PHOTO OR ILLUSTRATION CREDIT TK
TOXIC
DANGERS
After the war, post-Depression
economic concerns kept that
manufacturing machine moving.
Companies repurposed chemical goods such as nylon, BPA and
DDT for domestic uses. And they
did so, again, generally without
pausing to think about the health
ramifications.
New chemicals quickly followed
suit as companies like Dupont
raised the public’s support and
appetite for new products — from
Tupperware to televisions. Industry giant Dupont Co.’s motto reflected the widespread attitude of
the day: “Better Things For Better
Living … Through Chemistry.”
“In the burgeoning post-WWII
economy, we were looking at all
kinds of new ideas. Chemistry
created a new world, much for the
betterment of humankind,” said
Brown. “Hindsight is always 20/20.”
By the time the U.S. government passed legislation to regulate toxic chemicals in 1976, some
62,000 chemicals already filled
the U.S. market. That new law,
while meant to regulate all industrial chemicals, actually kept
the ball rolling for the chemical
industry: TSCA grandfathered in
most existing chemicals such as
BPA under presumptions of safety
HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
!
“I can’t stand between
my children’s bodies
and the some 200 BRAIN
POISONS that circulate in
our economy.”
despite the lack of safety testing.
The EPA reports that it has only
been able to require testing of little
more than 200 members of that
list, due to the “legal and procedural hurdles that TSCA imposes.”
Today, the vast majority of chemicals in use remain among those
first 62,000, noted Richard Denison, senior scientist with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund.
Of the rest — the more than
20,000 chemicals introduced in
the U.S. since 1976 — few of those
have undergone any thorough
health risk assessment either. And
even when the science does prove
a chemical’s harm, added Denison,
the EPA’s hands tend to be tied.
“The language of TSCA requires
that the EPA, before it can do any
kind of regulation of a chemical, has
to find the risk posed by that chemical unreasonable,” he said. “That
term is not defined in the law.”