environmental Strategist between the lines: Facebook, Amazon, Google, Alibaba… have become the latest distribution networks creating products pollution and other environmental liability exposures for your commercial insureds. Countries such as China who has brought us such contaminated products as dry wall, wood floors, lead laced children toys and Mardi Gras necklaces, dog food…, are now able to able to use internet based companies and side step the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Photo Credit: www.wordpress.com
Coach your client’s to make sure they do not get themselves into a products pollution or other environmental exposure while trying to increase profits. A clear majority of products have imitations being made. In the past when it was a purse or a watch it did not cause much environmental harm. Now we are talking about cancer causing, skin burning materials / chemicals that cause not only bodily injury but have a negative impact upon our environment.
I bet Al Gore did not factor in environmental liabilities when he invented the internet.
environmental Strategist between the lines: Facebook, Amazon, Google, Alibaba… have become the latest distribution networks creating products pollution and other environmental liability exposures for your commercial insureds. Countries such as China who has brought us such contaminated products as dry wall, wood floors, lead laced children toys and Mardi Gras necklaces, dog food…, are now able to able to use internet based companies and side step the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Coach your client’s to make sure they do not get themselves into a products pollution or other environmental exposure while trying to increase profits. A clear majority of products have imitations being made. In the past when it was a purse or a watch it did not cause much environmental harm. Now we are talking about cancer causing, skin burning materials / chemicals that cause not only bodily injury but have a negative impact upon our environment.
I bet Al Gore did not factor in environmental liabilities when he invented the internet.
environmental Strategist, between the lines: As your environmental team member, one of Environmental Risk Managers functions is to share competitive environmental intelligence on trending environmental exposures that can impact your client’s. Due to recent events we want to make sure Talc is on your radar screen. That’s right, the Talc used to powder babies bottoms, the Talc basketball player LeBron James puts on his hands as part of a pre-game ritual to make a big cloud of it go into the air.
Photo credit – www.wonba.fr
Talc is dug from the ground and sometimes can be interlaced with asbestos. Talc has microscopic fibers that can damage lungs if inhaled. China and Pakistan are two of the biggest suppliers of talc together providing 150,000 tons per year to the US.
In the United States roughly 25% of talc is used for Plastics, 17% for ceramics, 15% for paints, 15% for paper, 9% for cosmetics, 6% for roofing, 3% for rubber
Talc as a food additive, filler for capsules, pills and chewing gum. It’s used in processing olive oil, it is used in electric cables and insecticides. Talc powder has the ability to absorb moisture, absorb oils, absorb odor, serve as a lubricant, and produce an effect with human skin. Due to its low shear strength, Talc is one of the oldest known solid lubricants. Talc is a friction-reducing additive in lubricating oils.
A form of Talc known as “soapstone” is a soft rock that is easily carved and has been used to make ornamental and practical objects for thousands of years. It has been used to make soap, crayons, sculptures, bowls, countertops, sinks, stoves, hearths, pipe bowls, and many other objects.
The American Academy of Pediatricsrecommends that parents not use baby powder because it poses a risk of respiratory problems, including breathing trouble and serious lung damage if the baby inhales it. The particles are so small, it’s difficult to keep them out of the air while applying the powder.
The links below offer more information on the environmental exposures of Talc.
