Smart discussion about toxics policy reform

 
US Senate Investigates Chemicals in People
Posted by Alex Formuzis | Director of Communications
From bisphenol A (BPA) to flame retardants and beyond, industrial chemicals that have troubling connections to a host of human health problems and are widely used in consumer products came under tough scrutiny before a U.S. Senate hearing this week (Feb. 4). New Jersey Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D) called top government officials and national experts from the environmental community to testify before the Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health, which he chairs. The central topic...
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BPA: And Now the Placenta

Posted by Alex Formuzis | Director of Communications
BPA: And Now the Placenta
Researchers in Canada have given the FDA something new to think about as it takes a fresh look at the risks of the ubiquitous plastics chemical bisphenol A, or BPA. Their small lab study is quite different from any that’s been done before, because they tested the chemical directly on cells from human placentas, the organ that delivers nutrition from...

Death at DuPont

Posted by Alex Formuzis | Director of Communications
Death at DuPont
Phosgene, a widely used chemical that can be lethal at concentrations of less than 2 parts per million, killed a DuPont employee who died Sunday (Jan. 24) after inhaling the gas one day earlier in an accident at a West Virginia plant. The chemical is used in the production of various pesticides and herbicides as well as plastic water bottles made with...

Secret Chemicals: File This Under, “You Gotta Be Kidding!”

Posted by Nils Bruzelius | Executive Editor
Secret Chemicals: File This Under, “You Gotta Be Kidding!”
But we’re not. Here’s the story. When a chemical manufacturer finds out that one of its products “presents a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment,”  the company is required under federal law to give that information immediately to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA, in turn, makes it public – sort of. Companies...

BPA: Why are we still eating this stuff?

Posted by Elaine Shannon | Editor-in-chief, EWG
BPA: Why are we still eating this stuff?
The federal Food and Drug Administration hasn’t forced the plastic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) out of food packaging – yet.   But as things now stand, it’s just a matter of time. On Friday, in a dramatic about-face, FDA officials announced they would “support” – meaning jawbone — the food industry to shift to materials free of BPA,...

EPA Moves on “Chemicals of Concern”

Posted by Nils Bruzelius | Executive Editor
EPA Moves on “Chemicals of Concern”
It’s good to see the issue of reforming toxic chemicals regulation getting widespread coverage in a variety of media. Just this week (Jan. 11), Scientific American magazine published on its website a good account by author Lizzie Grossman of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) year-end decision to create a list of “chemicals of concern”...

CA Green Chemistry Author Backs Tough Chem Regs

Posted by Elaine Shannon | Editor-in-chief, EWG
CA Green Chemistry Author Backs Tough Chem Regs
By Renee Sharp, Director, EWG California Office, and Bill Allayaud, California Director of Governmental Affairs In September 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a measure that aimed to strengthen California’s trail-blazing Green Chemistry Initiative and transform the way that chemicals and consumer products are regulated in California. The...

Protecting Maine’s Children from Toxics: Get It Right

Posted by Nils Bruzelius | Executive Editor
Protecting Maine’s Children from Toxics: Get It Right
In 2008, the state of Maine took a big step toward protecting its children from exposures to potentially dangerous chemicals when its legislators passed the pioneering Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products Act. Now officials of the Pine Tree State are writing regulations to implement that law, and this is when things can get tricky. Just how those...

Congressman Cleans Up

Posted by Nils Bruzelius | Executive Editor
Sure, it’s an act, but it beats watching a bunch of suits standing at a lectern in the Congressional press gallery. In a video he posted recently on YouTube, Rep. Steve Israel gets down and dirty – actually, he gets down and cleans. Wearing a yellow tie and the sleeves of his blue shirt rolled up, the Long Island congressman grabs a rag and a spray...