Advocating for Health-Protective Chemical Policies - Science & Policy Landscape

1. To increase your skills as effective advocates; to inspire and prepare you to advocate for health-protective chemical policies.

2. Science & PolicyLandscape Martha Dina Argüello Executive Director Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles

3. What is Policy Advocacy? • Action directed at changing policies, positions, or programs of any type of institution • Demanding for, defending, or recommending an idea before other people • Speaking up, drawing a community’s attention to an important issue, and directing decision makers toward a solution • Putting a problem on the agenda, providing a solution to that problem, and building support for action

4. Lead as a Case Study • Scope of the problem. 1965: average BLLs=22 µg/dL. • Health professionals lead the way. • Health implications uncovered. CDC reduces definition of lead poisoning from 60 µg/dL in 1965 to 10 µg/dL in 1990. Lead also eliminated from consumer products.

5. Lead as a Case Study • Current BLLs < 2 µg/dL, lower than was thought to be clinically possible. • Massive health benefits. Reduction of BLLs by 10 µg/dL raises IQ by 2.6 points. • Massive economic benefits. A single IQ point is worth about $14,500. Estimated benefit of the decline in BLLs per each year’s cohort of children: $213 billion.

6. Advocacy Tactics • Authoring articles in peer-reviewed publications • Using social media: blog posts, Twitter, and Facebook • Making presentations to community groups, peer groups, religious groups, trade groups • Calling, writing,or meeting with elected officials or agency staff (i.e. EPA, Housing Authority) • Meeting with boards of directors of companies and institutions • Delivering Grand Rounds on the subject • Interviews on radio and TV

7. The Case for Toxics & Health • Ubiquitous exposure • Chemical exposure is linked to health effects • Endocrine disruption and low-dose exposures

8. How are chemicals regulated in the U.S.? • Tangle of statutes and agencies • EPA as key agency with many acts to juggle • The role of other agencies

9. Toxics Timeline Silent Spring is published, alerting the world to pending environmental crisis and the dangers of DDT Mass production of chemicals begins after WWII Congress passed the core provisions of the Clean Air Act in 1970. The law was amended in 1977 and again in 1990 to extend deadlines but also to specify new strategies for cleaning up the air.

10. Toxics Timeline (2) The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) passes. Requires registration and some evaluation of chemical toxicity. The Toxic Substances Control Act is undermined by the courts after the agency tried to regulate asbestos. The use of DDT, a highly toxic pesticide, is banned by the EPA.

11. Toxics Timeline (3) CA environmental advocates pass Proposition 65. “No person in the course of doing business shall knowingly and intentionally expose any individual to a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without first giving clear and reasonable warning to such individual.” The High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Program, “challenges” companies to make health and environmental effects data publicly available on chemicals produced or imported. HPV chemicals are produced or imported in quantities of 1 million+ pounds per year.

12. Toxics Timeline (4) SB 115 passes and defines “environmental justice” in statute. It also requires Cal/EPA to develop a model environmental justice mission statement for its boards, departments, and offices by January 1, 2001. SB 89 requires the Secretary of Cal/EPA to convene a working group on environmental justice and an advisory group to report recommendations.

13. Toxics Timeline (5) AB 2260, The California Healthy Schools Act, becomes law and mandates parental notification of all pesticide applications in schools. AB 289 authorizes state agencies to request analytical test methods from chemical manufacturers for detecting their chemicals in air, water, soil, and the human body. It also shifts the cost of developing the methods to locate these chemicals from taxpayers to the manufacturers.

14. Toxics Timeline (6) AB 489 provides information for state agencies on environmentally preferable purchasing. AB 1369, effective January 2006, prohibits the sale and distribution of thermostats that contain mercury, except for those used for manufacturing, industrial purposes, or by the visually impaired.

15. Toxics Timeline (7) AB 998 establishes the Non-Toxic Dry Cleaning Incentive Program to provide financial assistance for the dry cleaning industry switching from systems using perchloroethylene (Perc), an identified toxic air contaminant and potential human carcinogen, to non-toxic and non-smog-forming alternatives. AB 929, the Radiation Education and Awareness Bill establishes quality assurance standards to make sure that patients receive the lowest possible dose of radiation without compromising image quality. SB 484, the California Safe Cosmetics Act requires cosmetics manufacturers to disclose any product ingredient on state or federal lists of chemicals that cause cancer or birth defects.

16. Toxics Timeline (8) SB1379, the Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program establishes a state-wide biomonitoring program in CA. AB 1681 establishes limits for lead in jewelry. AB 1108, the California Toxic Toys Bill bans six types of phthalates (chemicals that make plastic soft) from children's toys sold in CA effective January 1, 2009. SB 579, the Chemical Information Act fails to pass the legislature. This bill would have required chemical manufacturers to disclose data on potentially harmful chemicals produced in very high quantities.

17. Toxics Timeline (9) AB1879/SB 509, California Safe Consumer Product Bills give the state of CA the authority to more strictly regulate chemicals found in consumer products. This bill authorizes the Dept of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to develop a public and participatory process to identify and prioritize a list of chemicals of concern, and to develop a process to regulate those chemicals. Regulations are being written by DTSC to implement this program by 2011.

18. Toxics Timeline (8) SB 797, the Toxics Free Infants and Toddlers Act fails to pass the Senate by two votes. The bill would have eliminated bisphenol A (BPA) from baby bottles, sippy cups, food jars, and infant formula cans in the state of California. SB 757 bans the sale and installation of lead wheel weights by any company in CA. SB 772 fails to pass the legislature, which would have restricted strollers, high chairs, nursing pillows and bassinets from being treated with brominated and chlorinated flame retardants.

19. PACKET: Emerging Science • Transforming Environmental Health Protection, Science 2008 • “We propose a shift from primarily in vivo animal studies to in vitro assays, in vivo assays with lower organisms, and computational modeling for toxicity assessments.”

20. PACKET: Emerging Science • Proceedings of the Summit on Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility, Fertility and Sterility 2008

21. PACKET: Emerging Science • 2008-2009 President’s Cancer Panel Report, “Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, What We Can Do Now”

22. PACKET: Emerging Science • State of the Evidence 2010, The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment, Breast Cancer Fund “In addition to classical gene mutations, data from the past several years have demonstrated another mechanism by which alterations in genes can influence susceptibility to diseases, including breast cancer. This second mechanism, called epigenetics, refers to a change in the timing or frequency of expression of a gene, rather than changes in the genetic code or base sequences (Dworkin, 2009)”

23. PACKET: Emerging Science • Pesticides and Human Health, A Resource for Health Care Professionals, PSR-LA • Finding the Science: PubMed & Beyond • Environmental Health News

24. Alternatives Assessments • The Risk Paradigm • Separates science (risk assessment) from policy (risk management) • Places the burden for assuring safety on the government • Reduces complex problems to simple algorithms • Gives a certain “acceptable” level of harm • Focuses on problem reduction

25. Alternatives Assessments • The Precautionary Approach • Integrates science and policy • Places the burden for avoiding harm on the technology developer • Promotes action in the face of uncertainty • Continuously seeks safer solutions by expanding the range of options • Focuses on solution promotion

26. Alternatives Assessments • What is Alternatives Assessment? • A process for identifying and comparing potential chemical and non-chemical alternatives that can be used as substitutes to replace chemicals or technologies of high concern • Encourages transparency and documentation

27. Alternatives Assessments • Uses of Alternatives Assessments • Industries can evaluate safer substitutes for chemicals of concern • Governments can evaluate potential substitutes before restricting chemical uses • Advocates can document safer alternatives to chemicals of public concern

28. State Opportunities Join CHANGE Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy is a growing coalition of environmental health, policy, labor, environmental justice, interfaith, and other organizations who are working to create a better system for regulating toxic chemicals in California.

29. State Opportunities • Green Chemistry Initiative Expand Pollution Prevention, Develop Green Chemistry Workforce Education and Training, Create an Online Product Ingredient Network, Create an Online Toxics Clearinghouse, Accelerate the Quest for Safer Products, Move Toward a Cradle-to-Cradle Economy

30. State Opportunities • Safer Product Regulations • Next phase is to petition chemicals • Green jobs and public health • Future legislation and components of Green Chemistry in California

31. National Opportunities Join the Safer Chemicals Health Families Campaign SCHF is a coalition of diverse groups united by their common concern about toxic chemicals in our homes, places of work, and products we use every day. We want Congress to set health-protective standards for chemicals in commerce. As a member of the campaign, you’ll stay up to speed on the toxics movement and what you can do to help strengthen chemical regulation.

32. National Opportunities Current version of TSCA reform: • “Risk-based” • High legal standards for requiring toxicity testing • Confidential Business Information clause • “Dose makes the poison” framework • Ignores cumulative and synergistic impacts • Fails to test most chemicals

33. Local Opportunities • Healthy Homes • Cumulative Impacts Additional resources listed in your printed materials!

34. Thank you! Questions?