Weighing in: Revised Green Chemistry Rules
California’s informal green chemistry regulations, released in October 2011, are historic in several ways. That’s what members of the CHANGE Coalition (Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy), including Worksafe, told the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) in comments, submitted December 30, 2011.
In 2008, California passed AB 1879, the pivotal legislation that initiated California’s Green Chemistry Initiative. The regulations currently under development are supposed to spell out how we will effectively remove the most pervasive and hazardous chemicals from the market, promote the use of safer alternatives, and protect the health of workers and those most at risk.
What makes these regulations historic?
New Lead Safety Levels for Workers?
It still is in our workplaces, homes and consumer products. And people still ask: how low should we go?
That’s what Cal/OSHA is trying to decide about lead, given that the existing standards are based on science that has not been updated in over 30 years. Recent studies (PDF) provide strong evidence that the metal harms people at the current legal exposure levels. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recommends lowering how much lead can be in workplace air, and workers’ blood and bones. They also want workers removed from lead-contaminated work areas based on the level of lead in their blood, not how much is in the air. Looking at blood lead levels provides a better picture of how people are being affected.
Read more...Lowering Exposure to Toxic Chemicals
For years, Worksafe has actively pushed the OSH Standards Board to lower permissible exposure limits (PELs) for chemicals in the workplace as new evidence reveals the damage to workers from currently allowable exposure levels.
In December 2007, California EPA published a report (PDF) that identified over 100 under-regulated workplace chemicals that cause cancer and reproductive and/or developmental harm. Worksafe has been working steadily with health experts to fast-track the setting of standards for these chemicals, using available science developed by Cal/EPA and the California Hazard Evaluation System and Information Service (HESIS).
Read more...Bringing Workers’ Voices to Green Chemistry
Governments at the state, federal, and international levels are fundamentally redefining how chemicals are tested, registered, and approved for use. There is a growing consensus that we need to identify, remove, and substitute toxic chemicals with safer alternatives.
When we eliminate toxic chemicals during the production process, we reduce the amount that enters our communities through air and water emissions or as part of consumer products.
On Sept. 29, 2008 Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1879 and its companion Senate Bill (SB 509), kick-starting what is known as the Green Chemistry Initiative (GCI).
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