The enviros have gone quackers.
Greenwire reports,
Protesting Exxon Mobil Corp.’s use of plasticizers, health advocates today set a 20-foot-tall yellow rubber duck outside the oil giant’s Houston headquarters.
The duck is made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which environmentalists have targeted for containing phthalates, chemicals that make plastic flexible. Health advocates say phthalates leach from PVC and threaten the development of young children, a charge with which industry strongly disagrees.
Exxon Mobil, protesters said, produces phthalates at its Baton Rouge, La., facility.
“Exxon Mobil should stop its toxic toying around with our children’s health,” said Mike Schade of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ). “Rather than lobbying government officials to protect their corporate profits at the expense of children’s health, Exxon Mobil should invest in safer chemicals that are healthier for children, workers and communities.”…
And here’s how Exxon is fighting back.
An Exxon Mobil spokeswoman emphasized that her company uses phthalates safely.
Good thing she “emphasized” it — otherwise the Greenwire reporter would have missed it — as opposed to simply making it the last line of her story.
Click here for a Forbes article providing some context for the protest.
Click here for JunkScience.com’s Phthalates Library.