Question

Control of imports of dual-use toxic chemicals - what could be the shortcomings and weaknesses in an existing regulatory framework in the control of toxic chemicals?

Answer 1

Existing policies have produced a U.S. chemicals market in which the safety of chemicals for human health and the environment is undervalued relative to chemical function, price, and performance. This market barrier to green chemistry is primarily a consequence of weaknesses in the Toxic Substances Control Act. These weaknesses have produced a chemical data gap, because producers are not required to investigate and disclose sufficient information on chemicals’ hazard traits to government, businesses that use chemicals, or the public; a safety gap, because government lacks the legal tools it needs to efficiently identify, prioritize, and take action to mitigate the potential health and environmental effects of hazardous chemicals; and a technology gap, because industry and government have invested only marginally in green chemistry research, development, and education. Policy reforms that close the three gaps—creating transparency and accountability in the market—are crucial for improving public and environmental health and reducing the barriers to green chemistry. The European Union’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) regulation has opened an opportunity for the United States to take this step; doing so will present the nation with new research questions in science, policy, law, and technology.

These outcomes are the consequence of weaknesses in TSCA that have produced three overarching gaps in the U.S. chemicals policy

• Data gap: Producers are not required to investigate and disclose sufficient information on the hazard traits of chemicals to government, the public, or businesses that use chemicals.
• Safety gap: Government lacks the legal tools it needs to efficiently identify, prioritize, and take action to mitigate the potential health and environmental effects of hazardous chemicals.
• Technology gap: Industry and government have invested only marginally in green chemistry research, development, and education.

Over the last 30 years, the three gaps have given rise to a U.S. chemicals market that undervalues the safety of chemicals relative to their function, price, and performance. Chemicals and products are bought and sold primarily on the basis of how much work they perform per unit cost, with very little attention given in the market to their potential impacts on human health and ecosystems throughout the chemical lifecycle. Hazardous chemicals have thus remained competitive, and broad industrial investment in green chemistry has lagged, despite efforts of some leading companies. Reflecting these market conditions, the nation’s research and education agendas have neither prioritized green chemistry development nor adequately prepared the next generation of scientists to lead the chemical enterprise toward sustainability. Collectively, the three gaps—and the market conditions they have engendered—present a formidable barrier to the scientific, technical, and commercial success of green chemistry in the United States.