{"id":3960891,"date":"2024-05-23T06:33:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T13:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mynorthwest.com\/?p=3960891"},"modified":"2024-05-23T06:33:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T13:33:28","slug":"ross-living-defensively-has-limits-facing-forever-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mynorthwest.com\/3960891\/ross-living-defensively-has-limits-facing-forever-chemicals\/","title":{"rendered":"Ross: Living defensively has its limits when facing &#8216;forever chemicals&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I heard Angela\u2019s commentary yesterday about pedestrians and how they tend to think of a crosswalk as having a protective force field because the law says it\u2019s the driver\u2019s responsibility to stop.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Angela Poe Russell&#8217;s commentary<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/mynorthwest.com\/3960785\/angela-poe-russell-psa-every-pedestrian-needs-to-hear-sun-glare\/\">A PSA all pedestrians need to hear<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Her point? The law may well be on your side, but the law won\u2019t hit the brakes if the driver doesn\u2019t see you. There\u2019s a bigger lesson here though. On the football field of life, the key to staying alive is a good defense.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/shows.audiocdn.com\/s\/bonneville\/kiro-newsradio-commentar-33cc1c\/ross-living-defensively-fffa29\/embed\/standard-horizontal\/v2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"173\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I know this by instinct because I grew up as the small person who was picked last in gym class. In playground fights, I believe my record is 0-2 \u2026 so I have learned to avoid any physical conflict. Therefore, right of way or not, I don\u2019t step into the crosswalk unless the road is empty.<\/p>\n<p>The trouble is that this &#8220;live defensively&#8221; strategy has its limits \u2013 as we heard in today\u2019s interview with Shannon Lerner of ProPublica. Her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">latest article<\/a> describes how 3M lost control of its &#8220;forever chemicals&#8221; to the point that those chemicals show up in the blood not just of its plant workers, but people who\u2019ve never been near a 3M plant.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These chemicals accumulate in your bodies,&#8221; Lerner said. &#8220;According to the CDC, virtually everyone has some level of a forever chemical &#8212; at least one, but probably several &#8212; in their blood.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re not necessarily doomed. But how do you defend against that? A fine? The company\u2019s already paid a fine.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They were square with the law, but basically it was too late because the chemical seeped out of their products and basically into all of us,&#8221; Lerner added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More from Dave Ross<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/mynorthwest.com\/3960641\/ross-if-you-hope-government-will-save-kids-social-media-think-again\/\">If you hope the government will save kids from social media, think again<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At some point, even my patience runs out and I can no longer play defense. You have to go on offense and say, &#8220;I don\u2019t care how great your chemical is, I don\u2019t want it trespassing in my body.&#8221; Which is why the 3M employee who saw those blood tests blew the whistle on her company.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s giant factories churning out untested chemicals, or the ten thousand pounds of carbon that the average car pumps out of the tailpipe in a year, it\u2019s all like peeing in the pool. Which is why I never open my mouth underwater.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s today\u2019s life lesson: Keep your eyes open in the crosswalk, your mouth closed in the pool and your whistle handy when you go to work.<\/p>\n<p><em>Listen to \u201cSeattle\u2019s Morning News\u201d with Dave Ross and Colleen O\u2019Brien weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mynorthwest.com\/category\/podcast_results\/?i=2155&amp;n=Seattle%E2%80%99s+Morning+News+w%2F+Dave+Ross+%26+Colleen+O%E2%80%99Brien&amp;site=kiro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/thedaveross\" data-show-count=\"false\">Follow @http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/thedaveross<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":25,"protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":3960894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[17,66089,66053],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is 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