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Ecology Center Brings Chemical Policy Discussion to the Great Lakes

October/November Issue, 2003

Activists from around the Great Lakes recently gathered in Ann Arbor to learn more about innovative chemicals policies being proposed in Europe and their potential ramifications for the U.S. and the region. Co-sponsored by the Ecology Center and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, the Great Lakes Chemicals Policy Skill Share featured presentations and discussions, and a chance for the region’s activists to make preparations for an upcoming visit to the U.S. by chemicals policy experts from the European Union.

The Europeans’ tour in late October is motivated by recent significant changes in the way European Union countries are proposing to regulate toxic chemicals used in commerce and consumer products. In early 2001, the European Commission (the EU’s administrative body) issued its “White Paper on a Future Chemicals Strategy,” which proposed a sweeping new chemicals policy called Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals – REACH.

The new chemicals policy will require that industry publicly provide basic health, safety, and environmental impact data for a long list of chemicals that have not been tested for their impacts despite widespread use in everyday consumer products. As currently proposed, REACH will ensure that within an 11-year time frame, all chemicals marketed over one ton per year must be accompanied by public data on hazards or risk being prohibited from the market. REACH would restrict the use of chemicals suspected of being carcinogenic, reproductive toxins, and those known to persist and accumulate in the environment. The European Commission recently finished a draft of legislation to implement the REACH proposal and it is likely that the legislation will be enacted by 2006.

In the U.S., industrial chemicals are largely regulated by the federal Toxics Substances Control Act, which places an unreasonable burden on the EPA to prove an existing chemical is harmful and has led to only a handful of chemicals being banned or uses limited in the U.S. While the TSCA requires more rigorous testing for new chemicals, 99% by volume of chemicals in use today were not required to meet the new standard. As it stands now, there is no basic human health data available to the public for a majority of the 85,000-plus chemicals on the market.

While REACH has received considerable support from the environmental and public health community in the U.S., the federal government has not been supportive of the policy. “The U.S. State and Commerce Departments, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative have sided with companies, including Dow Chemical Co., Rohm & Haas Co., and Lyondell Chemical Co., and trade groups in opposing the EU’s chemical-testing initiative,” according to a Sept. 9 Wall Street Journal article.

The U.S. government cites unsubstantiated chemical industry claims that REACH will cost American industries billions of dollars for the testing and evaluation of chemicals. However, European estimates of the cost of REACH amount to less than 0.1% of the chemical industry’s annual sales. Further, it is estimated that REACH will save $20 billion to $60 billion in health care costs over the next 30 years, as well as reduce 2,200 to 4,300 cancer cases per year.

With comprehensive federal chemicals policy changes unlikely under the Bush administration, activists are focusing on establishing strong state and regional initiatives such as proposals to ban the use of certain persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals, like mercury and polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

In late October, a group of European chemicals experts will visit four cities in the U.S. – Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston. The visit is being coordinated by the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production. U.S. companies, government officials, legislators, and nonprofit groups will have the opportunity to interact directly with their European colleagues. The visit will give U.S. activists and decision makers an opportunity to learn about emerging policies from different perspectives. The Oct. 24-25 visit to Chicago is designed to begin the process of dialogue and discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. chemicals policy.

Some of the information in this article was taken verbatim from press releases from the Center for Health and Environmental Justice (May 7, 2003), and from the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, University of Massachusetts Lowell (Oct. 10, 2003). For more information on the U.S. tour of the European chemicals experts, REACH, or other chemicals policy information, visit the Lowell Center website at: www.chemicalspolicy.org.

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