In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses.
However, the vast majority of those polluters have escaped punishment. State officials have repeatedly ignored obvious illegal dumping, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which can prosecute polluters when states fail to act, has often declined to intervene. (Source)
Imagine how bad things would be if there were no government regulation, and we relied on corporations to "do the right thing." Of course, the second paragraph shows that government regulation by a government of the bought-off politicians, by the corporations, and for the corporations isn't much better.
