The Coalition of the Swilling

EU environmental laws have more to do with protectionism and political muscle than in protecting the environment.

When I worked at Dell Computers we had to comply with "Blue Angel" laws for our computers sold in Europe. In order to build a consistent product that meant that the US built computers had to comply as well.

Fair enough. The problem is that to comply with Blue Angel required replacing all our plastics with a special kind that doesn't release halogens when burned.

1. Halogens do not harm the environment. It's a sorry myth that has potentially killed many people by having halogen fire extinguishing systems banned. The navy spent millions and probably billions developing halogen fire suppression systems for its aircraft, and they were miraculous. Right after installing it on most of the fleet, they were forced to remove them at additional cost, leaving aircrew endangered again. And no one has shown how halogens actually harm anything.

2. I don't know of that many computers that are burned. Why would anyone burn a computer? Halogens aren't released when computers sit in a land fill with every other kind of trash.

3. The only Blue Angel approved plastic was oh-so-conveniently made by a German company which held a patent on it.

So here's how it really worked. German company developed plastic that supposedly releases fewer halogens when burned than other plastics. They convince EU government to adopt their invention as a standard. EU likes this because it allows them to start pushing around US companies that used to only comply with US standards.

So now it appears Green Terrorists want to continue hi jacking high tech companies, with the same kind of weak rational. Some day we'll get governments that aren't so easily manipulated.

Some day we'll get governments that aren't so easily manipulated

*snort* Good one, Skyler!

I guess the Eu thinks everyone is going to put
game consoles in their water bongs and smoke them
after the hashish runs out.
The best solution is to throw plastics in the ocean
all these unstable compounds would immediately bond with something in the seawater.

That's an excellent idea, Greg. And as an added bonus we'll be helping to restore all the coral reefs and supply habitats for the fish!

I was going to post something eloquent and detailed and complicated and blah blah blah, but I'm too tired after a day in court, so I'll just say: Fuck Greenpeace.

I'll second Dave J's sentiment.

Nobody elected the EUrocrats, anyway - so why shouldn't Greenpeace just shove their oar in? Except of course that they should stfu in general anyway.