Re:Chemicals in plastics damage babies' brains and must be b...
by barefoot on Sunday February 21, 2021 @09:25AM
(#26213632)
An important consideration is the number of lives are phthalates improving or saving, something that might be challenging to quantify but shouldn’t be ignored.
Mobile phone use leads to thousands (US) [0] of deaths per year but there are few calls to outright ban smartphones.
Similarly, automobiles lead to tens of thousands of deaths per year (US) [1] and yet only minor support to ban or minimize these death machines.
There are countless other examples of useful objects that provide first order - easy to reason about - benefits that come with steep prices that we are willing to pay.
Mobile phone use leads to thousands (US) [0] of deaths per year but there are few calls to outright ban smartphones.
Similarly, automobiles lead to tens of thousands of deaths per year (US) [1] and yet only minor support to ban or minimize these death machines.
There are countless other examples of useful objects that provide first order - easy to reason about - benefits that come with steep prices that we are willing to pay.
[0] https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving
[1] https://www.asirt.org/safe-travel/road-safety-facts/