We need laws and regulations that protect our safety and freedom

Rochester Business Journal by Abigail McHugh-Grifa

September 21, 2023

I think I ought to begin this column with a trigger warning, because it’s going to challenge some ideas that many Americans hold dear. Although it may come off as politically polarizing, my goal is actually to unify readers around a shared cause. I’m hoping to communicate that it’s in our collective best interest to reconsider our nation’s approach to (de)regulation, in order to keep ourselves safe and experience true freedom. If reading that last sentence raised your blood pressure a bit, please take a deep breath and stick with me, keeping in mind that my intention is to build bridges across the political divide, even though that feels almost impossible in today’s world. Thanks in advance for your willingness to engage in this conversation with me. Let’s dive in.

I recently heard/read two things in the news that scared me considerably more than the daily news usually does (which is a high baseline to start with). The first was a story on NPR about escalating violence in Haiti between vigilantes and gangs. They haven’t had any functioning government since their president was assassinated two years ago. Their capital city, Port-au-Prince, is now about 80% controlled by gangs. There’s not enough food to eat. People are being forced out of their homes, raped and killed. And although regular citizens are “taking up machetes, rocks, and sticks” to fight back, the situation isn’t getting better.

This news struck me so deeply because it sounded exactly like a scene out of Octavia Butler’s post-apocalyptic novel, Parable of the Sower, which I read a few months ago. Written in 1994, the “futuristic” plot begins in 2024. I recall thinking that it seemed like a fairly realistic portrayal of how human civilization could go down in flames, if we fail to reverse the climate crisis, but I thought Octavia Butler had been overly pessimistic to choose 2024 as the starting point for her frightening story. However, hearing about what’s happening in Haiti forced me to acknowledge that she may have gotten the timing exactly right. From my perspective, the moral of both Octavia Butler’s tale and the news in Haiti is that having a functioning government that can make laws and enforce the rule of law (in fair and equitable ways) is essential for keeping people safe, maintaining peace, and holding our civilization together. I am therefore deeply troubled by efforts to undermine the government that are happening here in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The second item of news that got me riled up was a report in the NY Times about how aquifers across the United States are being quickly and irreversibly drained. As the article put it, “America’s life-giving resource is being exhausted in much of the country, and in many cases it won’t come back. Huge industrial farms and sprawling cities are draining aquifers that could take centuries or millenniums to replenish themselves, if they recover at all.” This is a problem not only because people need water to grow food and survive, but also because depleting groundwater supplies causes arsenic contamination and dangerous sinkholes and fissures.

To my mind, this warrants bold and immediate government action to protect groundwater supplies for the benefit of current and future generations. In reality, “the depletion of this unseen yet essential natural resource is barely regulated. The federal government plays almost no role, and individual states have implemented a dizzying array of often weak rules.” In Kansas, for example, “the major aquifer beneath 2.6 million acres of land can no longer support industrial-scale agriculture. Corn yields have plummeted. If that decline were to spread, it could threaten America’s status as a food superpower.” Despite the severity of this crisis, “Kansas has no mechanism in place to stop its groundwater decline.”

I hope, Dear Reader, that right now you are thinking something like “HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT OUR DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES AREN’T BETTER PROTECTED?!?!?” That seems like a totally reasonable response to me, but the truth is that our country lacks regulations in many sectors and on many issues, in ways that are very, very dangerous.

A.I. is a great example. Guns, too. And the chemical industry. Etc., etc.

Back in the early 2010s, when I was trying to get pregnant for the first time, I worked very hard to minimize my exposure to toxic chemicals (e.g., PFAS, BPA, phthalates, flame retardants, pesticides, etc.), because these toxins are especially harmful for developing fetuses and young children. Though I drove myself and my husband crazy with the effort, I probably wasn’t very successful, because toxic chemicals are EVERYWHERE! For example, unless you have specifically purchased products that are made without harmful chemicals (which are typically more expensive), beware of your sofa, raincoat, shower curtain, carpet, cosmetics and other personal care products, non-organic food, food packaging, electronics, and pretty much anything made of plastic (including vinyl/PVC and the microplastics that come from polyester/acrylic/nylon clothing).

A lot of chemicals that we are exposed to here in the U.S. are outlawed in the European Union. As I understand it, this is because the EU takes a precautionary approach to chemical regulation (i.e., products must be proven safe before they are sold to consumers), whereas here in the U.S., pretty much any chemical can be used until it is proven to cause harm. Unfortunately, once they are out in the real world, it is difficult to know which chemicals cause which type of harm, because people are exposed to lots of chemicals every day.

Another challenge is that it’s hard to know which chemicals are in which products, because in many cases, companies aren’t required to disclose this information. For example, if you use a personal care product that has “fragrance” on the list of ingredients, it probably contains phthalates (an endocrine disruptor), but you can’t really know for sure.

Though I still try to limit my family’s exposure to toxic chemicals and other hazards, I know I am completely outmatched. I simply don’t have the time or energy to fully understand the risks that are out there, nor do I have the power to control or manage those risks. As a result, the world does not feel like a safe place to me.

The moral of this story, from my perspective, is that we need robust laws and regulations that protect and prioritize human health and safety. We also need an effective, fully functional (i.e., not corrupt or overly bureaucratic) government that can develop, implement, and enforce those laws and regulations. And since no institution can be effective and fully functional without adequate resources, we’ll need to pay taxes so the government can do its job well.

I know this is all quite controversial, in part because some people believe that government limits our individual freedoms. But in our country, efforts to shrink government and weaken regulation have made us unsafe, which doesn’t leave me feeling very free. To my mind, freedom and safety go hand-in-hand. It may be that I experience this more viscerally than most people, because I am a relatively petite woman who literally needs laws to protect my body from those who might do it harm. I wouldn’t feel free if I couldn’t walk safely down the street at night, and I don’t feel free knowing that I can’t keep pollutants out of my body. Currently, our culture seems to prioritize the freedom to do harm over freedom from harm, which doesn’t make much sense to me.

The truth is that appropriate laws and regulations (when enacted) have a pretty good record of keeping us safe and saving lives. For example, according to National Geographic, the Clean Air Act has “saved millions of lives and trillions of dollars,” despite polluters’ consistent efforts to undermine the law. I therefore hope, Dear Reader, that regardless of your political affiliation, you will join me in advocating for policies that protect our health and safety, because it would benefit everybody and give us more freedom to live our best lives.