WP article: Chemical Law Has Global Impact

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Chemical Law Has Global Impact

E.U.'s New Rules Forcing Changes By U.S. Firms

By Lyndsey Layton

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, June 12, 2008; A01

Europe this month rolled out new restrictions on makers of chemicals

linked to cancer and other health problems, changes that are forcing

U.S. industries to find new ways to produce a wide range of everyday

products.

The new laws in the European Union require companies to demonstrate

that a chemical is safe before it enters commerce -- the opposite of

policies in the United States, where regulators must prove that a

chemical is harmful before it can be restricted or removed from the

market. Manufacturers say that complying with the European laws will

add billions to their costs, possibly driving up prices of some

products.

The changes come at a time when consumers are increasingly worried

about the long-term consequences of chemical exposure and are

agitating for more aggressive regulation. In the United States,

these pressures have spurred efforts in Congress and some state

legislatures to pass laws that would circumvent the laborious

federal regulatory process.

Adamantly opposed by the U.S. chemical industry and the Bush

administration, the E.U. laws will be phased in over the next

decade. It is difficult to know exactly how the changes will affect

products sold in the United States. But American manufacturers are

already searching for safer alternatives to chemicals used to make

thousands of consumer goods, from bike helmets to shower curtains.

The European Union's tough stance on chemical regulation is the

latest area in which the Europeans are reshaping business practices

with demands that American companies either comply or lose access to

a market of 27 countries and nearly 500 million people.

From its crackdown on antitrust practices in the computer industry

to its rigorous protection of consumer privacy, the European Union

has adopted a regulatory philosophy that emphasizes the consumer.

Its approach to managing chemical risks, which started with a

trickle of individual bans and has swelled into a wave, is part of a

European focus on caution when it comes to health and the

environment.

" There's a strong sense in Europe and the world at large that

America is letting the market have a free ride, " said Sheila

Jasanoff, professor of science and technology studies at Harvard

University's F. Kennedy School of Government. " The Europeans

believe . . . that being a good global citizen in an era of

sustainability means you don't just charge ahead and destroy the

planet without concern for what you're doing. "

Under the E.U. laws, manufacturers must study and report the risks

posed by specific chemicals. Through the Internet, the data will be

available for the first time to consumers, regulators and potential

litigants around the world. Until now, much of that information

either did not exist or was closely held by companies.

" This is going to compel companies to be more responsible for their

products than they have ever been, " said Daryl Ditz, senior policy

adviser at the Center for International Environmental Law. " They'll

have to know more about the chemicals they make, what their products

are and where they go. "

The laws also call for the European Union to create a list

of " substances of very high concern " -- those suspected of causing

cancer or other health problems. Any manufacturer wishing to produce

or sell a chemical on that list must receive authorization.

In the United States, laws in place for three decades have made

banning or restricting chemicals extremely difficult. The nation's

chemical policy, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976,

grandfathered in about 62,000 chemicals then in commercial use.

Chemicals developed after the law's passage did not have to be

tested for safety. Instead, companies were asked to report toxicity

information to the government, which would decide if additional

tests were needed.

In more than 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has

required additional studies for about 200 chemicals, a fraction of

the 80,000 chemicals that are part of the U.S. market. The

government has had little or no information about the health hazards

or risks of most of those chemicals.

The EPA has banned only five chemicals since 1976. The hurdles are

so high for the agency that it has been unable to ban asbestos,

which is widely acknowledged as a likely carcinogen and is barred in

more than 30 countries. Instead, the EPA relies on industry to

voluntarily cease production of suspect chemicals.

" If you ask people whether they think the drain cleaner they use in

their homes has been tested for safety, they think, 'Of course, the

government would have never allowed a product on the market without

knowing it's safe,' " said Denison, senior scientist at the

Environmental Defense Fund. " When you tell them that's not the case,

they can't believe it. "

The changes in Europe follow eight years of vigorous opposition from

the U.S. chemical industry and the Bush administration. Four U.S.

agencies -- the EPA, the Commerce Department, the State Department

and the Office of the Trade Representative -- argued that the system

would burden manufacturers and offer little public benefit.

In 2002, then-Secretary of State Colin L. directed the staffs

of American Embassies in Europe to oppose the measure. He cited

talking points developed in consultation with the American Chemistry

Council, a manufacturers trade group.

Mike Walls, the chemistry council's managing director of government

and regulatory affairs, said that 90 percent of its members are

affected by the E.U. laws and that some cannot afford the cost of

compliance. " We're talking about over 850 pages of regulation, " he

said.

The E.U. standards will force many manufacturers to reformulate

their products for sale there as well as in the United

States. " We're not looking at this as a European program -- we're

buying and selling all over the globe, " said Fisher, vice

president and chief sustainability officer for DuPont and a former

EPA deputy administrator.

DuPont expects to spend " tens of millions " of dollars to register

about 500 chemicals with the European Union, Fisher said. About 20

to 30 are expected to make the list of " substances of very high

concern. "

One such chemical is likely to be perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA),

used to make Teflon and other substances used in food packaging,

carpet, clothing and electrical equipment. A suspected carcinogen,

it accumulates in the environment and in human tissue.

DuPont reached a $16.5 million settlement with the EPA in 2005 on

charges that it illegally withheld information about health risks

posed by PFOA and about water pollution near a West Virginia plant.

Dupont and other companies have agreed to cease production by 2015.

Once a chemical is included on the E.U. list, manufacturers are

likely to feel pressure to abandon production, observers say. " It

will be a market signal that says, 'These are best to avoid,' " said

Tickner, director of the Lowell Center for Sustainable

Production at the University of Massachusetts.

Linking the word " concern " to a chemical is enough to trigger a

market reaction. Earlier this year, when government officials in

Canada and the United States said they worried about health effects

possibly caused by bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in plastics,

major retailers pulled from their shelves baby bottles containing

the chemical.

" When we see lead in toys and BPA in baby bottles, all of these

things arouse a kind of parental anxiety that overrides any counter-

arguments based on science that industry might make, " Jasanoff said.

In the absence of strong federal regulations in the United States, a

patchwork system is emerging. Individual states are banning specific

chemicals, and half a dozen lawmakers on Capitol Hill have

introduced bills aimed at shutting down production of various

chemicals.

Sen. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced a measure last month that

would overhaul U.S. chemical regulation along the lines of the new

European approach. It would require the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention to use biomonitoring studies to identify industrial

chemicals present in umbilical cord blood and decide whether those

chemicals should be restricted or banned. A study by the nonprofit

Environmental Working Group found an average of 200 industrial

chemicals in the cord blood of newborns.

Said Denison: " We still have quite a ways to go in convincing the

U.S. Congress this is a problem that needs fixing. " But new policies

in Europe and in Canada push the United States closer to change, he

said. " They show it's feasible, it's being done elsewhere, and we're

behind. "