Statement of Environment California Legislative Director Dan Jacobson:
There are currently over 80,000 chemicals on the
market in the U.S.,
the vast majority of which lack even basic information on health effects and
toxicity. We do know, however, that many widely-used chemicals have known or
probable links to cancer, birth defects, reproductive impacts, and other health
problems such as learning disabilities. While the incidence of these diseases
has been increasing for decades, a whole host of other obstacles to healthy
development has also been on the rise, including premature birth, low birth
weight, early puberty and childhood obesity. Recent science indicates that
these problems, too, may be related, at least in part, to chemical exposure.
While millions of affected children and their families cope with the reality of
these conditions right now, we also must consider the profound future
implications of a drop in average IQ or a decrease in the average age of sexual
maturation.
What is needed is nothing short of a complete
overhaul of current toxics policy, either filling the statutory and regulatory
vacuum or replacing ineffective laws with policies that relieve the public's
burden of proving harm after the fact and shift it to the chemical industry to
demonstrate safety before use is allowed. Critical to advancing an overhaul of
chemicals policy is winning victories along the way—short-range goals that
alleviate a present toxic threat and highlight the need for comprehensive
reform. Thus, while we continue to define the contours of what a radical shift
in toxics policy would look like in California
and in the U.S.,
we will advocate for immediate action against chemicals we already know
threaten harm, focusing on the most vulnerable populations first—our children.
We applaud the Governor’s Green Chemistry
Initiative. This effort will be successful if it results in a common-sense
chemicals policy that puts the public's health and safety above the perceived
right of the chemical industry to put toxic chemicals into our environment. To
date the process has been fair and open. The Initiative has the potential to
result in the elimination of exposures to dangerous chemicals provided the
final recommendations include new authority for the state to restrict or ban
such substances.
