Libertarians rightly distrust government. But history shows that government is at its worst not when it regulates powerful interests, but when it protects them.
Ohio SB453, which prohibits PFAS chemicals and lead in playground surfacing, deserves support because it addresses one of government’s greatest failures: allowing politically connected industries to impose toxic risks on innocent people—especially children.
In parts of Cleveland, roughly one in four children has tested with elevated blood lead levels, a staggering public health failure. No child chooses to be exposed to lead. No parent voluntarily agrees to have neurotoxins placed where their children live and play.
This is not simply a story of market failure. It is a story of regulatory capture.
For decades, manufacturers of leaded gasoline and lead paint fought overwhelming scientific evidence about the dangers of lead exposure. The lead industry funded campaigns to cast doubt on the science, lobbied aggressively against restrictions, and delayed reforms long after many other countries had begun moving away from these products. Government officials repeatedly failed to protect the public, allowing preventable poisoning to continue for generations.
That betrayal is the real outrage.
A genuinely libertarian philosophy does not defend corporations that use political influence to externalize the costs of pollution onto families. Property rights include the right not to have your child’s brain damaged by toxins someone else released into your environment. Liberty does not include the freedom to poison your neighbors without consequence.
PFAS chemicals raise similar concerns. If manufacturers knowingly market products that contaminate communities with persistent chemicals while shifting the costs to taxpayers and affected families, government has a legitimate role in preventing those violations of individual rights.
SB453 is not about expanding government for its own sake. It is about correcting decades of government-enabled corporate privilege. A limited government should vigorously protect citizens from fraud, trespass, and involuntary exposure to harmful substances while avoiding unnecessary regulation elsewhere.
When government shields powerful industries instead of protecting individual rights, it ceases to be a guardian of liberty and becomes an accomplice to injustice. Ohio has an opportunity to begin correcting that mistake.
Prohibit PFAS chemicals, lead in playground surfacing materials
Senate Bill 453 aims to prohibit the use of PFAS chemicals and lead in playground surfacing materials in Ohio. The bill sets limits on the amount of lead allowed in these materials and requires certification of compliance. It also allows local governments to enact stricter regulations if desired.