Chemical Policy Reform
Background Paper #5 : Require Comprehensive Safety Data for All Chemicals
This Reform calls for manufacturers of chemicals to be required to provide health and safety information as a condition for placing and keeping a chemical on the market.
There are currently more than 80,000 chemicals listed in the EPA's inventory of commercial chemicals, however there is little public knowledge data on these chemicals including how they are used or what potential harms they cause to humans or the environment.
Because of the lack of available information, there is no way to know what we are being exposed to. Additionally, this makes it difficult to keep the companies that are producing these chemicals accountable.
This reform is the most crucial to the Louisville Charter because the other reforms would not be able to be enacted until a chemical has been identified as potentially dangerous. Without knowing what it in a chemical, it cannot be determined if there is a need for a switch to a safer chemical, a phase out, or if any precautionary measures are needed for human health.
The reform suggests that the government should require the chemical industry to provide at least basic information to the public and the government as a condition to be on the marker. If the information is not reliable or complete, it cannot be on the market. They call this a “no data, no market” information requirement and I think this should definitely be implemented! Consumers should know what they are being exposed to when they purchase food or products. Consumers are somewhat at the mercy of these companies because they can't grow all their own food and produce their own products. We should know exactly what we are being exposed to and be able to make a choice about if we continue to purchase it. The government should also know what people are being exposed to as part of it's job is to protect it's citizens.
This Reform calls for manufacturers of chemicals to be required to provide health and safety information as a condition for placing and keeping a chemical on the market.
There are currently more than 80,000 chemicals listed in the EPA's inventory of commercial chemicals, however there is little public knowledge data on these chemicals including how they are used or what potential harms they cause to humans or the environment.
Because of the lack of available information, there is no way to know what we are being exposed to. Additionally, this makes it difficult to keep the companies that are producing these chemicals accountable.
This reform is the most crucial to the Louisville Charter because the other reforms would not be able to be enacted until a chemical has been identified as potentially dangerous. Without knowing what it in a chemical, it cannot be determined if there is a need for a switch to a safer chemical, a phase out, or if any precautionary measures are needed for human health.
The reform suggests that the government should require the chemical industry to provide at least basic information to the public and the government as a condition to be on the marker. If the information is not reliable or complete, it cannot be on the market. They call this a “no data, no market” information requirement and I think this should definitely be implemented! Consumers should know what they are being exposed to when they purchase food or products. Consumers are somewhat at the mercy of these companies because they can't grow all their own food and produce their own products. We should know exactly what we are being exposed to and be able to make a choice about if we continue to purchase it. The government should also know what people are being exposed to as part of it's job is to protect it's citizens.
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