Print | , August 27, 2010 — In 1976, the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA was enacted to insure that chemicals remained safe throughout their lifetime, from the factory floor to disposal in a designated landfill. By “safe”, the TSCA assumed that risks to workers and the public would be minimized at every phase and wherever possible.
It was good legislation, and a good plan, but weaknesses and uncertainties in the law have left the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which administers the TSCA, unable to act even when chemicals blatantly endanger the health of American workers and other citizens.
In fact, in the 34 years since environmental and health legislation has emerged at the forefront of national policy, all the various Acts (Clean Air, Clean Water) have evolved to match the nation’s changing understanding about what is, and is not, a threat to human health and the environment. This includes those involved in policy-making and those examining issues from a scientific point of view.
Only the TSCA remains unchanged, much to the EPA’s chagrin. But that may soon change. On April 15, New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg introduced the Safe Chemicals Act, aimed at overhauling the TSCA and giving the EPA broader latitude to determine a chemical’s safety by requesting more information, while placing the onus on chemical manufacturers to submit minimum data sets (MSDS, or Material Safety Data Sheets) for the chemicals they make.
The Act, S3209, also prioritizes chemicals based on their known health hazards; mandates the EPA to focus most on those known or suspected to cause the most harm; ensures minimum safety thresholds for all chemicals; places the burden of proof on manufacturers; mandates identification of all uses, and their safety; creates an open record on reliable chemical information; promotes “greener” chemistry to replace older, more toxic chemicals; fast tracks approval of those safer chemicals; and requires the EPA to take action first on those chemicals or substances that have already been proven dangerous.
The Act, which “fast tracks” higher risk substances, has been read twice and is currently sitting before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. A similar bill, H.R. 5820, was introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush (D – IL) on July 22, and has been sent to the House’s Energy and Commerce Subcommittee (Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection).
Recent newspaper reports from around the U.S. suggest that the first act under S3209, if passed, will be to ban all those uses of asbestos which remain permitted in U.S. commerce. These include: asbestos-cement products, corrugated and flat sheet asbestos products, asbestos clothing, asbestos pipe wrap, roofing felt, vinyl-asbestos floor tile, asbestos-cement shingles, millboard (a fire-retardant wall and ceiling sheathing), asbestos-cement water pipe, some automatic transmission parts, automobile clutch facings, disc brake pads, drum brake linings, brake blocks, gaskets, non-friction valve, pump and brake packings, and non-roof-and roof-related fireproof coatings.
In 1989, the EPA, fully recognizing asbestos’ dangers after a decade of research and 100,000 pages of documentation, tried to ban the use of all asbestos in domestic manufacture in the hopes that cessation would end the legacy of mesothelioma hanging over the country. Asbestos is currently the only known cause of the disease.
Mesothelioma, a rare but devastating cancer of the mesothelial tissues that line and protect the lungs, heart and abdominal organs, explodes – after up to 50 years of dormancy – into a particularly aggressive cancer that usually kills within one year of diagnosis.
In 1991, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana, overturned the ban, even while acknowledging the fact that asbestos is a “potential carcinogen”. This means that, even today, in the 21st century, 10,000 people die in the U.S. every year from asbestos diseases, and 25 percent of them die from mesothelioma.
Worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, or WHO, asbestos causes about 90,000 deaths each year. It costs governments and business about $70 billion. Though 52 countries have successfully banned asbestos, another 200 – including Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, and the U.S. – are either mining asbestos, buying it raw for remanufacture, or buying product containing asbestos. These 2 million tons of commerce (2009 figures) have netted sellers an estimated $1.25 billion dollars.
