Panorama
 
 
 
 

HOW AMERICA IS DEFYING ITS GOVERNMENT LINE ON CHEMICALS


Environmental Panorama
International
May of 2006

09 May 2006 - Despite official resistance to the new EU chemicals law (REACH), pressure is mounting in the United Sates for a reform of its own chemicals policy.
The new paper “Cloudy Skies, Chance of Sun: A Forecast for U.S. Reform of Chemicals policy,” prepared by The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) in Washington with the support of WWF, describes how state and local governments, businesses and civil society are already starting to change the way the U.S. deals with hazardous chemicals.

“While the U.S. government has been fiercely lobbying EU-decision makers against REACH, many Americans are working to reform their antiquated system for regulating dangerous chemicals,” says Daryl Ditz, author of the paper and senior policy advisor on chemicals for CIEL.

As the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act turns 30, evidence shows that it has been spectacularly ineffective in weeding out hazardous chemicals and encouraging the development of safer alternatives. In fact, the law has been used to ban just a handful of the 80.000 existing chemicals, and not a single one since 11000.

However, among the rays of hope in the U.S. forecast are a growing number of state and local measures that are targeting persistent bioaccumulative toxics like brominated flame retardants, perfluorinated compounds, and the pesticide lindane. Many of these efforts have drawn inspiration from REACH and other international environmental laws.

American companies are also engaged in transforming their products and their sectors, substituting hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. Civil society is playing a crucial role in driving these policy and market changes. The voices of indigenous peoples in the Arctic burdened by global pollutants, industrial workers and health professionals are contributing the moral authority and political will that is lacking at the national level.

WWF has delivered the paper to U.S. Embassies in Europe, the US State Department and the American Chamber of Commerce. "Apparently, U.S. officials in Europe are not very aware of the rapid changes taking place within the States and by U.S. companies to join the global effort in freeing the marketplace and the environment of toxic chemicals… So we offered them this handy guide to the state of play in U.S. domestic reform to show them what many Americans are already doing", explains Karl Wagner, WWF’s DetoX Campaign director.

Since REACH was proposed, the U.S. government has sided with chemical producers to undermine the European law with exaggerated claims about the costs to industry, workability and potential trade impacts. As this paper suggests, EU decision-makers would do well to look beyond the U.S. official line and realize that REACH is already a catalyst for change and raising expectations for a healthy economy along with a vibrant, toxics-free world. It’s a unique opportunity for global leadership of a global issue that no one can afford to miss.

 
 

Source: WWF – World Wildlife Foundation International (http://www.wwf.org)
Press consultantship (Noemi Cano)
All rights reserved

 
 
 
 

 

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