Tag Archives: worker safety

Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Products: More than Just Consumer Exposure

By Cal Baier-Anderson | Bio | Published: February 8, 2010

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

An article recently published in the journal Macromolecules reports on the development of a new process that the authors claim can prevent the migration of phthalates from PVC plastic. This “breakthrough” will undoubtedly be used to argue that industry should be allowed to continue to use a retinue of toxic chemicals in the manufacture of PVC destined for use in a broad variety of applications.

Concern for consumer exposures is often the main argument made against the use of toxic chemicals in consumer applications. With evidence of exposure to chemicals like phthalates in nearly everyone who has been tested, including pregnant women, this is understandable.

But even if the new claims are proven to be true, there are many other reasons we need to find safer substitutes for such chemicals: worker exposures, environmental releases and end-of-life recycling and disposal issues, to name a few. The potential impacts from continued use of toxic chemicals must be examined across their entire lifecycle. Read More »

Posted in Health Science | Also tagged carcinogen, consumer products, phthalates | Comments closed

Won’t we ever stop playing whack-a-mole with “regrettable chemical substitutions”?

By Richard Denison | Bio | Published: January 12, 2010

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

In recent days, two compelling cases have surfaced of so-called “regrettable substitutions” – industry responding to concerns about the use of one dangerous chemical by replacing it with another that is less well-studied, or at least not currently in the crosshairs.

Case 1: Chinese manufacturers of children’s jewelry, responding to concerns and restrictions on the use of lead in such products produced for export to the U.S., have replaced it with cadmium, a known human carcinogen and developmental toxicant that, if anything is even more toxic to kids than lead – but is not subject to any restrictions in such kids’ products.

Case 2: American food product manufacturers, responding to concerns about the devastating effects on the lungs of workers exposed to diacetyl – an artificial butter flavoring used in many products, most notably microwave popcorn – have begun to replace it with closely related chemicals likely to break down into diacetyl or otherwise have similar effects.

Are we destined forever to play this dangerous variant on the game of whack-a-mole, or can something be done? Read More »

Posted in Health Science | Also tagged carcinogen, chemical identity, children's safety, consumer products, exposure and hazard, inhalation, lead, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), risk assessment, Safer Chemicals Healthy Families | Comments closed

Study raises big questions about worker protection in nanotech labs

By Cal Baier-Anderson | Bio | Published: January 11, 2010

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

When it comes to chemical exposures, workers are on the front line. Workers are usually the most likely to be exposed to harmful levels of chemicals, because they are the ones producing, processing, handling, sampling and measuring, transferring and transporting chemicals in larger and more concentrated quantities.

Throughout history, workers have been the canaries in the coal mines; the first to exhibit the health effects of hazardous chemical exposures, from scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps, to mesothelioma in shipyard and construction workers to liver cancer in vinyl chloride workers.

For these reasons, EDF has argued that workers handling or otherwise likely to be exposed to nanomaterials must be protected from harm (see our earlier posts here, here and here). Now, a new government study published in the respected journal Environmental Health Perspectives reveals that certain comfortable assumptions about nanomaterial laboratory safety may be downright wrong. Read More »

Posted in Environment, Health Science, Nanotechnology | Also tagged carbon nanotubes, exposure and hazard, inhalation | Comments closed

How should the problem of “secret chemicals” be addressed?

By Richard Denison | Bio | Published: January 5, 2010

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

A front page article by Lyndsey Layton in yesterday’s Washington Post – spurred by an intriguing new report by the Environmental Working Group – did a great job of exposing the extent to which the identities of chemicals in widespread use are hidden from view, and of exploring some of the many adverse consequences.

Neither the article nor the report, however, had much to say about how this problem of excessive reliance on confidential business information (CBI) claims by industry might be solved, especially in the context of impending reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

In this post I’ll provide some concrete proposals for addressing this serious problem.

Posted in Health Policy, TSCA | Also tagged chemical identity, Confidential Business Information (CBI) | Comments closed

Toxic Ignorance is Not Bliss

By Richard Denison | Bio | Published: December 7, 2009

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

I’m excited to point you to a column, “Toxic Ignorance is Not Bliss,” just posted on our website. The column is written by Dominique Browning, formerly the longtime editor-in-chief of House & Garden, who is partnering with EDF via a monthly column.

The subtitle of the column is “Why I'm Outraged About BPA and Other Chemicals, and What We Can Do.” Here's a sample to get you to read more:

We should be worried about what amounts to a huge, uncontrolled human testing experiment. Without agreeing to it, without understanding it, without even knowing it, we have become the chemical industry’s guinea pigs.

Click here to keep reading.

Posted in Health Policy, TSCA | Also tagged bisphenol A, consumer products, industry tactics | Comments closed

Questionable risk decisions under ChAMP: Chlorobenzenes Category

By Richard Denison | Bio | Published: April 27, 2009

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist and Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

Our analysis of EPA's risk decision under ChAMP for this category of toxic chemicals vividly illustrates how EPA has failed to adopt a health-protective approach to its screening of HPV chemicals. Rather, it misclassifies or understates these chemicals' hazards, asserts that existing regulations are sufficient even when they are quite old or do not cover identified exposures, and naively assumes that children will not be as exposed as adults to consumer products used in the home unless they are intended for their use. Finally, this case demonstrates that manufacturers are not reporting to EPA even readily available information on their chemicals' uses. Read More »

Posted in Health Policy, TSCA | Also tagged carcinogen, Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP), children's safety, consumer products, High Production Volume (HPV), in vivo, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), risk assessment | Comments closed

Questionable risk decisions under ChAMP: Alkyl Nitriles Category

By Richard Denison | Bio | Published: April 23, 2009

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist and Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

This post is the first of a number to come that will examine in some detail specific chemicals and chemical categories for which EPA has made questionable or flawed risk decisions under ChAMP. Many of these problems can be traced to EPA's near-exclusive reliance on incomplete or poor-quality data provided by manufacturers, or its need to resort to unsupported assumptions in the absence of sufficient data. For each posting, we'll summarize what is known about production and use of the chemical(s); describe EPA's hazard, exposure, risk and priority rankings; and then discuss why we question or disagree with EPA's decisions. First up: a category of three alkyl nitriles. Read More »

Posted in Health Policy, TSCA | Also tagged Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), risk assessment | Comments closed

EPA's Nano Consent Order, Part II: What About the Lifecycle?

By Richard Denison | Bio | Published: October 13, 2008

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

Since my first post concerning EPA's Consent Order, I've been reflecting further on the management conditions it imposes – or, more accurately, on what conditions it doesn't impose. The Order's only such conditions address potential worker exposure. What about the rest of the nanomaterial's lifecycle? Read More »

Posted in Health Policy, Nanotechnology, TSCA | Also tagged carbon nanotubes, Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) | Comments closed

EPA's Nano Consent Order, Part I: "Sanitized" Transparency is Still Very Revealing

By Richard Denison | Bio | Published: October 9, 2008

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

[Part II of this post is available here.]

Word hit the street today that EPA intends to make public a "sanitized" version of a Consent Order it has negotiated with a producer of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). [A link will be provided once available.] We obtained a copy of the Order, which has redacted all information claimed confidential by the company involved. What can we learn from this well-scrubbed Order? Read More »

Posted in Health Policy, Nanotechnology, TSCA | Also tagged carbon nanotubes, inhalation | Comments closed

Nano On A Hot Tin Roof

By Cal Baier-Anderson | Bio | Published: July 22, 2008

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

Andrew Maynard, of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, recently blogged about an Australian study that documented an odd effect of sunscreens containing nanoscale titanium dioxide (TiO2). The study was prompted by the observation that installers of metal roofs who used these sunscreens inadvertently transferred the product onto the roofs. In places where the workers’ skin had touched the painted metal surfaces, the paint showed accelerated weathering. Why? Because the particular type of nanoscale TiO2 in the sunscreen (the anatase crystal form) is photoactive – when it absorbs UV light, it releases free radicals that speed up the oxidation of the underlying paint.

Posted in Health Science, Nanotechnology | Also tagged consumer products, DuPont | Comments closed

Chemicals & Nanomaterials

Tag Archives: worker safety

Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Products: More than Just Consumer Exposure

Won’t we ever stop playing whack-a-mole with “regrettable chemical substitutions”?

Study raises big questions about worker protection in nanotech labs

How should the problem of “secret chemicals” be addressed?

Toxic Ignorance is Not Bliss

Questionable risk decisions under ChAMP: Chlorobenzenes Category

Questionable risk decisions under ChAMP: Alkyl Nitriles Category

EPA's Nano Consent Order, Part II: What About the Lifecycle?

EPA's Nano Consent Order, Part I: "Sanitized" Transparency is Still Very Revealing

Nano On A Hot Tin Roof

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