were hauled before the House Transportation Committee to justify their businesses’ conduct to the assembled representatives of the American people and the flying public. At least, that’s what the Democratic members of the committee wanted to hear. The majority Republicans, however, were happy to cut the airlines some mega-slack. As Dana Milbank noted in The Washington Post, Republican members, led by Committee Chair Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, happily parroted airline management’s talking points. The problem at the root of the airline passenger experience, they said, is that the airlines are overregulated. “I don’t believe in overburdening our businesses,” Shuster said, while adding the codicil that Congress might seek to add a few more regulations “next time” some assault on a passenger goes viral.

Trickle Downers of the Week: The Republicans on the House Transportation Committee

Funny enough, it's the same answer as that of the airline industry. Coincidence? You decide..

[stpioc]

Michelle Obama has made her strongest political intervention since leaving the White House, stating bluntly at a health conference: “Think about why someone is OK with your kids eating crap.” One of the former first lady’s signature legacies was an effort to reduce childhood obesity.

Earlier this month, Donald Trump’s administration froze regulations that would cut sodium and increase whole grains served in school meals. “We have a lot more work to do, for sure, but we’ve got to make sure we don’t let anybody take us back because the question is, where are we going back to?” Obama told a Partnership for a Healthier America summit in Washington. “This is where you really have to look at motives, you know. You have to stop and think: why don’t you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you?”

'What is wrong with you?' Michelle Obama savages Trump's gutting of her legacy | US news | The Guardian

[stpioc]

More than 50 farmworkers in California became sick from pesticide drift, Kern Golden Empire reported, one month after a controversial pesticide was deemed safe to use by the Trump administration.
On May 5, workers harvesting cabbage on a farm near Bakersfield were exposed to a “pesticide odor” from mandarin orchards in the west sprayed with Vulcan, an organophosphate-based chemical. The active ingredient in Vulcan is chlorpyrifos, a chemical linked to human health problems manufactured by Dow AgroSciences, a division of Dow Chemical. Chlorpyrifos was slated to be banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Obama administration.

Trump administration rejects ban on harmful insecticide, dozens of farmworkers get sick

[stpioc]

How about this for effects of deregulation. Towering Inferno

This goes far beyond the precise shockers – the Tory MPs who mockingly rejected housing regulation; the cuts to funding to councils responsible for retro-fitting fire suppressants; the disregard of coroner’s instructions after the 2009 Lakanal House tragedy; and even the plan to opt out of EU safety regulations. Conservative Kensington and Chelsea council allegedly blocking its ears to tenants’ well-founded anxiety is just the immediate scandal. But this event reaches far deeper, to the very sinews of its party’s policy.

Theresa May was too scared to meet the Grenfell survivors. She’s finished | Polly Toynbee | Opinion | The Guardian

[stpioc]

And thank God we have the EU..

A chemical found in CDs, DVDs, kettles and water bottles could soon be restricted after the EU authorities ruled that it posed a threat to human health because of its effects on hormones.
The European chemicals agency (Echa) voted unanimously that bisphenol A (BPA) was an ‘endocrine disruptor’, linking it to a range of hormone-twisting health effects including cancer, learning difficulties and diabetes. The substance has already been singled out for its toxicity to the human reproduction system.

EU moves to restrict hormone-disrupting chemical found in plastics | Society | The Guardian

You should see the documentary Plastic Planet if you think this isn't necessary. At the end, he chaces the head of a plastics lobby group armed with a suitcase full of 700 scientific studies testifying to the dangers of Bisphenol A and other substances. We don't even know what's in many plastics, as these are 'trade secrets' as the director tries to find out at a factory in China.