Coalition for Chemical Safety Blog
CCS in the News
David Jacobs from The Baton Rouge Business Report has a write-up this week about TSCA reform and where the Coalition for Chemical Safety stands.
Here is an excerpt, check out David’s article for the full story.
The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act provides the Environmental Protection Agency’s chemical regulatory framework, while allowing manufacturers to keep many of their chemicals secret. Only a few years ago, most industry leaders maintained that TSCA was working fine. But lately, shifts in the political climate have convinced some people that change is inevitable, and they want to ensure their interests are represented.
“On both ends of the spectrum, from the environmental side to the proponents for the industrial side, there is a general agreement that [current law] is not up to snuff,” says Joe Householder, head of the Coalition for Chemical Safety, a business-backed group pushing for TSCA reform.
Manufacturers want to protect their trade secrets for obvious reasons, and say only “confidential business information” is kept from the public. Only a few EPA officials are privy to the details of many chemicals, and they’re not allowed to share that information with state regulators or even with many other officials in their own agency, critics say. In 2005, the EPA’s top expert on flame retardants reportedly said the contents of a retardant she was researching were kept secret even from her. Even some people in the industry who say TSCA works well concede that a growing slice of the public feels they’re being kept in the dark.
“If you’re just patted on the head and told, ‘Have faith, everything’s taken care of, but we just can’t tell you about it,’ you’re not going to have much confidence in the system,” Householder says.
February 24, 2010 at 2:49 pm | TSCA Modernization, TSCA Reform | No comment You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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