5 Ways Biden Could Protect Us Better From Toxic Chemicals

In June 2016, Congress passed a historic bipartisan bill that revised the country’s main chemical safety law, the Toxic Control Act, to better protect the public from harmful exposure to toxic chemicals. The Trump administration has spent the last four years working to undermine the TSCA by dangerously derailing its practice.

Now, with President-elect Biden taking the helm in January, there is a huge opportunity not only to repair the damage done by the Trump administration, but also to use the law proactively to ensure that everyone in the country is better protected from danger. chemicals – paying attention to those whose health is most at risk and in communities with the highest exposure.

Here are five ways to ensure proper and law enforcement and enhance health protection for families across the country.

1. Identify and eliminate chemical threats to those most at risk

By law, the EPA must review the safety of chemicals used today and those entering the market. These reviews should specifically address the risks to more exposed populations, such as pregnant women and children, who are particularly vulnerable to exposure to health, and to workers using chemicals or in communities near industrial facilities. .

The Trump administration has blatantly violated these demands. Here is just one example: In the first batch of 10 chemicals tested, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency ignored tens of millions of pounds of these chemicals, which are released into the air, water and soil each year. In doing so, it ignored the higher risks and underestimated the risks faced by communities closer to these versions. This means that the EPA has not implemented the necessary protections to protect the health of these communities.

Carrying out the comprehensive risk controls required by the TSCA is critical to maintaining good health – this should be a key goal for the Biden government.

2. Publish the security information and fill in the data blanks

Most chemicals on the market today do not have sufficient health and environmental information to identify their hazards. One of the key reforms of the TSCA was to increase the EPA’s ability to begin filling in these data gaps and to enable it to make informed decisions about chemical safety. Most importantly, the law also requires the agency to make this information public.

Trump’s EPA has significantly undermined safety reviews by ignoring its mandate to fill data gaps on the effects of chemicals on health and the environment. The agency has consistently approved new chemicals to enter the market without the necessary information to assess potential risks. The EPA also allowed companies to withhold health and safety information about their chemicals and slowed down mandatory steps to make more information available to the public, state and local governments, and health and environmental professionals.

Improving the rigor and transparency of EPA decisions and making more information on chemical hazards available to the public will be strong indications that the new management is getting TSCA back on track.

3. Work with the worst affected communities

Some communities face greater exposure to pollution, greater health risks from exposure, or both. This includes fenced communities closest to industrial facilities, which tend to be communities of color and low wealth due to discriminatory practices on site and in housing policies. Such communities also include those at higher risk due to lack of access to health care and employment in higher risk jobs.

According to the TSCA, the EPA must prioritize the protection of such communities and work actively with them when identifying which chemicals are of greatest concern and when deciding and considering how to reduce the risks of a chemical.

The Biden government must instruct the EPA to use its full authority under the TSCA to make this happen.

4. Restoring the role of sound science in decision making

The Trump administration has taken numerous actions in various departments to degrade or ignore science, but it has been particularly brutal in the EPA.

A terrific example includes the body’s risk assessment for the carcinogenic chemical TCE, a common industrial solvent that contaminates the groundwater of millions of people and is located at more than 350 Superfund facilities across the country. Even very low TCE exposure is associated with fetal heart defects, which can have lifelong health consequences. However, the Trump administration’s TCE risk assessment ruled out the impact on fetal heart defects – a choice that a research report revealed came from White House policy intervention.

Understanding the risk we face from a chemical requires examining all exposure to it, as well as other factors such as health status, stage of life, and exposure to other factors that may increase the risk. The TSCA reforms open the door to a more integrated approach as we seek to understand and reduce the cumulative effects of chemical exposure. The new administration must ensure that all EPA actions and decisions on chemical safety are based on objective scientific evidence.

5. Appoint experts who are suitable for the mission to protect health

It is no secret that Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is dominated by people who have spent most of their careers fighting to prevent environmental protection measures. Before Nancy Beck was selected to assist overseeing the EPA’s chemical safety bureau, she was a senior member of the American Chemistry Council, the industry’s main lobby group. Management also appears to be planning to convene critical advisory committees, including the Chemicals Scientific Advisory Committee, of the TSCA Scientific Advisory Board, appointing members with serious conflicts of interest.

The new management should ensure that the staff it recruits, including politically appointed and special chemical safety consultants, are free from any conflict of interest and have the experience, independence and impartiality required to provide sound advice. In addition, these individuals must commit to the burden of the chemical safety program and fulfill the EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment.

It’s time to apply TSCA as it aims to protect all people from toxic chemicals.