The 'economic race to the bottom' is exactly how we can all afford microwave ovens in the first place.
Of course, you can make a special case for microwave ovens, and we could afford them to be slightly more expensive. But we need the general cost cutting and optimization in the economy to drive progress.
Most gadgets I ever bought were far above legally required minimum requirements. Ie those minimum requirements were not a binding constraint. Why would that suddenly change?
Just not as useful as it used to be.
You did?
> Yes, but then we get useless microwaves and in the end dangerous microwaves.
The pro- and anti-capitalist sides both have a point.
The latter has worked really well against acid rain. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_Rain_Program
No need to intervene further to prevent some 'evil' race to the bottom. Just narrowly address exactly the externality in question, and stop there. Compare https://openborders.info/keyhole-solutions/