Paul Blanc
by Andrea Hricko, MPH
When I offered to write a Pump Handle review of Dr. Paul Blanc's new book Fake Silk, I had no idea that it would make me question the clothes I was wearing, which I believe to be "environmentally sustainable." I didn't even put that connection together after hearing Blanc speak at a recent book-signing party in Los Angeles.
But at the party, Dr. Blanc mentioned that "rayon" (or "fake silk") fibers had once been made in Axis, Alabama at a plant that went through several owners with one of its novel rayon patents (for a product called Tencel), bought out by Lenzing Fibers…