Mr. McGurn replies: Mr. Loberg has it exactly right. Protectionism is a racket, and the ones who agitate most loudly usually have something to protect. Unfortunately, one political problem with free markets is that marginal incentives for the person lobbying to protect his market from competition outweigh the marginal communal incentives in opening it up.
There are indeed many causes of the Philippines's misfortunes, and corruption certainly ranks at the top. But corruption itself depends largely on either closed or politically regulated markets, both of which the Philippines has in abundance. Nor do I take South Korea to be the unmitigated success Mr. Freeman supposes: Hong Kong, which started at roughly the same level, today has more than double the per capita income of South Korea, whose Japanese-style development is today giving it Japanese-style problems vis-à-vis its more open and competitive neighbors. The Philippines has also managed to attract some foreign investment; once inside the accepted circle, business can be great in a protected market, which helps explain why the Philippine stock market has been booming while Filipinos remain mired in poverty.
In the end, however, it does little good to ask about the causes of poverty. If that is the chief impression I conveyed in my article, I have missed the mark. The question that matters is how to become rich. And in the Philippines, that much is already clear: Open up to foreign investment without restriction. Were foreigners allowed to compete for labor in all markets and develop the Philippines's resources, wealth would increase and Filipinas with university degrees would not have to go into prostitution or work as maids for people overseas. Anyone disagree? Chlorine Questions
Michael Fumento's column, "Chemical Warfare" (June), is dangerous for its illogic, false statements, and stunning omission of some very serious facts. I don't have the time to rebut each distortion, so I'll simply challenge you to read the International Joint Commission's 7th Biennial Report on the Great Lakes, published in 1994. Call their office for a copy: (202) 736-9024.
The IJC decision to phase out industrial uses of chlorine came after serious investigation into the effects of this chemical which, after being mixed with others in industrial uses, creates a possible 50,000 untested, persistent, toxic, newly derived chemicals. The IJC commissioners, all conservative appointees under Reagan and Bush, decided unanimously that the chemicals must be treated as a class, that they are so dangerous they act like toxic hormones; children in utero are affected. There is ample scientific backup for this statement and the commissioners made their decision after reviewing a growing body of well-researched data.
I also urge you to pay close attention to the final Environmental Protection Agency reassessment of dioxin, due out this summer, done by independent scientists with impeccable credentials. Apparently, the findings are so significant--dioxin is so toxic on so many levels--that EPA administrators are anxious to delay making them public for as long as possible. Industry is not going to be very happy. Not only is the immune system compromised at very minute levels by dioxin, it also has the capacity to wreak reproductive havoc. A number of studies have already been published indicating this; it's all available to any reporter who is willing to look up the bibliography.
One of the great myths developed by modern industry-paid public relations is that "what happens in animals does not necessarily translate into humans." That's dangerous thinking. Humans are part of the whole life chain. Any toxin strong enough to kill an insect will eventually--with sufficient exposure of small amounts over time--harm a child first, and eventually an adult. With repeat exposure to small amounts of these toxic, persistent substances, (parts per million, billion, or trillion) negative responses will occur in humans; it may take a few years. Of course, the symptoms will show up earlier if the dose is heavy.
The only folks who say dioxin is not dangerous are those doing public relations for industry or government, those whose studies are paid by industry, or those media that own chlorine-bleaching pulp and paper mills. For example, The New York Times is battling a $1.3 billion lawsuit brought by the Canadian Eskimos living downstream of its paper mills.
The many thousands of product liability suits brought by contaminated victims are always settled out of court because chemical companies do not wish the data to become public. Currently, there are billions of dollars worth of such suits pending, and when the EPA reassessment of dioxin becomes public, dioxin-producing industries will certainly feel the pinch.
Mr. Fumento's article does little to advance the cause of truth or help the thousands of innocent victims who did not choose to get prostate and breast cancer, rare forms of other cancers such as non-Hodgkins lymphoma or soft-tissue sarcoma, develop compromised immune systems, give birth to defective or learning-disabled children, and in general live compromised lives.
Phasing out certain forms of industrial chlorine is not only good for the future, it will ultimately be good for business. A number of European countries are already finding equally effective and much cheaper substitutes for their bleaching, solvents, and refrigeration. Greenfreeze is the name of a revolutionary new generation of environmentally friendly refrigerators. They use propane and butane as the refrigerant and in the insulation rather than CFCs or HCFCs. More than a million Greenfreeze refrigeration models are being sold throughout Germany, England, Holland, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, France, and Australia. In their rush to see only the short term, our American companies will be left out of the competition.
You really should get with the program. True conservatives are just that; they want to protect and conserve the wealth, and that includes the wealth of human resources. It's too late for me. Because you are so cavalier with decent journalistic practice, I am cancelling my own subscription. I cannot trust your integrity.
Liane Clorfene-Casten, Chair
Environmental Task Force
Chicago Media Watch
Evanston, IL
Mr. Fumento replies: Ms. Clorfene-Casten's indignant letter is perhaps most telling in what it doesn't say. The two most important points in my article were that chlorine has no special properties that necessitate its being treated as a class of pollutant (any more than all environmentalists should be locked up because some do commit crimes) and that the over 1,500 natural organochlorines, such as table salt, are chemically indistinguishable from man-made ones.
She completely ignores the second point while barely touching on the first, saying the IJC "decided unanimously that the chemicals must be treated as a class, that they are so dangerous they act like toxic hormones; children in utero are affected." Presumably she means so dangerous because they act like toxic hormones, but only a precious few have even been accused of this. Her lengthy letter mentions only one by name, along with two small subclasses, CFCs and HCFCs.
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The strongest attack on this assumption comes from an unlikely source: Warren Farrell, formerly an activist in the women's movement and the only man elected three times to the board of the National Organization for Women. Farrell is the author of The Myth of Male Power (Simon & Schuster, 1993), which Barbara Dority, co-chair of the Northwest Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce, says has the "potential for being The Feminine Mystique of the men's movement." Farrell writes: "Feminism justified female 'victim power' by convincing the world that we lived in a sexist, male-dominated, and patriarchal world. The Myth of Male Power explains why the world was bi-sexist, both male and female-dominated, both patriarchal and matriarchal--each in different ways."
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The strongest attack on this assumption comes from an unlikely source: Warren Farrell, formerly an activist in the women's movement and the only man elected three times to the board of the National Organization for Women. Farrell is the author of The Myth of Male Power (Simon & Schuster, 1993), which Barbara Dority, co-chair of the Northwest Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce, says has the "potential for being The Feminine Mystique of the men's movement." Farrell writes: "Feminism justified female 'victim power' by convincing the world that we lived in a sexist, male-dominated, and patriarchal world. The Myth of Male Power explains why the world was bi-sexist, both male and female-dominated, both patriarchal and matriarchal--each in different ways."
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