America, European Union take different approaches to chemicals

A toxicological summary issued October 19 by the Environmental Protection Agency makes an official, final determination that exposure to a tiny dose of a carcinogen may not cause cancer.

EPA posted its toxicological review of chloroform on its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The summary represents the consensus of agency scientists from various programs.

The formal acknowledgment came as a result of a federal appeals court decision requiring EPA to revise its risk assessment for chloroform (CCC v. EPA). The court said EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it enacted a zero-tolerance standard for chloroform in drinking water in a 1998 rulemaking.

Louisiana considers DDT

A Louisiana state senator is calling for the use of DDT to combat an outbreak of encephalitis that has infected 64 people and claimed three lives in northern Louisiana.

Encephalitis is spread when mosquitoes bite infected birds and then transmit the virus to humans and horses.

The Baton Rouge Advocate reported Sen. Noble Ellington (D-Winnsboro) is urging state health officials to ask federal environment officials about getting a waiver to use DDT against encephalitis-bearing mosquitoes. Federal law allows a waiver for the use of banned chemicals, although no waivers have been given for DDT since it was banned in the U.S. in 1972.

Even if Louisiana could get a waiver for DDT, the state would have difficulty getting the chemical. Because of the U.S. ban, it is now manufactured only in foreign countries.

Real vs. phantom health risks

Kimberley Strassel, an opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, recently commented on EPA's declaration that the World Trade Center disaster site posed no danger of asbestos exposure to the general public, despite the fact that some tests exceeded EPA safety limits.

Strassel used asbestos as an example of how EPA's "draconian approach" to regulation "has served to encourage unfounded health scares, and created an environment in which people no longer make rational decisions about health risks. . . . Untold sums of public money have gone toward eradicating a nonexistent health problem, money that could have been better spent on practically any public good."

EU environment committee backs chemical phaseouts

The European Parliament's Environment Committee has approved a report calling for "all hazardous chemicals" to be phased out by 2020 and backed a proposal for tightened registration, evaluation, and authorization systems for both existing and new chemicals.

The report is expected to face considerable opposition, as the Environment Committee rejected hundreds of amendments that would have moderated the proposal. According to BNA's Daily Environment Report, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) claims the policies, if approved, would seriously undermine the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry, as well as other European industries that depend on chemical products.

Chemicals subject to the proposed policies would include persistent and bioaccumulative substances, endocrine disrupters, and substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic to produce. The bans or other requirements would extend to imported chemicals, as well as those present in manufactured goods. Substances deemed to be "of very high concern" would be banned from consumer products by 2012, and other products would require labels to warn consumers of dangerous substances contained in them.