Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
We’ve just moved another step closer to protecting Americans and our environment from dangerous chemicals.
The Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 (H.R. 5820) has been formally introduced by Congressmen Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Henry Waxman (D-CA). The legislation would implement a top-to-bottom overhaul of the outmoded and ineffectual 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Read More
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Imagine learning you have a serious disease. Your doctor decides to treat you with a drug, noting it could have some bad side effects. He also plans to inject you with the drug, even though it’s only been used orally before now. That makes you nervous enough to ask for the name of the drug. “Sorry, I can’t tell you,” he says. “It’s proprietary.” Even if you trust your doctor, you’re now left with no way to investigate the risks and tradeoffs you’re facing.
Imagine how mad you’d be if you learned your doctor hadn’t told you there were other drugs that not only had fewer side effects, but were more effective in treating your condition. And then you learn he’s on the Board of Directors of the company that makes the drug he prescribed.
Now consider that the patient is the Gulf of Mexico, the doctor is BP, and the drug is the oil dispersants, sold by Nalco under the trade name Corexit®, more than 500,000 gallons of which have been applied to date, with no end in sight. Read More
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
An emerging chemical industry talking point in TSCA reform is the claim that imposing new requirements on new chemicals will somehow stifle innovation. The milder manifestation of this perspective emanates from those who oppose requiring a safety determination for new chemicals unless they raise major red flags in an initial review.
But some in the industry go further, arguing that even requiring safety data for new chemicals would put the big chill on development of new chemicals.
I beg to differ with both arguments. This post will make the opposite case, and will also argue that true innovation embraces rather than shuns safety, and demands the information needed to demonstrate it. Read More
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Today, at long last, legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) hit the streets. A bill, the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010, was introduced by Senator Lautenberg in the U.S. Senate. And just to keep things interesting and all of us on our toes, Congressmen Rush and Waxman today released the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 that is similar but not identical and is in the form of a discussion draft, rather than a bill.
It’s been a long road to get here, but of course this is only the end of the beginning.
EDF and the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families coalition support the new legislative language and believe it includes most of the elements needed to move our outdated and broken chemical safety system into the 21st century. We also will be seeking improvements in several areas as the bill moves forward.
For our coalition’s initial perspective on the positive aspects as well as some of the shortcomings of the legislative proposals, see the news release we issued today. We will also soon be posting an analysis that aligns the bill’s and discussion draft’s provisions with the planks of our platform, and I’ll provide an update with a link here. Read More
Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
I have just finished reading yet another depressing/infuriating publication by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. The new report delineates the many limitations faced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in addressing nanotechnology health risks. The law governing the CPSC has significant weaknesses that prevent it from meeting critical needs, such as constraints on the ability to collect data, require reporting of known hazards, order recalls and promulgate mandatory safety standards.
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
A growing number of observers of nanotechnology policy in the U.S. – at least those outside the U.S. government! – recognize that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is poorly suited both to spur the generation of sufficient information about nanomaterials, and to ensure that information indicating potential risks will trigger meaningful action. So why not just tweak TSCA to make it work better for nano? Read More