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Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Just squeaking in under its self-imposed deadline, late on December 30 EPA issued the first batch of chemical action plans it has promised under its enhanced chemical management program. In doing so, EPA has signaled its intention to do all it can using its existing authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) – even as it also makes clear that authority is “both outdated and in need of reform.” To my ear, that strikes just the right balance. (more…)
Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
After long delays, the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs recently issued endocrine disruptor screening test orders for dozens of high-priority pesticide ingredients. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals capable of interfering with the action of hormones that regulate biological processes such as development, growth, reproduction and metabolism. The test orders require pesticide manufacturers to evaluate their chemicals using a specific battery of tests.
Identifying which chemicals are endocrine disruptors can help protect people and the environment from harmful exposures. So, with test orders now in the hands of pesticide manufacturers, will we finally get the data we need? (more…)
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Mr. Joe Householder, Executive Director of the chemical industry front group, the Coalition for Chemical Safety, posted a comment the day before yesterday responding to my last blog post about a local Montana chapter of the coalition. Here’s my reply:
Mr. Householder: It certainly seems you want to have your cake and eat it, too. The Coalition obviously has launched a concerted effort to sign up small businesses, and it continues to purport that it’s open to anyone – all in an effort to claim, as it does on its website, that it’s comprised of “people like you.” The Montana small businesswoman quoted in the radio story is a Coalition member and was handing out Coalition literature at a Coalition-sponsored event at the time she was interviewed.
Yet as soon as she (or, I presume, any one of your other members) speaks up and says something at odds with the chemical industry line, you quickly disavow her, saying she is not an “official spokesperson.”
(more…)
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
I’ll bet that got your attention. Surely I jest, you’re thinking. Well, on December 2, Montana Public Radio’s Evening Edition included a segment in which a spokesperson for the new chemical industry front group, the Coalition for Chemical Safety about which I blogged a few weeks ago, publicly calls for an all-out ban on the controversial endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA). Here’s the clip (5 MB mp3 file). (more…)
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.
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Today is a big day in building momentum towards achieving fundamental reform of our nation’s policies intended to ensure the safety of the chemicals we use and to which we are exposed every day.
Here’s a sample of what’s going on: (more…)
