Political Quotes

“And my colleagues, chronic exposure to carcinogens, neurotoxins, and other dangerous chemicals can take a terrible toll on people's health, particularly in communities that live in the shadows of major sources of pollution. I have next to me here a diagram, a picture of cement kilns next to an elementary school. Everyone in this Chamber probably knows someone who's been stricken by cancer or who has a child with a learning disability or birth defect. Environmental pollution does not cause all cancers or every health problem, but numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies tell us that chemicals classified as carcinogens cause cancers, and those cancers sicken and kill real people. Chemicals classified as neurotoxins damage the nerve system. They pose a particular threat to infants and developing brains. These effects are significant, tragic, and avoidable. That's why Republicans and Democrats together voted in 1990 to strengthen the Clean Air Act to require dozens of industry sectors to step up and install modern pollution controls on their facilities. The American people were tired of having their communities harmed by toxic air pollution. They didn't want to live in fear that the factory down the road would give their children cancer or damage their baby's brain. We made a promise to the American people that EPA would require polluters to cut their emissions of mercury, lead, dioxins, and other air pollutants linked to serious health effects.…”