Recorded presentation

Joel Tickner, ScD, Department of Work Environment, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, One University Ave, Lowell, MA 01854, 978-934-2981, Joel_Tickner@uml.edu

Recent European chemicals policy reform efforts provide an opportunity to examine the strengths and weaknesses of existing U.S. policies. The problems of industrial chemical exposure and limitations in current regulatory approaches to address chemical risks are strikingly similar on both sides of the Atlantic, including:

• A lack of basic toxicity information on most chemicals in commerce; • An inability of government authorities to obtain that information or require companies to provide it; • Weaker requirements for old chemicals than new chemicals, which can inhibit innovation; • A lack of incentives for substitution of problem chemicals and innovation in safer alternatives; and • A legal burden on regulatory authorities to perform detailed and resource intensive chemical-by-chemical risk assessments, impeding the government’s ability to effectively manage even well-established chemical risks

There is increasing recognition of the ongoing build-up of many persistent and bioaccumulative chemicals in the environment, human tissue, and places far from production and use, as well as increasing evidence of the health effects associated with exposure to many toxic substances. There has been little national discussion of chemicals policy reform in the U.S., even as the need has become more acute. Several states have initiated regulatory and voluntary programs in chemicals management, but reform of the central piece of US toxic chemicals regulation – the Toxic Substances Control Act - has not been discussed since the mid-1990s. This presentation will examine the problems of toxic chemicals management, current policy structures in the U.S. and opportunities for chemicals policy reform in the United States.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of this session, participants will be able to describe the major shortcomings of the
• US system of chemicals management.

Keywords: Toxicants, Environmental Health Hazards

Related Web page: www.chemicalspolicy.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation