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Toxic Chemicals
their health and well-being. By user, we mean end-use consumers as well
as manufacturers or maintenance personnel who directly use the chemicals in the manufacturing process or in other products or maintain them.
Currently in the United States, neither labels nor Material Safety Data
Sheets (MSDSs) contains the detailed information needed by businesses
and the public alike. For example, U.S. MSDSs do not contain information
regarding engineered nanoparticles or their structure and potential impacts,
as described by other countries and the American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM).
3. We need a simple yardstick for quantifying the relative toxicity of each
chemical that is used for producing or maintaining products.
4. We need separate accounting of the different forms of chemicals with varying toxicity. For instance, hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen, whereas
metallic chromium is relatively inert. Fumes or dust of nickel and cobalt are
toxic, but these chemicals are not toxic in larger particle sizes. Increasing use
of nanoparticles, such as nanoscale titanium dioxide particles in sunscreen,
have raised the potential for chemicals with normally low toxicity to have
greater toxicity or environmental impact (Environmental Protection Agency
[EPA] 2009c).
5. We need a system that accounts for worker exposure to toxic chemicals in
manufacturing and quantifies amounts shipped in products in addition to
the amounts reported as released to the environment.
6. The total impact cost of chemical use should be borne by the user of the
chemicals, rather than by the public through medical or other toxic impacts.
Including these costs would result in a free-market incentive to replace
toxic chemicals with ones that are more benign but allow the continued use
of chemicals that have a high ratio of benefit to total cost.
7. Any money collected from a system of loading the toxicity costs on toxic chemical use should be used to fund efforts to reduce the use of toxic chemicals or to
mediate the medical costs imposed on the public by the use of these chemicals.
8. Users of toxic chemicals should be required to evaluate alternatives for
reducing or eliminating their use.
9. There is value in public support for research in developing methods for eliminating the use of toxic chemicals and disseminating the technical information to the companies that could implement process and chemical changes.
These objectives were used to develop specific elements that could be components
of the next U.S.-based toxic chemical use reduction program:
1. Target Impact Chemicals: A program that treats all chemicals as bad and
targets none risks accomplishing nothing, whereas targeting the chemicals
with the greatest potential toxic impact will make reduction feasible and
provide the most benefit for expenditure of resources.
2. Chemical Composition Reporting: The concentration and physiochemical characteristics of toxic chemicals should be listed in products used
in manufacturing, in maintenance, and by the public. This will facilitate
Toxic Chemicals
their health and well-being. By user, we mean end-use consumers as well
as manufacturers or maintenance personnel who directly use the chemicals in the manufacturing process or in other products or maintain them.
Currently in the United States, neither labels nor Material Safety Data
Sheets (MSDSs) contains the detailed information needed by businesses
and the public alike. For example, U.S. MSDSs do not contain information
regarding engineered nanoparticles or their structure and potential impacts,
as described by other countries and the American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM).
3. We need a simple yardstick for quantifying the relative toxicity of each
chemical that is used for producing or maintaining products.
4. We need separate accounting of the different forms of chemicals with varying toxicity. For instance, hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen, whereas
metallic chromium is relatively inert. Fumes or dust of nickel and cobalt are
toxic, but these chemicals are not toxic in larger particle sizes. Increasing use
of nanoparticles, such as nanoscale titanium dioxide particles in sunscreen,
have raised the potential for chemicals with normally low toxicity to have
greater toxicity or environmental impact (Environmental Protection Agency
[EPA] 2009c).
5. We need a system that accounts for worker exposure to toxic chemicals in
manufacturing and quantifies amounts shipped in products in addition to
the amounts reported as released to the environment.
6. The total impact cost of chemical use should be borne by the user of the
chemicals, rather than by the public through medical or other toxic impacts.
Including these costs would result in a free-market incentive to replace
toxic chemicals with ones that are more benign but allow the continued use
of chemicals that have a high ratio of benefit to total cost.
7. Any money collected from a system of loading the toxicity costs on toxic chemical use should be used to fund efforts to reduce the use of toxic chemicals or to
mediate the medical costs imposed on the public by the use of these chemicals.
8. Users of toxic chemicals should be required to evaluate alternatives for
reducing or eliminating their use.
9. There is value in public support for research in developing methods for eliminating the use of toxic chemicals and disseminating the technical information to the companies that could implement process and chemical changes.
These objectives were used to develop specific elements that could be components
of the next U.S.-based toxic chemical use reduction program:
1. Target Impact Chemicals: A program that treats all chemicals as bad and
targets none risks accomplishing nothing, whereas targeting the chemicals
with the greatest potential toxic impact will make reduction feasible and
provide the most benefit for expenditure of resources.
2. Chemical Composition Reporting: The concentration and physiochemical characteristics of toxic chemicals should be listed in products used
in manufacturing, in maintenance, and by the public. This will facilitate