Healthy Business Strategies - Clean Production Action

is now a known PBT. It is highly persistent,
bioaccumulates in the bodies of animals
and is toxic — damaging animal growth and
development (Washington State 2005). For
these reasons the British government is acting
to ban the use of PFOS (uK 2004).
Implications for Public Health
Scientists are divided over what the presence
of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances
means for public health. A synthetic
chemical in someone’s urine or breast milk
does not automatically result in health effects
— instead it’s an indicator of exposure. But
their ubiquity doesn’t mean there is no effect
either. It’s well known
Toxics ignorance
that humans are not
creates risk: reputation exposed equally and
risk, toxic tort risk that we vary in genetic
and physical vulnerabili-
and market risk.
ties. Furthermore, most
chemicals on the market have not been
thoroughly tested for human safety. Moreover,
scientists have yet to assess the risks of
exposure to combinations of these chemicals.
One thing scientists are finding is that the
timing of the exposure can be as important
as the amount of exposure. Specifically, new-
“Babies aren’t supposed to be born pre-polluted.”
— Jane Houlihan, Environmental Working Group
borns, fetuses and infants are particularly
vulnerable to even small chemical exposures
during the critical moments of gestation and
early development. Recent studies have measured
this exposure — for example, a 2005
u.S. study of umbilical cord blood from 10
newborns found the newborns averaged 200
contaminants, many of them carcinogens,
developmental toxins and neurotoxins (EWG
2005). Scientists worry that exposure in the
womb could affect critical steps in fetal
development.
Table 3 details below the health effects and
sources of exposure for a handful of chemicals
and materials that have been targeted
by many companies, including some of the
six case study companies. The high hazard
chemicals include heavy metals such as
arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury; phthalates;
perfluorinated chemicals; brominated
flame retardants; and azo dyes. PvC, which
has significant life cycle concerns, is unique
within the list because it is a material as
opposed to a chemical.
What about the U.s. Regulatory system?
Some may wonder whether the u.S. regulatory
system protects human health and the
environment from chemical hazards such
as PBTs. unfortunately, the u.S. regulatory
safeguards for toxic chemicals are inadequate.
Only a small fraction of the 81,600
chemicals on the u.S. market have ever been
screened for a single possible health effect
such as cancer. This is because 76 percent of
chemicals registered for use in the u.S. were
“grandfathered” under the 1976 Toxics Substances
Control Act — meaning chemical
manufacturers were not required to disclose
information on their toxicity. Today, these
“1976 chemicals” constitute the majority
of chemicals used by volume in the u.S.
In 1998, the u.S. Environmental Protection
healthy business strategies for transforming the toxic chemical economy