Bill would allow industrial chemicals to be
identified in air, water, soil, and the human body
SACRAMENTO—AB
289 (Chan), a bill that would give the state the tools it needs to
detect potentially-harmful chemicals that currently go undetected in
our bodies and the environment, passed out of the Assembly on Monday,
January 30th. The bill authorizes state agencies to request from
chemical manufacturers the analytical test methods for detecting their
chemicals in air, water, soil, and the human body. AB 289 shifts the
cost of developing the methods to locate these chemicals from taxpayers
to the manufacturers profiting from the product. California would be
the first state in the country with such a law if enacted.
“It
stands to reason that if we don’t even know how to find chemicals in
our bodies and elsewhere, we don’t know how dangerous they may be to
human health or the environment,” said Rachel Gibson, Environmental
Health Advocate and Staff Attorney for Environment California—a
co-sponsor of the bill. Currently, manufacturers may put chemicals on
the market before detection methods have been developed. “We applaud
Assemblymember Chan for her leadership on this important issue,” Gibson
said.
Laboratories within the California Department of Health
Services, Department of Toxic Substances Control, Department of Food
and Agriculture, and Air Resources Board must use taxpayer money to
develop and verify analytical test methods for finding chemicals in the
air, water, soil, and human body. The cost of developing analytical
test methods can run up to one million dollars for a single chemical,
placing a significant financial burden on state agencies, and, by
extension, California taxpayers. This legislation could save the state
millions of dollars by shifting the financial costs from state agencies
to the industries producing the chemicals.
In 2003,
Assemblymember Chan authored AB 302, which prohibits the manufacture,
use, and distribution of two toxic flame retardants of concern to human
health and takes effect this year. “By the time the state had developed
the methods to test for flame retardants, thousands of women had built
up levels of toxic flame retardants in their bodies that could be
dangerous to a developing child,” said Gibson. “The case of toxic flame
retardants provides a perfect example of what is wrong with the current
system. If industry wants to release chemicals into our environment,
they should at a minimum provide the methods for detecting these
chemicals in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat,
and in our bodies. California taxpayers should not have to foot the
bill.”
AB 289 passed from the floor of the Assembly. It is
expected to go next to the Senate, where it will be referred to a
policy committee.
