[nexthash]

I am taking a class in my college on environmental literature. One thing I learned is how environmental issues are consistently swept under the rug and underreported (like in this article, written by a former chemical & engineering news reporter) in society's discourse on cancer. All the blame for cancer is put on you and your habits, whether smoking or red meat. Big perps of this information campaign include the American Cancer Society. But as really good books like Silent Spring and When Smoke Ran Like Water show, environmental pollution and pesticides consistently correlate with rising cancer rates in modern society. It is ludicrous that one of two men and one of three women will be stricken with the disease in their lifetimes. Why is such a massive factor being hidden from the public? All this noise and focus on treatment... yet no focus on prevention. Because that would require economic changes that put a burden on corporations.

[lm28469]

We're poisoning entire generations for the profit of a few.

That's the invisible hand of the free market for you

[Philorandroid]

Enlightening comment. Why's it a failure exclusive to capitalism? Would this not have happened under a mixed economy, or a centrally-planned one?

[lm28469]

I would expect other systems to optimise/maximise other things, the current, especially in the US thanks to lobbies and borderline corrupt politicians + conflicts of interests, maximises wealth acquisition and cost reduction without any regard for health or long term effects

It's really similar to the tobacco industry back in the days, and will probably end up the same way (fingers crossed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DboTyNu-FLk

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2866605/

[kevviiinn]

Differing incentives under different structures