Hey, if people can sue McDonalds for their obesity, and cigarette companies for their lung cancer, why the heck shouldn't they be able to sue over air pollution?
Being an avid environmentalist, I believe that it should be a right, not a privilege, to breath healthy, non-carcinogenic air. I think it is perfectly legitimate for one to sue over the fact that their asthma may have been exacerbated by pollution, or in the case of the citizens of Los Angeles, their cancer chances doubled.
http://www.annieappleseedproject.org/losanairpold.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~bdewey/EV_cancer.html
We can't simply say to our citizens, (in the case of the US),"If you want clean, healthy air, move to Montana. If you choose to stay in a smoggy city, that's not our problem."
It IS the government's problem. Here in the US we spend billions on defense and health care, both of which ultimately protect the heath and well being of our citizens, why shouldn't we spend more money regulating these oil and petrochemical refineries, and unnecessary and unsafe SUV's? Oh, it's a free country, right? Companies should be able to spew out carcinogens. Well they sure aren't permitted to put carcinogens in our cereal (well, to a certain extent), why should they be permitted to put them in our air?
The problem is, if you want to sue uncle sam (or your respective government) for the carcinogens and respiratory irritants you breathe, the government will in turn have to slap some regulations on big oil, and large businesses, too many of whom, unfortunately, have some good relationships with important people in Washington. It turns into a huge political battle of liberals and conservatives, one which has been going on for god knows how long anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see someone try to figure out a way of sueing the hell out of the government for pollution. After all, how can they prove it wasn't pollution that caused someone's cancer? It would just be a large-scale case of Erin Brockovich, right?
Unfortunately, I'm not sure how easy this would be. My suggestion to you would be, move to Montana. :m: