Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 9/21
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(ACC Mentioned) Two Web-based Tools Aim to Propel Flexible Film Recycling
Sep 21, 2017 | Waste360
By Arlene Karidis
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and Sonoma, Calif.-based More Recycling have created two web-based tools to help recycling coordinators, waste managers and other partners more efficiently recycle polyethylene (PE) flexible film. -
(ACC Mentioned) ACC, OSHA Sign Alliance Focused on Diisocyanates
Sep 21, 2017 | Occupational Health & Safety
The American Chemistry Council has joined OSHA in a new Alliance to boost workers' health and safety in workplaces operating with diisocyanate chemicals along the polyurethane value chain. -
Negotiations Fail on Recycled Byproducts TSCA Reporting
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
A negotiated rulemaking committee in the US has failed to achieve consensus on easing inorganic byproduct reporting requirements, leaving unclear whether the EPA will now go on to propose new rules. -
Asbestos Contractors Protest Exclusion of 'Legacy' Uses from TSCA Assessment
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Consultants involved in asbestos abatement are protesting against the US's Environmental Protection Agency decision to exclude "legacy installed" building materials from its risk evaluation under the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). -
Ewire: Panel Takes Steps to Ban Products Containing Flame Retardants
Sep 21, 2017 | InsideEPA
Even as EPA continues its long-running effort to weigh the risks of flame retardant chemicals, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) Sept. 20 approved a petition filed by environmentalists, first responders, public health groups and others to ban products containing one class of the chemicals and to warn consumers of the risks. -
In Historic Vote, Agency to Ban Class of Flame Retardants
Sep 21, 2017 | E&E - Greenwire
For the first time, a federal agency yesterday moved to ban a whole class of toxic flame retardants. -
Flame Retardant Roulette: Swapping One Toxic Compound for Another
Sep 21, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By Olga Naidenko Ph.D and Sonya Lunde
For decades, Americans have been needlessly exposed to chemical flame retardants – which have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption and other health effects – all because of a well intentioned but ultimately misguided California regulation from 1975. -
Mineral Oil Rodent Data Not Relevant to Humans, Says ExxonMobil
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Dr Emma Davies
Rodent data suggesting that mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) cause liver toxicity are not relevant to humans, according to ExxonMobil scientists. -
Chemicals in Articles under Spotlight in EU Non-Toxic Strategy
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Current EU law inadequately regulates the variety and complexity of risks posed by "millions of articles" used every day, says a major new study for the European Commission. -
Danish Retailer Urges Ban on Bisphenols and Fluorinated Substances in FCMs
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Denmark’s largest retailer, Coop Denmark, is starting a petition that calls for the government to ban bisphenols and fluorinated substances in food contact materials (FCMs). -
DowDuPont Opens Massive Ethylene and Plastics Plant in Freeport
Sep 21, 2017 | Houston Chronicle
By Jordan Blum
The newly merged DowDuPont said Thursday it's opening its new ethylene and plastics plants in Freeport, making the nation's largest chemical giant the first to start up a major ethylene complex along the Texas Gulf Coast. -
How a Tech Startup and Nimble Non-Profit Exposed Toxic Releases during the Houston Flood
Sep 21, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Matt Tresaugue
As Hurricane Harvey bore down on the Texas coast, Tony Miller, chief executive of a Silicon Valley startup, wondered how he could help. -
New Plaintiffs Added to Lawsuit Over Chemical Plant Fire
Sep 21, 2017 | AP (In The New York Times)
Eleven plaintiffs, including a 4-year-old girl, have joined the $1 million lawsuit against a Houston-area chemical plant rocked by explosions after floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey inundated the facility. -
Taxpayer Dollars Fund Most Oversight and Cleanup Costs at Superfund Sites
Sep 20, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Bryan Anderson
Over the past 20 years, American taxpayers have spent more than $21 billion in cleanup and oversight costs for properties polluted by dangerous wastes, known as Superfund sites, while hundreds of companies responsible for contaminating water paid little to nothing, an analysis of congressional budget data shows. -
Cap-and-Trade Is Catching On in the Trump Era
Sep 21, 2017 | Bloomberg Politics
By Chris Martin and Joe Ryan
Regional carbon markets are expanding in North America, putting a price on emissions from more power plants even as President Donald Trump seeks to ease restrictions on coal companies.
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(ACC Mentioned) Two Web-based Tools Aim to Propel Flexible Film Recycling
Sep 21, 2017 | Waste360
By Arlene Karidis
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and Sonoma, Calif.-based More Recycling have created two web-based tools to help recycling coordinators, waste managers and other partners more efficiently recycle polyethylene (PE) flexible film.
One of the tools, the Roadmap, assists in implementing Wrap Recycling Action Programs (WRAP) campaigns, which are designed to recover PE film at retail outlets. The Roadmap enables stakeholders to identify opportunities to start PE recycling programs or expand existing ones. The tool breaks down the steps, from assessing local needs, to launching WRAP campaigns, to facilitating commercial collections.
Some Roadmap features are downloadable educational materials and project plan templates. Users can also customize film drop off directories and infrastructure maps specific to their localities.
The other web-based tool, the Value Chain, illustrates the recycling process from collection to consolidation, reclamation and end use. In addition to explaining operations, it’s meant to shows retailers, brands converters and reclaimers there is value in this material, telling the stories of those who are working with it.
Some features for the Value Chain tool are a greenhouse gas calculator, historical pricing, and cost benefit calculator.
“Lacking awareness about PE film recycling is a big challenge, which is what WRAP is about and what these tools are designed to address while broadening our reach,” says Shari Jackson director of ACC’s Flexible Film Recycling Group (FFRG), representing the PE flexible film value chain.
“We are not looking to go state by state, municipality by municipality, but rather to equip [regions and communities] with resources and best practices to implement WRAP programs,” Jackson says. “It frees us to do other things to support the program while providing a guide.”
Designers have focused on making the tools customizable. With the Roadmap, users can tailor educational material, incorporate proprietary logos and print collateral or post it websites, says More Recycling CEO Nina Butler.
“The tools can sit on any WRAP partner’s site,” Butler says. “So if, for example, Carolina Recycling Association wants to help communities learn about WRAP, the content would be live on their website. But as we update it, it would automatically update on all partners’ websites.”
Connecticut has conducted a WRAP campaign and worked with the Connecticut Food Association to deal with PE film.
“It’s a complex partnership with a lot to learn as you go, and this partnership has gotten broader and bigger,” says Sherrill Baldwin, Connecticut WRAP coordinator, and environmental analyst with Connecticut’s department of energy and environmental protection. “The Roadmap can help municipalities or states understand who potential partners may be and help them meet their shared goals as more of them come on board.”
As WRAP facilitators, Vancouver, Wash., has already navigated program implementation. But these tools will provide a way to share information with others so they can see how they could fit into the picture as the city works to recover material, says Tanya Gray, solid waste supervisor for the city’s solid waste department. “The tools may help identify … opportunities to get materials recycled, depending on who you are and how you recycle. Businesses can contact who might pick up their film. Recyclers can get ideas about who to contact to find where material is generated,” says Gray.
Speaking of both the Roadmap and Value Chain, Butler says, “We tried to strike a balance between making it simple enough for folks to easily understand, while also providing the depth of resources and information available for communities.”
The tools were vetted and tested during the design phase, but they will be piloted, incorporating volunteers to understand where more or less information is needed.
More will be tabulating and sharing results from a beta campaign conducted at the recent Resource Recycling Conference, in which it incentivized attendees to explore and share the tools.
As they are rolled out and pilots are established, FFRG is working with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state recycling organizations, providing them promotional content to spread the word.
“Film use is growing as companies shift to lighter packaging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Butler says. “Most people don’t know what to do with all of it, beyond bags … in many cases, it’s landfilled or ends up in the curbside stream where it creates challenges for material recovery facilities and gets contaminated making it nearly impossible to market. Ultimately, we hope that recycling professionals will be inspired to facilitate more responsible handling of bags and wraps in their community.”
http://www.waste360.com/plastics/two-web-based-tools-aim-propel-flexible-film-recycling
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(ACC Mentioned) ACC, OSHA Sign Alliance Focused on Diisocyanates
Sep 21, 2017 | Occupational Health & Safety
The American Chemistry Council has joined OSHA in a new Alliance to boost workers' health and safety in workplaces operating with diisocyanate chemicals along the polyurethane value chain. Three groups from the council will lead the work with OSHA: the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry, Diisocyanates, and Aliphatic Diisocyanates panels.
ACC's Sept. 14 announcement said the two-year Alliance has three primary goals: raising awareness of OSHA's rulemaking and enforcement initiatives; conducting training to educate employers, workers, and OSHA officials on safety issues; and developing effective outreach and communication efforts to increase the visibility of the partnership and its goals.
"We're thrilled to be working with OSHA on making American workplaces even safer, which has always been a top priority for CPI and ACC as a whole," said Lee Salamone, senior director of CPI. "Our partnership with OSHA will build on our strong foundation of product stewardship and outreach and will help us identify additional areas of emphasis so we can better target our activities."
The two organizations' agreement, signed Sept. 13, says the Alliance partnership aims to provide information, guidance, and access to training resources to members, occupational physicians, stakeholders, and others in the polyurethanes value chain. "The chemical industry is committed to safety, and this partnership supports our continuing efforts to enhance worker protection," said Sahar Osman-Sypher, director of DII and ADI. "The partnership will work toward further educating workers and employers on how to use diisocyanates safely in their everyday working environment."
According to EPA, diisocyanates are well-known dermal and inhalation sensitizers in the workplace and have been documented to cause asthma and lung damage, but the ACC center says manufacturers, in partnership with downstream users, have implemented product stewardship activities that have contributed to a reduction in diisocyanate-related asthma cases, even as production rates of diisocyanates have increased. Diisocyanates are chemical building blocks used to make polyurethanes for furniture, appliances, apparel and more.
https://ohsonline.com/articles/2017/09/21/osha-alliance.aspx?admgarea=news
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Negotiations Fail on Recycled Byproducts TSCA Reporting
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
A negotiated rulemaking committee in the US has failed to achieve consensus on easing inorganic byproduct reporting requirements, leaving unclear whether the EPA will now go on to propose new rules.
The new TSCA required the agency to use negotiated rulemaking to develop a proposed rule on chemical data reporting (CDR) requirements for inorganic byproduct substances that are recycled, reused, or reprocessed. The goal was to develop and publish a proposed rule by June 2019. But the committee called it quits on 14 September after five months of debate.
Two industry representatives in the meetings argued that NGOs rejected all proposals to reduce reporting requirements – the supposed goal of the discussions – and in some cases questioned the basis of existing exemptions.
"Their position is they had to get something out of this," Fern Abrams, director of government relations at IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries, told Chemical Watch. "We really felt the incentive to increase recycling should have been something all the parties would want."
"The proposals that were rejected would have left huge holes in the reporting system," countered David Lennett, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "They wanted to not be required to report under a variety of circumstances specific to each company pushing the proposals.
"These were submitted to EPA, the states, the tribes and the environmental community and only the industry was supporting them."
The CDR rule requires chemical manufacturers to report production volume and other information to the EPA every four years. Byproducts are covered if they have commercial value.
This creates a "perverse incentive", Ms Abrams said, as it becomes easier to dispose of waste rather than recycle it.
"We were hoping everyone would come together and identify what data EPA needs," she said. "We were not looking to eliminate reporting just for the sake of it."EPA could still move ahead
"I think industry went into this process with incredibly unrealistic ideas," Mr Lennett said, and "ultimately decided they had a better chance of getting the relief they wanted" from the Trump administration than within the negotiation.
Industry groups argue that the EPA is still obligated to propose a reporting rule. However, in the announcement setting up the negotiated rulemaking, the agency took the position that TSCA required the negotiation, but if this fails it does not have to propose a rule itself.
Mr Lennett said the EPA representatives at the talks supported "what they called 'reporting lite', ways reporting could be streamlined, not huge exemptions," but "what they do will be decided by the political leadership".
Without the mandate attached to the negotiated rulemaking, he said, the EPA would have to "justify anything they propose based on what the CDR is supposed to be doing. They have to justify how the information is not needed for regulatory and risk evaluation processes."
https://chemicalwatch.com/59179/negotiations-fail-on-recycled-byproducts-tsca-reporting
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Asbestos Contractors Protest Exclusion of 'Legacy' Uses from TSCA Assessment
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Consultants involved in asbestos abatement are protesting against the US's Environmental Protection Agency decision to exclude "legacy installed" building materials from its risk evaluation under the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The EPA's interpretation of the 2016 TSCA amendments is that risk assessment should focus on "current and prospective uses".
However, eight nearly identical comments argued that "the most prevalent source of asbestos exposure to the general public in the US" is from existing, deteriorating building materials that contain the substance.
The letters were submitted after the agency published final framework rules and "scoping documents" for the first ten substances subject to risk evaluation under TSCA. The EPA reopened comment "to allow for the public to provide additional data or information that could be useful to the agency in conducting problem formulation, the next step in the process of conducting the risk evaluations".
Workers exposed to old asbestos products during maintenance and construction activities suffer high incidences of mesothelioma, comments said, and destruction of buildings during natural disasters "occasion massive exposures to impacted American citizens during rescue, clean-up and rebuilding efforts".
Richard Haffey, president of Mystic Air Quality Consultants in Groton, Connecticut, went further in his comments, claiming that excluding "legacy" installations of asbestos from consideration under TSCA endangers the viability of other laws with asbestos rules. Those include Superfund, the Clean Air Act and the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, which requires cleanup of asbestos in school buildings.
In addition, he said, "history teaches that once these legacy materials are judged 'irrelevant' and are removed from the calculus of regulated human exposure, manufacturers and distributors of those [materials] will relentlessly challenge compensation claims".Further comments
The deadline for comments was 19 September. The Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance (HSIA) submitted its complaints about the science behind the EPA's parallel proposals to ban two uses of trichloroethylene (TCE).
The EPA received no significant additional comments on the other substances under review, which include:1-bromopropane;1,4-dioxane;pigment violet 29;carbon tetrachloride;cyclic aliphatic bromide cluster (HBCD);methylene chloride;n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP); andtetrachloroethylene (also known as perchloroethylene).
https://chemicalwatch.com/59216/asbestos-contractors-protest-exclusion-of-legacy-uses-from-tsca-assessment
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Ewire: Panel Takes Steps to Ban Products Containing Flame Retardants
Sep 21, 2017 | InsideEPA
Even as EPA continues its long-running effort to weigh the risks of flame retardant chemicals, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) Sept. 20 approved a petition filed by environmentalists, first responders, public health groups and others to ban products containing one class of the chemicals and to warn consumers of the risks.
According to the petitioners, Earthjustice and Consumer Federation of America, the commission “directed CPSC's staff to begin a rulemaking process to ban the sale of four categories of consumer products if they contain any organohalogen flame retardant.” The commission also voted to “issue a strongly worded guidance warning the public of the hazards posed by this class of flame retardants in children’s products, mattresses, electronic casings and furniture.”
“Additionally, the CPSC voted to convene a Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) to provide scientific expertise to the CPSC's staff as it proceeds to develop the rules called for today by the CPSC.”
The CPSC decision may be the only regulatory action to address the chemicals for years. While EPA has included another class of three flame retardants -- cyclic aliphatic bromide cluster -- on its list of the first 10 chemicals it plans to review under the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act, any regulatory action is at least five years away.
In addition, the commission's 3-2 vote on party lines could be overturned when the Trump administration nominates candidates to replace a Democratic commissioner, Marietta Robinson, whose seven-year term expires next month.
Prospects that the commission may revisit the issue appears to be high given the contentious nature of the debate at the commission's meeting. According to the Chicago Tribune, one Republican commissioner, Joseph Mohorovic, a former state lawmaker, accused Democrats on the panel of siding "with those who want to be strident and politicize this issue and be completely partisan."
His comments prompted a heated response from Robinson. "I have absolutely no clue what the science behind this has to do with whether you are a Democrat or a Republican," said Robinson, noting the only witnesses who opposed the ban represented companies with a financial stake in the outcome of the vote.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-panel-takes-steps-ban-products-containing-flame-retardants
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In Historic Vote, Agency to Ban Class of Flame Retardants
Sep 21, 2017 | E&E - Greenwire
For the first time, a federal agency yesterday moved to ban a whole class of toxic flame retardants.
In a victory for health groups and a setback for industry, the Consumer Product Safety Commission also voted to warn people right away about the risks of chemicals known as organohalogens.
Scientists have found that several of the chemicals — which are found in baby products, mattresses and upholstered furniture — pose serious health dangers.
The vote marked a rare instance of an agency enforcing new rules under President Trump, who has made deregulation a top priority for his administration.
The vote also set up what promises to be a contentious debate over the addition of halogenated flame retardants to products covered by the ban (Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 20). — MJ
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/09/21/stories/1060061335
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Flame Retardant Roulette: Swapping One Toxic Compound for Another
Sep 21, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By Olga Naidenko Ph.D and Sonya Lunde
For decades, Americans have been needlessly exposed to chemical flame retardants – which have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption and other health effects – all because of a well intentioned but ultimately misguided California regulation from 1975.
This regulation on furniture flammability led manufacturers to add large amounts of flame retardant chemicals to polyurethane foam cushioning. The size of the California market prompted manufacturers to add flame retardants to foam products sold nationwide, including furniture, carpet padding, baby car seats and other baby products.
In September 2017 the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to grant an advocacy petition and ban the most hazardous flame retardants from use in children’s products, mattresses, residential furniture and the cases of electronics. But the eventual ban on these chemicals in new products will not eliminate Americans’ ongoing exposures to items that contain bromine- and chlorine-based flame retardants in their homes.
As research found flame retardant chemicals building up in people’s bodies, a pernicious circle began: scientists and public health officials sounded the alarm and initiated phaseouts of flame retardants known to harm human health and the environment, and manufacturers quietly replaced those chemicals with new ones that had not yet been scrutinized.
But subsequent investigations by EWG and other researchers showed that these replacement chemicals are often as problematic as the original flame retardants that were removed. The extent of this trend was not clear until scientists examined biomonitoring studies conducted over time and found a major increase in Americans’ exposure to a cancer-causing flame retardant, called TDCIPP, or chlorinated Tris, over the past decade.
A newly published study led by Duke University scientists, with key contributions from researchers at EWG and six other universities, found a dramatic increase in Americans’ exposures to chlorinated Tris. This chemical, which causes liver, kidney and testicular tumors in laboratory animals, was removed from children’s pajamas in the 1970s following an outcry from public health advocates. But manufacturers added it to many household products without informing consumers.
According to the new study, between 2010 and 2015, Tris concentrations in children increased nearly fourfold. Duke and EWG previously reported that children also have chlorinated Tris and other flame retardants in their bodies at levels three to five times greater than those in their mothers.
In 2003, EWG analyzed breast milk samples from 20 first-time mothers to measure concentrations of brominated flame retardants known as PBDEs. We detected these chemicals in every study participant. This and other studies pushed the Environmental Protection Agency and manufacturers to phase out use of PBDEs. But chemical companies substituted Tris for PBDEs, and Americans’ exposures to these replacement chemicals has increased dramatically.
Like PBDEs, Tris has been added to many types of foam furniture to slow the spread of fire, despite extensive research showing it is toxic. California state scientists now classify TDCIPP as a chemical known to cause cancer, and data suggest it also damages the human nervous system. Adding insult to injury, the state of California examined fire data and concluded that adding flame retardants to foam does very little, if anything, to prevent furniture fires from spreading.
Over the past decade the California rules have changed and many manufacturers have voluntarily removed all flame retardants from foam in couches, easy chairs, office furniture and baby products. But they are still common in older foam furniture, automobile seats and baby items. They can also be found in new baby car seats, automobile seats and foam used in gymnastics pits.
The key finding of the new study is that Tris concentrations in American adults increased 15-fold between 2002 and 2015. In effect, all Americans today are at risk of exposure to this flame retardant. The study also found a significant increase in exposures to a second hormone-disrupting flame retardant, triphenyl phosphate, or TPHP.
TPHP shows up in an array of products, from furniture containing foam to nail polish. In 2015 a Duke-EWG study showed TPHP exposures went up sevenfold when volunteers painted their fingernails with nail polish containing TPHP. The chemical is a relatively new ingredient in nail products, introduced as a regrettable replacement for phthalates, chemicals that affect the reproductive system.
Again and again, research about the toxicity of chemicals in everyday products shows that scientists and shoppers need to view ingredients in everyday items with suspicion until we have a better understanding of how they may impact our health.
Advocates are working to change the flammability standards, which require the use of chemicals instead of relying on safer ways to reduce fire risks. At EWG, we are educating manufacturers and pushing for product labeling to help people avoid potentially toxic products. But it is clear a broad strategy is needed to protect the public from the unchecked use of poorly studied chemicals in consumer products.
What you can doAvoid flame retardants in new products. Buy products that don’t include flame retardants – this is easiest when shopping for couches, easy chairs and kids’ products. It is more difficult for car seats and nearly impossible when you buy a car.
Test your furniture. Most older couches and easy chairs contain Tris or other worrisome flame retardants. Duke University will test foam from your furniture for free. You can buy new, flame retardant-free foam if you choose to reupholster older furniture.
Work to ban bad chemicals. The good news is that once banned, chemicals slowly get out of our homes and our bodies. Ten years after PBDEs were taken off the market, scientists found that we have fewer of them in our bodies. States are leading the charge to protect citizens from the risks of Tris in consumer products. Five states have already banned Tris in children’s products or furniture, and 15 states are considering bills or policy actions to address the problems posed by flame retardant chemicals.
Work to make new products safer. Many uses of chemical flame retardants are ineffective and unnecessary. Adding them to consumer products doesn’t save us from fires, but poses unknown risks to our health. It isn’t enough to simply ban individual chemicals like Tris and wait for the next disaster. Instead, the federal government should safeguard our health by requiring that new chemicals are fully screened for safety and only used when necessary.This post was originally published on February 9, 2017
http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2017/02/flame-retardant-roulette-swapping-one-toxic-compound-another#.WcP0-7IjG4R
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Mineral Oil Rodent Data Not Relevant to Humans, Says ExxonMobil
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Dr Emma Davies
Rodent data suggesting that mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) cause liver toxicity are not relevant to humans, according to ExxonMobil scientists.
Often described as white oils or waxes, MOHs are complex mixtures, generally derived from crude oil. They mainly consist of saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) and aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAHs). Humans are exposed to a broad range of MOHs, with complex and mostly unknown compositions.
Among a range of potential toxic effects, some MOHs have been shown to cause liver granulomas – collections of inflammatory cells – in Fischer-344 (F-344) lab rats.
The US ExxonMobil team, led by David Adenuga, outlined a mode of action for liver granulomas, picking out three key events: intestinal absorption; liver deposition and retention; and tissue inflammation.
Humans and F-344 rats have "no notable differences" in their ability to absorb and retain MOH, report the scientists. However, differences arise for the third key event. By analysing existing data, the scientists suggest that humans do not have the same inflammatory response to MOHs in the liver. "In contrast to F-344 rats, there have been very few, if any, reports of human toxicity associated with exposure to MOH," writes the team in Critical Reviews in Toxicology.
"Based on data spanning over 30 years, the human liver response to saturated hydrocarbons is much more similar to that observed in Sprague-Dawley rats," they add. "Even under conditions of extreme abuse, humans do not develop comparative liver lesions as those seen in the F-344 rats. On this basis, we can conclude that the F-344 rat mode of action, although well-established in this rat model, is not relevant to humans."
"It is possible that the Fischer 344 rats are not a suitable model for humans to investigate effects of mineral hydrocarbons," says Koni Grob from the Official Food Control Authority of the Canton of Zürich, Switzerland. "However, it is a fact that in human tissues, frequent occurrence of granulomas was observed that was linked with exposure to mineral hydrocarbons."
Without the animal model it would not be possible to investigate health risks for humans, he adds.
"I would conclude that the exposure of humans to mineral oil hydrocarbons needs to be reduced to a level ruling out granuloma formation."Efsa study
Together with scientists from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Dr Grob recently authored a scientific report for the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) on MOH bioaccumulation and toxicity in rats.
The researchers added MOSH to F-344 rat feed before analysing the liver, spleen and adipose tissue. They chose mixtures to represent the range that humans are exposed to through diet and selected female F-344 rats because they "are known to be the most sensitive model to MOSH".
The results showed MOSH to accumulate predominantly in the liver. However, there were large differences in the ability of different mixtures to induce liver granulomas. A later study by the team found MOSH in the mass range of C26-30 to accumulate more strongly than those between C20-25.
This year and next, EU member states are monitoring the presence of MOHs in food, following a European Commission recommendation in January.
In March, Germany published a draft ordinance to amend its commodities Regulation, by introducing a specific migration limit of 0.5mg/kg food for MOAH.
Industry is increasingly questioning the relevance of some rodent models. For example, France's proposal to classify titanium dioxide as a 1B carcinogen via inhalation was met with strong industry opposition because of its focus on rodent data. Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) eventually concluded that the substance should be a category 2 carcinogen by inhalation. Its minutes reveal in-depth discussion of the rodent studies.
https://chemicalwatch.com/59152/mineral-oil-rodent-data-not-relevant-to-humans-says-exxonmobil
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Chemicals in Articles under Spotlight in EU Non-Toxic Strategy
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Current EU law inadequately regulates the variety and complexity of risks posed by "millions of articles" used every day, says a major new study for the European Commission.
The very few restrictions in place are "scattered in different legislation, lack a systemic basis and do not take the overall and combined exposures to chemicals in articles sufficiently into account," it adds.
And, as a result, new strategies to prevent toxic substances from entering articles and increased supply chain transparency are key for achieving a non-toxic environment, the study report concludes.
The EU executive is mandated under the 7th Environment Action Programme to develop a strategy on this by 2018. The study provided a comprehensive overview on the functioning of current EU chemicals policy and legislative framework concerning seven areas, or ‘sub-studies’.
Furthermore, the report says, the REACH authorisation process does not cover SVHCs in imported articles. And even if hazardous substances are restricted and phased out, they will continue to appear in waste streams and in recycled materials, in particular from articles like buildings and infrastructure with a long lifespan.
The report highlights three approaches for achieving non-toxic articles. They are:increased transparency about the occurrence of toxic substances in articles;instruments to prevent the substances from entering articles and material cycles; andstrategies to decontaminate waste streams.Slow substitution
The report also emphasises the "very slow progress" with substitution as an area of concern. This is due to the poor quality of REACH dossiers, lack of information on chemicals in articles and on alternatives, and insufficient incentives, it says. In many cases this leads to "regrettable" substitution, whereby manufacturers use a structurally similar substance with similar hazards.
The counter this, the use of grouping strategies for assessing chemicals with structural similarities needs to be scaled up, the report says. Legislation also needs to be streamlined to provide more incentives and active support and training is required. The report also calls for a specific EU programme to support research and development of safer alternatives.
It proposes the development of a hierarchy in chemicals policy and management, similar to the one that guides EU waste management policy. This starts with the principle of avoiding the production and use of harmful chemicals "as far as possible".Positive reaction
NGOs welcomed the report and called for swift action from the Commission to address the issues.
It is yet "another public health alert on the magnitude of our toxic contamination", and leaves no room for complacency, Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) says.
The report provides the Commission with "a strong basis" for tackling urgent issues, CHEM Trust says. It adds that the sub-study on the protection of children and other vulnerable groups highlights the need for a greater safety margin for exposures.
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) said the measures to support substitution "are extremely important", while ChemSec urged the Commission to take the report's findings on board and "move to the next level of sustainability work connected to chemicals".
The report outlined other obstacles to achieving a non-toxic environment, including:deficits in the framework for protection of children and other vulnerable groups;insufficient means to address risks posed by chemicals on the basis of persistence alone; andthe need for more comprehensive compilation of monitoring data at EU level and establishment of an early warning system.
https://chemicalwatch.com/59215/chemicals-in-articles-under-spotlight-in-eu-non-toxic-strategy
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Danish Retailer Urges Ban on Bisphenols and Fluorinated Substances in FCMs
Sep 21, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Denmark’s largest retailer, Coop Denmark, is starting a petition that calls for the government to ban bisphenols and fluorinated substances in food contact materials (FCMs).
The Danish government must take action on suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in FCMs, the retailer says, especially since it has proved "difficult" to get the EU to adopt "adequate" regulation.
Coop Denmark, which has taken a progressive stance towards the substitution of hazardous substances in its products, has invited consumers to co-sign its petition. It says consumers are "worried" about harmful chemistry in groceries, and 72% of Danes believe that the country "must go ahead and ban bisphenol A without waiting for the EU".
The petition is also pushing for the Danish government to propose a similar ban throughout the EU.
Bisphenols and fluorinated substances are part of Coop Denmark’s ‘dirty dozen’ that it plans to phase out from private label products by the end of this year.‘Cocktail’ effect
In addition, the campaign addresses the ‘cocktail’ effects of chemicals. Coop Denmark’s chemicals coordinator, Malene Teller Blume, says there is no overview of the health impacts of the many chemical substances people come into contact with on a daily basis.
There is a particular need, she says, for legislation to ban groups of substances instead of legislating for a single substance at a time, which "simply goes too slowly".
In July, the Danish National Food Institute added a section to its chemicals portal on its latest research into the cocktail effects of chemicals. This established that even small doses of chemicals in combination can have negative effects.
NGO ChemSec says the retailer’s campaign shows how progressive corporations can extend their aim to reduce toxic chemicals even beyond their own products. "Pushing legislation in the right direction is key if we are to get rid of chemicals like EDCs in everyday consumer products," ChemSec’s senior business advisor Theresa Kjell says
https://chemicalwatch.com/59211/danish-retailer-urges-ban-on-bisphenols-and-fluorinated-substances-in-fcms
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DowDuPont Opens Massive Ethylene and Plastics Plant in Freeport
Sep 21, 2017 | Houston Chronicle
By Jordan Blum
The newly merged DowDuPont said Thursday it's opening its new ethylene and plastics plants in Freeport, making the nation's largest chemical giant the first to start up a major ethylene complex along the Texas Gulf Coast.
The complex is the crown jewel of the old Dow Chemical's recent $6 billion expansion along the Gulf Coast. The chemical company will go back to being just Dow once DowDuPont splinters out into three separate companies in a year or so.
The project includes a massive ethane cracker that separates a component of natural gas liquids called ethane, which in turn will provide the feedstock for some 1.5 million metric tons a year of ethylene, the most common building block of plastics. A large portion of an upcoming $4 billion expansion will go toward expanding the plant to 2 million metric tons a year, eventually making it the world's largest ethylene production plant.
DowDuPont Executive Chairman Andrew Liveris, who's also chairman and CEO of Dow, called Thursday's news a monumental moment for Dow's future.
"These facilities are an integral part of Dow's investments on the U.S. Gulf Coast to meet increasing consumer-led demand in our core market verticals of packaging, infrastructure and consumer care, and will enable our next level of earnings and cash flow growth," Liveris said in the announcement.
The ethane facility is near DowDuPont's new polyethylene plastics plant that will take the ethylene and start to churn out 400,000 metric tons of plastic resins a year to make various films and packaging materials for use throughout the world. Dow is building additional plastics facilities in Freeport and Louisiana.
The project adds to a petrochemical boom primarily along the Gulf Coast, where chemical and plastic makers can take advantage of cheap and ample natural gas, the feedstock for their products. The growing demand for plastics is mostly coming from Asia, primarily China.
Chevron Phillips Chemical and Exxon Mobil are both completing 1.5 million metric ton ethane crackers in the Baytown area right now. Exxon Mobil's project was slated for completion by the end of this year, while Chevron Phillips said this week that Hurricane Harvey's floodwaters are delaying its ethylene plant opening until early 2018.
Houston's Occidental Petroleum and Mexichem opened an ethane cracker plant earlier this year outside of Corpus Christi, but it's a much smaller facility.
So DowDuPont is getting a little bit of a head start. The Dow facilities are expected to reach full operating capacity before the end of this year.
"As we ramp these units to full production, we continue to solidify our early-mover advantage while significantly increasing our integration and growing our U.S. production capacity," said Jim Fitterling, chief operating officer for DowDuPont materials science. "Dow's new ethylene facility provides a solid, capital-efficient base in this attractive, feedstock-advantaged region, which will continue to fuel the industry's broadest and most differentiated derivatives slate."
The additions are on Dow's existing sprawling campus in Freeport and Lake Jackson. Dow literally built the Lake Jackson community almost 75 years ago shortly after it established its Freeport presence.
http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/DowDuPont-opens-massive-ethylene-and-plastics-12217420.php
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How a Tech Startup and Nimble Non-Profit Exposed Toxic Releases during the Houston Flood
Sep 21, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Matt Tresaugue
As Hurricane Harvey bore down on the Texas coast, Tony Miller, chief executive of a Silicon Valley startup, wondered how he could help.
His company, Entanglement Technologies, can measure levels of air pollution in real time, important information for emergency responders and people living near storm-damaged refineries and chemical plants.
On Aug. 31, Miller called Elena Craft, Environmental Defense Fund’s Texas-based senior health scientist, and the two quickly came up with a plan to monitor neighborhoods near industrial facilities in and around Houston. Miller was on the road the next day.
By Sept. 4, his van equipped with sensor technology and an analyzer that provides laboratory-grade results was in a neighborhood where city officials had detected unusually high levels of harmful air pollution.
After a day of sample collections, some lasting as long as 5 minutes, the picture was clear: There was a plume of cancer-causing benzene in southeast Houston’s Manchester neighborhood, home to some 4,000 people.Mobile lab analyzes chemicals in real time
Entanglement’s portable technology can produce a definitive analysis of hazardous chemicals to part per trillion concentrations. The company’s clients include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Defense, oil companies and environmental consultants who need results in real time.
In Manchester, Miller’s team rapidly detected a narrow plume of benzene – roughly as wide as a city block, but invisible to the naked eye. That indicated a nearby source.
The results confirmed the City of Houston’s earlier findings. City officials had used handheld air quality monitors that detected high benzene levels a couple of days earlier, prompting them to ask Craft to start her investigation in Manchester.
The likely source was Valero Energy Corp.’s Houston refinery, which towers over small houses in the neighborhood. More than 95 percent of residents are people of color and 90 percent low-income.Residents could smell the benzene
On Aug. 27, Valero had reported to the state that heavy rains lowered the floating roof on one of its storage tanks, releasing volatile organic compounds and 6.7 pounds of benzene. In the filing, the company said it would fix the problem by the next day.
State regulators, however, had turned off the city’s extensive network of air quality monitoring stations to protect the equipment from the heavy rains and winds. Without the monitors, there was no data showing what was really happening.
Even so, Manchester residents could tell something was wrong and complained to the city about strong odors. Benzene, a toxic, flammable chemical found in crude oil and gasoline, can cause central nervous system damage and bone marrow damage, and is carcinogenic.Technology identifies urgent trouble spots
Our partnership with Entanglement Technologies provided the most robust monitoring of air quality in the Houston region after Harvey, exceeding the work of state and federal agencies. It showed that there is no reason to keep communities in harm’s way – or to rely on unverified industry information during a time of crisis.
The levels of benzene found in Manchester far surpassed health-based guidelines set by most other states when Miller’s team took measurements in early September. To ensure the accuracy of the findings, the company collected some samples at the same time and in the same locations as the City of Houston’s mobile monitoring unit.
The toxic pollution in Manchester was soon national news.
The technology his company uses identifies situations that must be dealt with right away, and those that can wait, “so that resources aren’t diverted unnecessarily,” Miller told reporters covering the story.
The EPA, however, waited 10 days after the first high reading to say that Valero had “significantly underestimated” its air pollution during and after Harvey. The agency is now investigating the pollution event.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2017/09/21/how-tech-startup-and-nimble-non-profit-exposed-toxic-releases-during-houston-flood
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New Plaintiffs Added to Lawsuit Over Chemical Plant Fire
Sep 21, 2017 | AP (In The New York Times)
Eleven plaintiffs, including a 4-year-old girl, have joined the $1 million lawsuit against a Houston-area chemical plant rocked by explosions after floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey inundated the facility.
Six deputies and one EMS official filed a lawsuit in Harris County Court earlier this month, saying fumes from an Aug. 31 explosion in Crosby left them vomiting and gasping for breath. The Houston Chronicle reports six more first responders along with five residents joined the case Wednesday, saying they've suffered from everything from burning eyes to bronchitis following the explosions.
French-owned Arkema had warned explosions were inevitable after Harvey's floodwaters engulfed the backup generators, knocking out the refrigeration necessary to keep the organic peroxides being stored there from degrading and catching fire.
Arkema has said it will "vigorously defend" the lawsuit.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/09/21/us/ap-us-harvey-chemical-plant.html
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Taxpayer Dollars Fund Most Oversight and Cleanup Costs at Superfund Sites
Sep 20, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Bryan Anderson
Over the past 20 years, American taxpayers have spent more than $21 billion in cleanup and oversight costs for properties polluted by dangerous wastes, known as Superfund sites, while hundreds of companies responsible for contaminating water paid little to nothing, an analysis of congressional budget data shows.
The Superfund program, established in 1980, was meant to hold industries and businesses — such as landfill operators, chemical companies and manufacturers — accountable for polluting communities across the country. For years, petroleum, chemical and corporate taxes imposed by Congress funded the vast majority of the Superfund program, including expensive cleanups.
But since the Superfund taxes expired in 1995, the burden of paying the costs shifted dramatically. Today, most of the program’s funding comes through taxpayer dollars, according to data reviewed by News21, a national investigative reporting project.
When companies that polluted groundwater sources cannot be identified, no longer exist or can’t afford cleanup costs, the Environmental Protection Agency often assumes responsibility.
“It would be good to get the Superfund tax back because the industries were able to absorb that a whole lot more easily than the individual . . . or a taxpayer in a local community,” said Christine Todd Whitman, a former New Jersey governor and EPA administrator.
News21 spent months examining more than 1,700 Superfund sites and found companies dealing with dumping, mining, dry-cleaning and wood treatment are among the nation’s biggest polluters. Lead, arsenic and mercury are the most common contaminants found at Superfund sites.
At the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, the Energy Department produced enriched uranium for nuclear bombs during World War II and the Cold War. Mercury contamination has prevented residents from fishing and swimming along a nearby creek, and residents near the Superfund site remain concerned about the safety of their drinking water.
“If I’m thirsty enough, I’ll drink,” said Dynasti Kirk, an Oak Ridge resident. “But I don’t trust it.” The EPA has linked hazardous substances to a variety of human health problems, including birth defects, cancer, nervous system damage and infertility. Using census data, a 2015 EPA report found 53 million people live within three miles of a Superfund remedial site.
[How will Scott Pruitt clean up Superfund sites? Communities are dubious.]
Congressional funding has gradually decreased, making it more difficult to oversee and enforce the program. From 1999 through 2013, appropriations to the EPA’s Superfund program were cut from about $2 billion to about $1.1 billion, according to a 2015 Government Accountability Office report.
At most Superfund sites, the EPA is able to identify potentially responsible parties. Even so, those companies are under no legal obligation to maintain or disclose their cleanup costs, according to the GAO. Companies generally keep cost information confidential.
Less money has meant slower cleanups. It takes years for a typical Superfund site to be removed from the National Priorities List (NPL). More than half of the original 406 sites added onto the NPL in 1983 remain on the list today.
Whitman, who served under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003, pushed for a reauthorization of the Superfund taxes so the agency could pay for more enforcement and cleanup. “We kept pointing out this money is running out; we need to do this,” Whitman said.
The Bush administration determined it was not a political battle worth fighting, she added. “It was something for which Congress had no appetite,” she said. “They just were not willing to consider anything that had the word ‘tax’ in it.”
Democrats failed to renew the taxes when they controlled the House and Senate at the start of Obama’s first term.
Mathy Stanislaus, who oversaw the Superfund program from 2009 through 2017 under President Barack Obama, said cleanups were “competing with the multitude of other activities and obligations of the federal government.”
“There was a reason why the Superfund tax was put in place,” he said. “Where you don’t have a liable responsible party, let’s at least have the business activities that are most associated with contaminants found at Superfund sites pay for those sites versus the general taxpayer.”
In March, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), introduced the Superfund Polluter Pays Act, similar to other bills introduced over the past decade. All have failed.
“If everyone in Washington lived within a mile of a Superfund site, I have a feeling there’d be a lot more urgency,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said. “But because it’s not affecting our families or our children, it doesn’t seem that we have that kind of urgency. That’s just not right, and I’m very angry about it.”
New Jersey is home to 114 active Superfund sites, the most in the country.
“These aren’t Republican and Democrat issues,” Whitman said. “These are people issues. These are about human health and the environment. Mother Nature could care less whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or which state you live in.”
President Trump’s budget proposed a 30 percent cut to the Superfund program, including investigations, enforcement and cleanup.
“Every federal agency is having to tighten its belt right now,” said Marianne Horinko, also an EPA administrator under Bush. “But I think EPA’s core mission and its values are too important to the American people to have drastic cuts. I think, eventually, the EPA, and Superfund in particular, will continue to assume an important role.”
This report is part of the project Troubled Water, produced by the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, a national investigative reporting project by top college journalism students across the country and headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/taxpayer-dollars-fund-most-oversight-and-cleanup-costs-at-superfund-sites/2017/09/20/aedcd426-8209-11e7-902a-2a9f2d808496_story.html?utm_term=.e1fe16d5f27c
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Cap-and-Trade Is Catching On in the Trump Era
Sep 21, 2017 | Bloomberg Politics
By Chris Martin and Joe Ryan
Regional carbon markets are expanding in North America, putting a price on emissions from more power plants even as President Donald Trump seeks to ease restrictions on coal companies.
Officials in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia are showing interest in joining the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative led by New York, and Canada’s Ontario plans to join California’s market with Quebec next year.
The leaders of California and New York are even voicing support for linking the two systems, which have both taken steps since July to extend these so-called cap-and-trade programs. States are leading the U.S. effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions after Trump decided to pull out of the global Paris climate accord.
“This cap-and-trade system is working to reduce greenhouse gases and is generating millions of dollars of private investment,” California Governor Jerry Brown said at a New York press conference Wednesday. “I would very much welcome the state of New York.”
Phil Murphy, a Democrat running to replace New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in November, wants to rejoin the Northeast program “immediately,” according to an online policy statement. His Republican opponent, Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, also supports rejoining RGGI, a move state lawmakers have passed and her boss has vetoed three times.
“Under the Trump presidency that’s stalled action on climate change, we’re seeing renewed interest in linking markets,” Jackson Morris, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s eastern energy project. Expanding and connecting markets “can expand reductions at lower cost.”Pennsylvania, Virginia
In Pennsylvania, Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, pledged during his 2014 campaign to join RGGI but has since faced resistance from the Republican-controlled senate and assembly. And in Virginia, Governor Terry McAuliffe issued a executive order in May that the state develop market-based mechanisms to get “trading-ready,” as part of a plan to reduce carbon emissions.
“We will share our experience with anyone and if New Jersey’s next administration wants to join us again we’ll welcome them,” said Katie Dykes, chairman of both the RGGI board of directors and the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. “We have been communicating with people in Virginia.”
Connecticut has raised $178 million through its auctions and invested most of that toward energy efficiency and renewable power projects. Dykes plans to hold a hearing in Baltimore Monday to discuss plans for RGGI to reduce emissions by 30 percent from 2020 to 2030.Europe, Asia
Europe already has a large regional cap-and-trade system, and similar markets are under development in Asia. Connecting carbon markets offers the opportunity to add scale and further reduce air pollution, said Paula DiPerna, special adviser to CDP, an environmental non-profit.
“It’s crucial that all these markets around the world link up together,” DiPerna said in an interview. “These markets have to be large and liquid, so linkage is essential to expand scope even if there are some growing pains.”
The push by public and private leaders from New York to California has put greenhouse gases on track to fall 12 percent to 14 percent below 2005 levels over the next eight years, according to a Sept. 18 study by NewClimate Institute and The Climate Group. The U.S. pledged cuts of 26 percent to 28 percent during that period under the global Paris pact brokered in 2015. Trump announced in June that the U.S. would exit the agreement.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is in favor of connecting the East Coast market with the California system.
“I think it is a very interesting idea,” Cuomo said at the event with Brown. ‘‘The devil is in the details. But I’d be very interested in it.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-20/state-efforts-boost-cap-and-trade-as-trump-pushes-for-more-coal
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