Posted on 10/29/2014 6:50:04 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE
This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “noble” cause corruption. Documentation follows.
From IceAgeNow - the American EPA has stunned observers, with a list of inert additives for pesticide formulations they intend to ban, which includes the noble gas Argon.
Its hard to imagine a more inoffensive substance than Argon. As a noble gas, Argon is chemically inert – it participates in no chemical reactions whatsoever, except under exotic conditions – there are no known chemical compounds which can survive at room temperature which include Argon. Argon is not a greenhouse gas. But Argon is incredibly useful to industry – among other things, is used as a “shield” gas. Anyone who welds Aluminium or Stainless Steel will be familiar with Argon, which is used with MIG and TIG welders, to blow oxygen away from the electric welding arc, to prevent oxidative damage to the weld joint. Any effort to regulate the use of this harmless substance would do incalculable damage to American industrial competitiveness, for no benefit whatsoever. See details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argon
So why on Earth would the EPA plan to ban something as inoffensive as Argon? IceAgeNow has a theory – they think Argon is part of a list supplied by a scientifically illiterate NGO, which the EPA plans to rubber stamp.
If anyone with any real scientific training whatsoever had seen this silly list before it was published, or had taken the trouble to do 5 minutes of research on each entry in the list, to discover how ridiculous and ignorant the inclusion of Argon on a list of dangerous chemicals to be banned really is, then the EPA would not be facing their current very public embarrassment.
A spoof?
No, the EPA even has a press release about it:
EPA Proposes to Remove 72 Chemicals from Approved Pesticide Inert Ingredient List
Release Date: 10/23/2014 Contact Information: Cathy Milbourn Milbourn.cathy@epa.gov 202-564- 4355 202-564-4355
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting public comment on a proposal to remove 72 chemicals from its list of substances approved for use as inert ingredients in pesticide products.
“We are taking action to ensure that these ingredients are not added to any pesticide products unless they have been fully vetted by EPA,” said Jim Jones, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “This is the first major step in our strategy to reduce risks from pesticides containing potentially hazardous inert ingredients.”
EPA is taking this action in response to petitions by the Center for Environmental Health, Beyond Pesticides, Physicians for Social Responsibility and others. These groups asked the agency to issue a rule requiring disclosure of 371 inert ingredients found in pesticide products. EPA developed an alternative strategy designed to reduce the risks posed by hazardous inert ingredients in pesticide products more effectively than by disclosure rulemaking.
EPA outlined its strategy in a May 22, 2014 letter: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0558-0003 to the petitioners.
Many of the 72 inert ingredients targeted for removal, are on the list of 371 inert ingredients identified by the petitioners as hazardous. The 72 chemicals are not currently being used as inert ingredients in any pesticide product. Chemicals such as, turpentine oil and nitrous oxide are listed as candidates for removal.
Most pesticide products contain a mixture of different ingredients. Ingredients that are directly responsible for controlling pests such as insects or weeds are called active ingredients. An inert ingredient is any substance that is intentionally included in a pesticide that is not an active ingredient.
For the list of 72 chemical substances and to receive information on how to provide comments, see the Federal Register Notice in docket # EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0558. To access this notice, copy and paste the docket number into the search box at: http://regulations.gov. Comments are due November 21, 2014.
General information on inert ingredients can be found at: http://www2.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/inert-ingredients-overview-and-guidance.
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Here is the GovSpeak document outlining the removal of 72 items:
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/10/22/2014-24586/proposed-removal-of-certain-inert-ingredients-from-approved-chemical-substance-list-for-pesticide
And here is the list:
Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Pesticide Programs
Supporting document to docket# EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0558
Listing of 72 chemical substances proposed for removal from the currently approved inert ingredient list.
EPA-argon-list
The full list: http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0558
Why doesn’t the EPA just call for the elimination of H2O and Oxygen? That would solve all their problems.
“Argon is used in neon lighting too.”
If I recall correctly, it’s red. You can do some neat effects with an Argon tube by varying the power supply.
Regarding the “hole in the ozone layer” hypothesis, which underlies(pun intended) the banning of flourocarbons like Freon - “A faulty premise still leads to an invalid conclusion.”
The “Hole In The Ozone Layer” was discovered by Dr. Dobson at Halley Bay in the Antarctic back in 1954. GangGreen then claimed Freon released chloride ions when it broke down and the ions were destroying the ozone layer. Further, they claimed this would remove Earth’s UV protective layer and we would all die of cancer, sunburn, ad nauseam.
Two minor flaws were that the oceans are salt water, and release huge amounts of Chloride ions because that “salt” in the salt water is sodium chloride.
The second largest source of atmospheric chloride turns out to be volcanoes. Man produced additions to the atmosphere are insignificant.
GangGreen is dedicated to the destruction of American technology and capitalism. They have been successful by destroying one small bite of the American economy at a time, much as pygmies eat an elephant.
“If GangGreen said it, it’s probably sh*t!”
The real problem is PROTONS, NEUTRONS, and ELECTRONS.
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BAN THESE DEADLY THINGS????
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You forgot MORONS.
The real goal is to ban capitalism - one useful tool at a time...
“Will the EPA regulate the CO2 fire extinguishers next?” What about evil soft drink/pop makers? Where’s the outcry? What a clown car we have running this country now. And it ain’t funny clowns either.
I would tell a chemical joke but all the good ones ARGON.
We can be sure China will not ban Argon. More US industry will be outsourced. More US workers will become wards of the state. More money will be printed by the Federal Reserve to fund the increasing welfare state burden resulting from the outward migration of industry and the inward migration of millions of third world undocumented workers moving to a nation with no jobs.
What could possibly be wrong with this picture?
Eventually EPA will ban Oxygen. It is dangerous. It reacts with many other substances. It contributes to the forest fires that destroy so many trees every year.
lol - I’ve also wondered how many tons of CO2 are released each day by smokers...surely it should be banned immediately!
Argon sounds scary.
the third most common gas in the Earth’s atmosphere,good luck with that
Actually, in spirit of the lead post, they should ban nitrogen - on grounds that it’s an industrial fertilizer, constituent of most drugs, commonly used in explosives, and is an asphyxiation hazard. (Some 78% of what we breathe is nitrogen.)
Let’s just make it simpler for everyone & ban the EPA.
Just remember that every atom of carbon released to the atmosphere by smokers originally came out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis in the tobacco plant. The carbon is just being recycled.
While on the same point, remember that the net production of oxygen by a tree, from seed to full growth, death, and decay, is exactly ZERO. Every molecule of oxygen released to the atmosphere through photosynthesis is matched by a molecule of oxygen used to oxidize the plant material after the plant dies, whether the plant is eaten, burned, or decays.
There’s a reason they’re called VACUUM tubes! Lol.
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