Chemical Law Has Global Impact
E.U.'s New Rules Forcing Changes By U.S. Firms
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/11/AR2008061103569_pf.html

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
John 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 Richard 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. Powell 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 Linda 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
Joel 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. Frank 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."