The Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals outlines six necessities for a revamped chemical policy for better regulation of harmful chemicals in the United States. I really liked all six principles, but chose to read more on "Require Safer Substitutes and Solutions." This principle simply stands by "No Data, No Market." It is rather incredible that this is not already in place, it is common sense and really the way it ought to be. This principle would require manufacturers to submit the health and safety information for their chemical product before it is allowed to stay on the market or enter the market. This would apply to all chemicals, including the 69,000 chemicals that were put on the market prior to 1979, that were "grandfathered" under the Toxic Substance Control Act enacted in 1976. Before reading the background paper for this reform, I thought one potential pushback by manufacturers would be high costs. The background paper, however, reported that costs would be minimal for industries. In fact, the estimated cost for compliance with Europe's REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) program was less than 0.15% of the chemical industry's sales revenue over an 11 year period. That is a lot lower than I would expect. That is very little money spent upfront for better health outcomes and money saved in the long run.
Guth, J. H., Denison, R. A., & Sass, J. (2005). Background paper for reform no. 5 of the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals. The Louisville Charter. Retrieved from https://smartpolicyreform.org/the-charter/background-papers-for-the-louisville-charter/background-paper-5
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
Before reading "Environmentalism Was Once a Social-Justice Movement," I thought of environmentalism as what is described in the ar...
-
If I had to create a nationwide campaign to encourage drinking tap water instead of bottled water, my slogan would be "Tick-tock TAP!...
-
Anyone that knows me well, knows that I love to clean. Two products that I use regularly and on most of the surfaces in my bathroom and kitc...
Amazing! It is indeed much less pricy than I would have guessed either. Very well written blog. I have learned some interesting information from your post. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOne thing to note for sure is that when dealing with human health, in an ideal world, money shouldn't even be a question. A human life is priceless and the fact that we do not have enough policy regulation to protect our own selves is still beyond me! If we do not have our health, how will take care of anything else?
ReplyDelete