Outsourcing security unwise

Re: your July 18 article, "Contractors are employing a diverse staff":

This article about U.S. contractors hiring Ugandan guards to protect our servicemen and facilities in Iraq really scares me. The contractors are paying these men $700 a month, which they claim is 10 times what they could earn in their native Uganda. My concern is that I would think these people could easily be bribed by any enemy agent to allow them passage into our military bases. Ten-thousand dollars to them would be a fortune.

Another question is: What is our military being charged for these cheap labor guards? According to an article, "Secure America," by Townhall.com columnist Amanda Carpenter in 2006, Blackwater salaries are $1,000 a day, or $365,000 a year. Another article by Bill Sizemore in the Virginia Pilot in 2006 quotes Blackwater salaries as being $120,000 a year. Whichever number you want to accept, it is far greater than the approximate $10,000 a year paid to the Ugandan guards.

Is our government being billed at the American rate or the Ugandan rate?

How secure are our facilities and our troops that are protected by outsourced guards?

— Gordon Twa, Camarillo

Defending PVC

Re: your July 12 article, "Bill would ban PVC packaging":

The article contained several factual errors and much misleading information that may have confused or even needlessly alarmed The Star's readers.

The article totally neglected to mention that PVC packaging has had for many years, and continues to have, full regulatory agency approval for food packaging by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and relevant health and safety agencies throughout the world.

ENVIRON is an independent scientific research organization that has previously studied environmental aspects of PVC waste disposal at the request of the Vinyl Institute and others. Public statements made about PVC are often factually wrong. This is important because, if perceptions are not supported by the facts, then legislation and regulations intended to solve problems can end up doing more harm than good.

Contrary to the statements in the article, dioxins do not leach from PVC. Dioxins are produced mainly by waste incineration. Dioxin levels have declined with improved waste incineration even while PVC production has increased with demand. Phthalates are accepted by FDA in food wrap, but other softeners are more commonly used. Landfills do not contain 32 percent PVC. Many more times PVC than is produced each year would have to be put in landfills for this to be true.

The claim that 61 percent of PVC packages exceeded the allowed metal content is based entirely on an analytical instrument that is not accurate enough to make this assessment.

Finally, the article's claim that PVC is a contaminant to recycling is also misleading. While not suitable for certain types of recycling, PVC is widely and economically recycled in many other applications. This is true of most materials, as recycling processes have become more sophisticated.

— Norman T. Ozaki — Robert Scofield, Emeryville

(Norman T. Ozaki is a principal consultant and Robert Scofield is a principal with the ENVIRON International Corp. — Editor.

Insurers aren't bad guys'

Re: your July 18 article, "Insurers to reinstate 2,000 policies":

I do not have all the facts regarding this case, but I do know about the right of health insurers to rescind a policy if the applicant lied or misstated information on the application.

In my 36 years of selling individual health insurance for both of the insurers mentioned in the article, I have had two clients' policies revoked under the recission clause.

In one case, the applicant tried to tell the insurer that I had told him to omit pertinent information regarding a history of cancer. The policy was revoked — after they had paid out tens of thousands of dollars in claims — and I was called on the carpet to explain my involvement. As it turned out, the insured had applied to an insurer and disclosed his cancer history and was declined coverage. Apparently, his agent/broker at the time told him to look up an agent in the phone book, apply for coverage with a different insurance company and not disclose his full medical history.

I suspect that Blue Cross and Blue Shield settled these cases to avoid further bad press.

How is it that I never see articles that tell of health insurers paying extremely large claims in a very timely manner? Is it because insurance companies are the "bad guys" and are considered guilty, regardless of the circumstances?

— Jim Ziegler, Westlake Village

Defending PVC

Re: your July 12 article, "Bill would ban PVC packaging":

The article contained several factual errors and much misleading information that may have confused or even needlessly alarmed The Star's readers.

The article totally neglected to mention that PVC packaging has had for many years, and continues to have, full regulatory agency approval for food packaging by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and relevant health and safety agencies throughout the world.

ENVIRON is an independent scientific research organization that has previously studied environmental aspects of PVC waste disposal at the request of the Vinyl Institute and others. Public statements made about PVC are often factually wrong. This is important because, if perceptions are not supported by the facts, then legislation and regulations intended to solve problems can end up doing more harm than good.

Contrary to the statements in the article, dioxins do not leach from PVC. Dioxins are produced mainly by waste incineration. Dioxin levels have declined with improved waste incineration even while PVC production has increased with demand. Phthalates are accepted by FDA in food wrap, but other softeners are more commonly used. Landfills do not contain 32 percent PVC. Many more times PVC than is produced each year would have to be put in landfills for this to be true. The claim that 61 percent of PVC packages exceeded the allowed metal content is based entirely on an analytical instrument that is not accurate enough to make this assessment.

Finally, the article's claim that PVC is a contaminant to recycling is also misleading. While not suitable for certain types of recycling, PVC is widely and economically recycled in many other applications. This is true of most materials, as recycling processes have become more sophisticated.

— Norman T. Ozaki — Robert Scofield, Emeryville

(Norman T. Ozaki is a principal consultant and Robert Scofield is a principal with the ENVIRON International Corp. — Editor.