Current Activities in the Chemicals Program

CIEL’s current work is concentrated in these primary topics:

Chemicals Program Current Activities:

• Mercury Pollution:  Creating a Treaty
• U.S. Laws on Toxic Chemicals:  Championing Reform
• Persistent Organic Pollutants:  Strengthening International Law
• International Chemicals Management:  Negotiating with Governments
• Nanotechnology Project:  Advocating for Precaution

Creating A Global Mercury Treaty

After several years of advocating for an international treaty to protect human health and environment from mercury pollution, governments around the world have agreed to address the challenge of mercury by developing and adopting a new global treaty on mercury pollution. 

As the UNEP mercury secretariat’s primary legal drafter, CIEL has prepared key analyses of the mercury treaty’s potential content and structure.  CIEL also drafted many of the breakthrough decision texts that have been adopted by governments.  CIEL and UNEP began their collaboration on mercury in 2007, with the “Study on Options for Global Control of Mercury.”  CIEL has become a widely recognized and respected contributor to the UNEP secretariat’s effectiveness and to the overall progress of the mercury negotiations. 

The next session of intergovernmental negotiations (INC4) will take place from June 25 - 29, 2012 in Uruguay.

Reforming U.S. Law on Toxic Chemicals

For several years, CIEL has worked to strengthen antiquated U.S. federal laws regulating chemicals as a prerequisite to ratification by the United States of global agreements on toxics. Together with hundreds of environmental, health, consumer, state and community advocates, CIEL advanced proposals in Congress that would allow the United States to regain international leadership and help spur innovation in safer alternatives.

In 2011, Senator Lautenberg introduced the Safe Chemicals Act (S. 847), a bill that would overhaul the outdated Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and address key priorities of CIEL and the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition."

CIEL testified in Congress, analyzed legislative proposals, educated policymakers, and actively participated in formal stakeholder dialogues.  CIEL and its partner organizations remain determined to achieve meaningful reform of U.S. federal policy, including enacting the long overdue changes to TSCA.

Strengthening International Laws on Chemicals

For over a decade, CIEL has been at the vanguard of developing international laws and institutions to protect human health and the environment from the use of toxic chemicals.  During these years, CIEL has actively negotiated and advised on the development of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).  

CIEL is a founding member and a legal advisor to the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN), a diverse coalition of more than 700 NGOs from around the world.  Together, we are working to minimize the impacts of POPs on:  

• Indigenous peoples in the Arctic
• Developing countries receiving dangerous POPs-containing products
• Industrialized nations who seek a toxics-free future  

CIEL’s publications on POPs includes an analysis of efforts in the United States to ratify and implement the Stockholm Convention on POPs.

Negotiating International Cooperation on Chemicals Management

The Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) was adopted in 2006.  SAICM aims to achieve the sound management of chemicals throughout their life-cycle by 2020. 

Covering both agricultural and industrial chemicals, as well as toxic metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury, SAICM is a broad, international policy framework.  The International Conference of Chemicals Management (ICCM) is responsible for guidance and review of SAICM.

CIEL is developing the legal framework of SAICM, and advising NGOs and governments on its implementation.  CIEL is working to better integrate emerging technologies–such as nanotechnologies and nanomaterials–into the framework of SAICM.

The Third International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM3) will be in September, 2012.

Advocating for Precaution on Nanotechnology

CIEL is leading international efforts by NGOs on nanotechnology; the burgeoning field built upon a new class of materials tens of thousands of times thinner than the width of a human hair, with revolutionary physical and chemical properties – and potential risks. Commercial applications of nanotechnologies are growing by leaps and bounds, yet questions about the potential effects of these miniscule materials are unanswered.

CIEL is chairing the nanotechnology working group of the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) and participating in capacity-building efforts in Africa, Asia Eastern Europe, and Latin America. 

In the European Union, CIEL collaborates with Civil Society partners to assist the European institutions in creating European regulations that can respond to the risks of nanomaterials. Also, CIEL has created a new network of activists focused on crafting a definition of nanomaterials; and has participated in a host of meetings and other activities related to this field.