Chemical exposures cost California an estimated $2.6 billion, research shows

[Guest guest]

Chemical exposures cost California an estimated $2.6 billion, research shows

Policy report endorsed by 127 University of California faculty members

By Phil Hampton and Yang| 1/17/2008

http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/chemical-exposures-cost-california-4315\

2.aspx

Existing state laws regulating the production and use of hazardous chemicals

have serious gaps and fail to protect public health and the environment,

according to a new report released today by researchers at UCLA and the

University of California, Berkeley.

As a result of this inadequate oversight, chemical- and pollution-related

diseases among children and workers in California cost the state's insurers,

businesses and families an estimated $2.6 billion in direct and indirect costs,

says the report, which includes a set of recommended policy reforms for the

state.

In 2004, more than 200,000 California workers were diagnosed with deadly,

chronic diseases, such as cancer and emphysema, attributable to chemical

exposures in the workplace, according to the report. Another 4,400 died as a

result of those diseases. The new findings, based on well-established

methodology for analyzing economic impact, indicate that those diseases resulted

in $1.4 billion in both direct medical costs and indirect costs that include

lost wages and benefits.

An additional $1.2 billion in direct and indirect costs is attributed to 240,000

cases of preventable childhood diseases related to environmental exposure to

chemical substances, the report says.

The existing problems and recommended policy changes are detailed in the report,

" Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable California, " which has been

endorsed by 127 faculty members from seven UC campuses, Lawrence Berkeley

National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The California Environmental Protection Agency commissioned the Centers for

Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) at UC Berkeley and UCLA to prepare

the report. COEH is a multidisciplinary research program based at the UC

campuses of Berkeley, and San Francisco in Northern California, and Irvine

and Los Angeles in Southern California. Additional funding for the report came

from the UC Office of the President, the National Institute for Occupational

Safety and Health, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

" This report, for the first time, puts cost estimates on the consequences for

Californians of current chemical and product management policies, " said COEH

director Dr. Balmes, a professor of environmental health sciences at UC

Berkeley and a professor of medicine at UCSF. " California has shown that

creating new jobs and investment opportunities can go hand in hand with

protecting human health and the environment. We have been doing this with

vehicle emissions and energy use, and this new report makes it obvious that we

will need to do the same with chemicals and products. "

The report was written by and Dr. Schwarzman, both COEH

research scientists at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health; Malloy,

professor at the UCLA School of Law; Elinor Fanning, COEH assistant director of

research at UCLA; and Sinsheimer, a COEH affiliate and director of the

Pollution Prevention Education and Research Center at Occidental College in Los

Angeles.

The report presents data from the California's Department of Toxic Substances

Control showing that 61 of the state's 85 largest hazardous waste sites are

leaking toxic material directly into groundwater. In addition, an estimated 1

million California women of reproductive age have blood mercury levels that

exceed what the U.S. EPA considers safe for fetal development, and biomonitoring

studies have detected more than 100 synthetic chemicals and pollutants in breast

milk, umbilical-cord blood, and other bodily fluids and tissues, the report

says.

With global chemical production predicted to increase 330 percent by 2050,

health problems related to environmental contamination are likely to grow unless

comprehensive steps are taken now, the report's authors say. " Green chemistry " —

the use of renewable and safer raw materials, manufacturing processes and

products — offers a sustainable solution, according to the report.

" Research conducted in the past decade has provided ample evidence of

significant health impacts from exposure to toxic chemicals, " said Froines,

COEH director at UCLA and a professor of environmental health sciences. " It is

timely for California to reduce the use of toxic agents through innovative

technological approaches available through green chemistry. New policies that

prevent hazards rather than cleaning up problems after the fact will foster

innovation and help green chemistry emerge as a central part of our economy. "

The report calls on California to lead the nation in implementing a

comprehensive approach to the management of chemicals and products. Policy

recommendations include:

Passing new laws to remedy the insufficient data available on the toxicity of

chemicals so that California businesses, regulators and consumers can make

informed choices about the products they use.

Providing California agencies with a new legal framework to enable them to act

when there are reasonable concerns about a product's safety, even when complete

hazard or tracking data are unavailable.

Investing in the design of chemicals, materials and manufacturing processes that

are inherently safer for humans.

Some of these recommendations echo a 2006 UC report to the California

Legislature on green chemistry policy, which contributed to the introduction of

new state legislation in 2007 to require improved reporting on the sale of

high-quantity chemicals and reductions in some uses of the most toxic chemicals.

That legislation is expected to be reintroduced in 2008.

Several authors of the report are available for interviews with journalists:

At UCLA, Malloy can be reached at or malloy@...,

and Elinor Fanning can be reached at or efanning@....

At UC Berkeley, can be reached at , and Dr.

Schwarzman can be reached at or mschwarzman@....

A PDF of the report is available from the the UCLA Center for Occupational and

Environmental Health at www.coeh.ucla.edu/greenchemistry.pdf (2.14 MB).

_________________________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Are they sure its only 2.6 billion? That figure seems very low for a

state the size of Calif.

To put things in perspective, an average sized house in many parts of

Calif costs $1M

$2.6B = $2600M

If thats what your assets were, it wouldn't even get you on the top ten list.

So they are claiming that chemical exposures FOR THE BIGGEST STATE IN

THE US only cost what a medium sized neighborhood would cost to

replace?

Something doesn't add up. They must be being very, very conservative

with that figure.