CIEL analyzes POPs provisions of twin chemical reform proposals in Congress, May 2010

Proposed federal legislation to overhaul U.S. regulation of chemicals could pave the way for the United States to join three important international treaties, according to the new CIEL study, "Analysis of POPs Treaty Implementing Provisions in Senate and House TSCA Reform Bills."

The CIEL analysis, prepared by Glenn Wiser and Daryl Ditz, offers a comparative review of Senator Lautenberg's Safe Chemicals Act (S. 3209) and the corresponding House discussion draft, the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act by Chairmen Rush and Waxman. Both legislative proposals could bring sweeping changes in how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates chemicals. They also could enable the United States to join the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), a global treaty to restrict toxic chemicals, and two other international chemicals agreements.

The United States actively participated in negotiating the Stockholm POPs treaty and signed it in 2001 under President George W. Bush. Yet efforts to ratify the agreement stalled as Congress debated how to square international obligations with U.S. domestic law. The new congressional proposals create a fresh opportunity for the United States to re-engage and reassert leadership on these global pollutants.

According to Glenn Wiser, Director of CIEL's Chemicals Program, "with modest changes, these two proposals could break the congressional stalemate that has prevented the United States from joining the rest of the world in tackling these global pollutants." To date, 170 countries have ratified the Stockholm POPs Convention, but not the United States.

POPs chemicals persist in the environment, build up in the food chain and our bodies, and pose serious threats to human health and the environment. Because POPs travel around the world by wind, water and trade, international cooperation is essential. Notorious POPs chemicals like PCBs, dioxins and DDT are among the original "'dirty dozen'" banned or restricted under the Stockholm POPs treaty. Governments added nine more POPs pesticides and industrial chemicals to the treaty in May 2009. As a "non-party," the United States was largely sidelined in those negotiations.

In addition to facilitating United States ratification of these treaties, the new proposals in Congress provide an opening for reasserting global leadership on POPs. Daryl Ditz, CIEL Senior Policy Advisor said, "If Congress grants EPA authority to take swift, strong action on POPs, the United States could help build international consensus and speed the adoption of safer alternatives around the world."

Contact: Daryl Ditz, email: dditz@ciel.org, tel: 202.742.5849