by Matt Prindiville, NRCM Toxics Policy Advocate
Senator Martin, Representative Koffman and members of the Natural Resources Committee. My name is Matt Prindiville. I am the Toxics Policy Advocate for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. NRCM strongly supports LDs 2048 and 2210 and we thank Representative Pingree and Representative Koffman for bringing these issues to the attention of the committee and for their continued leadership on children’s health issues.
So we’ve heard a lot of rhetoric from the opponents today. And if you buy the chemical industry’s argument, there’s no reason for Maine to do anything to protect our kids from toxic chemicals in consumer products because they and the federal government are adequately handling the job.
Well, we think everyone should be given the benefit of the doubt, so we did some research to determine if this was the case. The place we did the bulk of our research was on the United States Government Accountability Office’s website. As you probably know, the GAO, otherwise known as the “Congressional Watchdog” or the “Investigative Arm of Congress,” has as its core mission to “support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people.”[1]
What we found was that if you go to their website and do a keyword search under TSCA, which stands for the Toxics Substances Control Act, the core piece of federal legislation tasked with regulating chemicals in consumer products, you can find 21 Government Accountability Office reports, from 2007 going all the way back to 1980, all of them highlighting the failure of TSCA and by default, the chemical industry, to adequately protect the public from the risks of hazardous chemicals in commerce. You can also find testimony from 9 instances where GAO staff have testified before members of Congress in an effort to reform TSCA so that it actually works to adequately assess chemical hazards and give EPA the authority to phase out uses of unnecessary, dangerous chemicals when there’s evidence that the public and the environment are at risk.
If you do the math, TSCA’s been around for 32 years and in that time period there have been over 30 documents coming from the US Government Accountability Office saying that it doesn’t work. If you stretched them out, that’s almost one report or Congressional testimony a year for all 32 years of TSCA’s existence.
The reports focus on several key themes:
1) Regardless of what they’ve said before you today, chemical companies are not required to test chemicals to determine whether they pose a risk to human health or the environment before they bring them to market.
Here’s some direct quotes from the GAO reports:
2) TSCA doesn’t work to protect US citizens and the environment from exposure to toxic chemicals.
Again, here’s a few direct quotes:
3) Chemical Corporations can deny and deliberately withhold information from the public on the toxicity of their products.
Last time, here’s a few more quotes:
By the way, some of that confidential information that the chemical industry failed to disclose, even to EPA, were items like Dupont’s internal documents showing that they had data linking one of the chemicals that makes up Teflon to cancer, birth defects and other serious health problems in their workers. That chemical is now in the blood of over 95 % of Americans, including you, me and the lobbyists representing the chemical industry. Dupont knew about it and covered it up for over two decades before the documents were leaked to EPA. They were fined 16.5 million dollars in 2005 by EPA, a year that they made over 2 billion dollars in profits.[12] [13]
In the spirit of denying the public access to information, the American Chemistry Council, the instigator of most opponents in this room today, worked behind the scenes to rollback the reporting requirements of the Toxics Release Inventory TRI, which requires industry to disclose chemical pollution releases from industrial facilities.[14] “For nearly 20 years, the TRI has been an essential tool in alerting emergency responders, researchers, workers, public health officials, environmentalists, community residents, and federal and state officials to the presence of toxic chemicals.” The rule change, which EPA approved and the State of Maine is suing to overturn, would allow the chemical industry to (1) release ten times the amount of toxics before detailed reporting is required; (2) withhold information on Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs), like lead and mercury; and (3) report every other year, instead of annually.[15]
“For decades, the chemical industry has known all too well that some of its products pose risks, both acute and chronic, to human health — including cancer, endocrine disruption, liver damage, and other serious health problems. Worse, the industry’s documents show that chemical companies have gone to great lengths to conceal these dangers from its workers, consumers, and from the public at large.”[16]
These bills aren’t about burdening retailers or Maine product manufacturers. They’re about reforming the chemical industry, who has worked tirelessly to ensure that the status quo is maintained, in spite of 30 years of attempts to truly make Federal law protective of human health and the environment. LDs 2048 and 2210 take a first step at reforming this broken system described in the GAO reports, the Governor’s Task Force Report and others, by working to ensure that the “worst of the worst” chemicals finally start to make their way out of commerce and out of our bodies.
And we’re not alone. We’re working in conjunction with states around the country, including Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. With virtually no leadership at the federal level, it’s up to the states to take measures to protect our children, the most vulnerable members of our society.
Since I’ve used a lot of quotes in this testimony, I’m going to close with one more:
“It’s time for the big chemical companies to do their part to help protect America. They should stop manufacturing dangerous chemicals when safer substitutes are available. And if they won’t do it, Congress should do it for them.”
That was from Edward R. Hamberger, the President & CEO of Association of American Railroads, in a press release sent out yesterday in response to the chemical industry’s work to ensure that freight trains continue to transport dangerous chemicals even though safer alternatives are widely available for many commercial uses. When you begin to dig under the surface on these issues, you will find all kinds of information to support taking action.
Thank you very much for your time and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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[1] United States Government Accountability Office. http://www.gao.gov
[2] GAO-05-458. United States Government Accountability Office. Report: Chemical Regulation: Options Exist to Improve EPA’s Ability to Assess Health Risks and Manage Its Chemical Review Program June, 2005. [3] GAO-06-1032T. United States Government Accountability Office. Testimony before the Senate Committee on the Enviornment and Publlic Works: Actions are Needed to Improve the Effectiveness of EPA’s Chemical Review Program. August 06, 2006. [4] Ibid. [6] GAO-05-458. United States Government Accountability Office. Report: Chemical Regulation: Options Exist to Improve EPA’s Ability to Assess Health Risks and Manage Its Chemical Review Program June, 2005. [7] RCED-94-103. United States Government Accountability Office. Report: Toxic Substances Control Act: Legislative Changes Could Make the Act More Effective. September 1994. [8] GAO-06-1032T. United States Government Accountability Office. Testimony before the Senate Committee on the Enviornment and Publlic Works: Actions are Needed to Improve the Effectiveness of EPA’s Chemical Review Program. August 06, 2006. [9] GAO-05-458. United States Government Accountability Office. Report: Chemical Regulation: Options Exist to Improve EPA’s Ability to Assess Health Risks and Manage Its Chemical Review Program June, 2005. [10] Ibid. [11] Ibid. [12] Environmental Working Group. “EPA fines Teflon Maker Dupont for Chemical Cover-up.” December 14, 2005. [13] http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/snapshots/451.html [14] Sourcewatch. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Chemistry_Council
[15] OMB Watch. http://www.ombwatch.org/tricenter/>/a> [16]Environmental Working Group. Chemical Industry Archives. http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/about/>/a>
