Theft at the Public Till
now running at $150 billion a year, the waste could be over $100 billion a year. The mind reels at the thought of what could be achieved with a more efficient investment of this money. Our present environmental policies ignore some basic truths: The environment is cleaner than at any time in the past half-century. The environment is safer than at any time in recorded history. Life expec- tancy has never been longer. Cancer rates are failing, not rising. Predictions of impending global ecological disasters are untrue. Prosperity is good for the environment. Not everything can be explained. Trends can’t predict the future. Correlation is not causation. Facts count for more than opinions. We mustn’t forget the past. We can never avoid risk completely. We have only limited resources and limited time and have to make choices. The dose makes the poison. The dose-response relationship is often not linear. Mice are not little men. Epidermiologic studies can be unreliable. Risks can be measured and ranked. It is impossible to prove that something does not exist. Science is not immune to politics. Pollution problems tend to occur where ownership rights are not de- fined and enforced. Rights to air, water, and wildlife can be defined and enforced. Ownership leads to better stewardship. Incentives are better than commands. Environmental risk assessment traditionally has been based on the risk to a hypothetical individual who is assumed to be exposed to the worst possible combination of exposure circumstances. Yet, we can never avoid risk completely. Everything we do carries with it some risk, even common activities such as taking a bath (drowning) or crossing the street (being hit by a car). Seemingly harmless things (like balloons and tooth picks) some- times kill people. There is no such thing as a product, decision, or action that carries no risk whatsoever. Government policy seems to be based on the thesis that if “there may be a risk” that a chemical, nuclear power plant, or landfill will endanger our health, we should not allow it. No one calmly asks, “How much risk is there?” When the risk is unknown, no one waits until reliable evidence is available
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