How Libertarian-Style Capitalism Killed My Father and My Best Friends

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/environment/libertarian-style-capitalism-killed-my-best-friends

Libertarian capitalism killed my best friends.

Libertarian capitalism also killed my father and the family of one of my coworkers.

Let me explain: there are two ways a nation can allow products to come into the marketplace: the libertarian, unregulated “American way” and the regulated capitalism “European way.”

When a nation, like the United States, uses the libertarian way, it allows corporations to send whatever products they want into the marketplace, regardless of how dangerous those products are. The theory is that once people notice how deadly something is, they will stop buying it and the "free-market" will magically correct itself.

Nations that use the regulated European way, however, force manufacturers to prove that products are safe to use before they’re available for purchase. This is called the “precautionary principle” and it requires manufacturers to prove to government, and thus to society, us that the new product is safe before it’s let it in the marketplace.

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. Not really

Asbestos was used in industry and shipbuilding and building insulation in pretty much every developed country; the USA is not unique.

And asbestos wasn't banned in Europe until around the same time that it was banned in the States. The UK banned blue and brown asbestos in 1985, and white asbestos in 1999; France banned it in 1997. And the French ban on asbestos was challenged by Canada (the world's largest producer of asbestos) before the World Trade Organisation.

Asbestos is something that came onto the world market before the advent of health and safety regulations and product safety guidelines, even in "regulated European countries".