Posts in 'Policy'
October 26, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Health, Industry, Policy, TSCA
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
It’s got pictures of kids and families. People of all colors. Gentle hands cradling our fragile planet. A hard hat resting on a pair of worn work gloves and a hammer. It says the coalition is “people like you.” It bears an uncanny resemblance to the website of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families campaign, of which EDF is a founding member. But dig deeper and you’ll discover that the website of the “Coalition for Chemical Safety” is actually created and run by industry. Read more »
October 1, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
ChAMP, EPA, Industry, Policy, Regulation, TSCA, Testing
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
A new entry showed up sometime in the last day on EPA’s webpage for its ChAMP initiative. It reads: “The Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP) has been superseded by the comprehensive approach to enhancing the Agency’s current chemicals management program announced by Administrator Lisa Jackson on September 29, 2009.”
Don’t miss this bit at the top of the page:
Yes, that image is a cobweb, which EPA uses to designate archived web content. What’s happening here? Read more »
September 29, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
EPA, Policy, Regulation, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, TSCA
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Today, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson unveiled the Obama Administration’s “Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation.” The principles’ significance lies not so much in the words they contain, but rather in what they symbolize: A clear confirmation that this Administration understands that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) needs fundamental reform and that it is ready and willing to engage in making it happen. Read more »
August 26, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Environment, Health, In Vitro, Policy, REACH, Testing
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
In an opinion piece titled “Chemical regulators have overreached” in the August 27, 2009 issue of Nature, two prominent animal welfare advocates claim that vastly larger numbers of chemicals will have to be tested under the European Union’s REACH regulation than previously estimated, and hence that 20 times more laboratory animals will be sacrificed. They call for a moratorium on some animal tests. Well, a closer look reveals that it’s the opiners themselves that have greatly overreached.
[Update 8/28: The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has just issued this press release also disputing the findings of this new study.]
Read more »
August 20, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Consumer Products, FDA, Health, Policy, Testing
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
I hate to say it, but Friends of the Earth, Consumers Union, and the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) have done a disservice to good science and policy with their new superficial report Manufactured Nanomaterials and Sunscreens: Top Reasons for Precaution. Read more »
August 4, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
EPA, Policy, Regulation, Risk Assessment, TSCA, Testing
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Today, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) unveiled its “10 Principles for Modernizing TSCA.” Also today, the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition – of which EDF is a member – issued a news release and unveiled its 9-point “Platform for Reform of TSCA.” How do they line up? Read more »
July 24, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Canada, EPA, Policy, Risk Assessment, TSCA
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Some time back, I promised a look at whether Canada’s Chemical Management Plan provides a model for TSCA reform. This post will provide that look. Bottom line: While our neighbor to the north has undertaken and accomplished a great deal over the past decade, it has done so with one hand tied behind its back. Read more »
July 14, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Carbon Nanotubes, EPA, Industry, Policy, Regulation, TSCA
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
In earlier posts (here and here), I discussed a notice EPA had received in July of 2008 from BASF reporting toxic effects at very low doses of a carbon nanotube (CNT) observed in a 90-day rat inhalation study. In that notice, BASF had declared the specific identity of its CNT to be confidential business information, hence denying that information to the public. Now, in a setting more to its liking, it appears the company has decided to reveal the identity after all. Read more »
June 1, 2009 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
ChAMP, EPA, Policy, Regulation, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Testing
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
This new post serves as a response to Charlie Auer’s most recent comment responding to our critique of ChAMP. (To see the whole exchange, start here, then go here, here and here.) So far, this exchange has focused mainly on our disagreement over whether or not EPA is somehow required to do risk assessments under ChAMP. At some point, I hope Charlie and others will engage on the substance of our critique – the serious concerns we’ve raised about the quality and validity of the ChAMP assessments.
Read more »
May 27, 2009 |
Posted by Cal Baier-Anderson in
ChAMP, Consumer Products, EPA, Policy
Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
In our critique of EPA’s Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP), we have pointed out that, despite its limitations, there is value in the hazard data that EPA is collecting and analyzing. How so? Read more »
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