• Something Rotten

• • Art for Progress
  • Film
• 8 years ago
• “This is a love story, a mystery, a crime drama, a wake-up call and a farce,” begins Jon J. Whelan’s voiceover in his new documentary Stink! Though a fairly modest enterprise, the film does manage to incorporate all those elements into a cohesive package. Stink! is essentially an eye-opening exposé of the unregulated or under-regulated use of chemicals in cosmetics, household products and clothing in the U.S. Whelan, whose own personal tragedy led him to pursue the subject, figures prominently in the film; he's reminiscent of a low-key Morgan Spurlock or a more affable Michael Moore. Stink!– and Whelan’s quest – starts when the widowed filmmaker orders pajamas for his young daughters from the popular tween-tailer Justice. His attempts to find out what makes the PJ’s smell bad are met with uncooperative ignorance on the part of the company, from customer service reps to its CEO; basically, chemicals used in the clothing cannot be divulged as it is “proprietary information.” That phrase soon becomes a loathsome mantra on the part of manufacturers and those representing the chemicals industry as a legal excuse to protect themselves. Whelan decides to send the offensive PJ’s to a lab for analysis… Meanwhile, the movie gives us some pertinent history: A 2009 government report warned that environmental toxins are seriously underestimated. Flashback to President Nixon’s National Cancer Act of 1971 and the ensuing 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, which was supposed to regulate ne[...]
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