Better Things for Better Living…Through Chemistry

IS YOUR SHOWER CURTAIN KILLING YOU?

Maybe not, but this engaging article charges that we produce or import 140 pounds of synthetic chemicals a day per capita (could that be true?) and that our bodies – even if we don’t smoke – now contain traces of about 700 of them. And there are a lot of transsexual fish near waste-water treatment facilities.

From 1979 to 2004, the EPA received more than 32,000 chemical applications, but agency personnel performed some level of review on fewer than one in eight cases. Eight out of every 10 applications are approved with no restrictions, often in less than three weeks. The agency has implemented restrictions on only five chemical classes, even though in the 1990s it reported that 16,000 compounds warranted concern because of their chemical structure or volume of use.

☞ We don’t want restrictions, let alone mindless, bureaucratic ones.

Then again, we are probably not as good at heading off foreseeable problems as we should be. Could 6.5 billion humans – soon to be 9 billion – foul our nest (or pollute our gene pool) so badly in the next few decades as to render this whole uber-miraculous human experiment unsustainable?

My own view is that ‘living lighter on the land’ can’t hurt – and saves money.

(Tomorrow: a link to a much cheerier article.)

But speaking of transsexual fish . . .

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE STRAIGHT TO GET MARRIED

John Kasley: ‘This magazine is on sale at Barnes & Noble and Borders, etc. It is lovingly produced by two charming ladies in North Carolina who have adopted a gorgeous little daughter. It keeps current with GLBT weddings and trends and vendors who are helpful in making it a successful celebration of love. The magazine has been around for about two years now, and it deserves wider distribution.’

☞ LA Times columnist Dana Parsons is not particularly concerned about California’s new marriage ruling. ‘As a formerly married man,’ he writes, ‘I probably did more harm to the institution than any gay couple ever could.’

The San Francisco Chronicle reported the results of a recent poll:

In a dramatic reversal of decades of public opinion, California voters agree by a slim majority that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, according to a Field Poll released today.

By 51-42 percent, registered voters said they believed same-sex marriage should be legal in California. Only 28 percent favored gay marriage in 1977, when the Field Poll first asked that question, said Mark DiCamillo, the poll’s director.

“This is a milestone in California,” he said. “You can’t downplay the importance of a change in an issue we’ve been tracking for 30 years.” . . .

☞ MACY’S is on board, too.

Here’s the nub of what the Court decided:

. . . [I]n contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation – like a person’s race or gender – does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. – California Supreme Court