Letter: State leadership needs to protect public health

Editor,

Recent articles in New Mexico newspapers have addressed the need for a new era of consumer protection. What an intriguing idea. Perhaps it is naive in this era of corporate controls, but nonetheless made clearer because of so many abuses of Americans' health: The spraying of horrible chemicals near waterways to get rid of salt cedars, mercury-filled vaccinations and smokestack emissions, chemically sensitive people with serious and worsening medical problems, toxic mold that causes crippling illnesses and fatigue syndromes. These are just a few, and the list goes on and on.

It is unfortunate that our state government usually seems to take an adversarial attitude toward solutions to these very real problems, fence-sitting until they decide whether to side with the people and their health, or to side with the corporations and their fiscal interests.

It would be great if Gov. Bill Richardson were to recognize the political merits and karmic advantages of siding with the people rather than the corporations for the remaining years in his administration, and inspiringly lead all of his Cabinet members and members of the legislation from both parties to do so also. That is real leadership, lest we forget after so many years of nuclear waste and the staggeringly wasteful defense budgets channeling through New Mexico for our so-called economic well-being.

State Sen. Ben Altamirano's sponsorship of the Nutrition Council bill, which stands up to the myth of FDA pre-emption of state consumer protection efforts, is real leadership, the kind New Mexico urgently needs.

I would like to see the state government take a vigorous lead with, for example, the Attorney General prosecuting serious polluters under existing laws, rather than waiting for the Legislature to give her some new initiative.

Has New Mexico ever had such leadership? That is really what a new era of consumer protection might require: a total commitment from the governor to not capitulate to gigantic corporate interests. If we don't focus on consumer issues in this state and in this nation, millions of people's lives and health are going to be more and more adversely affected.

It is such a burden on individuals and consumer groups to have to continually expend their personal resources to just try to get a few points across. Even then, they still sometimes fail, due to the mega-avalanche of corporate lobbyists and big bucks.

I have complete faith that if enough New Mexicans write to Gov. Richardson, the man at the helm of state government, that he will respond and become a backer of much stronger consumer protection legislation for all New Mexicans' benefit.

Stephen Fox

Daily Lobo reader