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HomeMy WebLinkAboutChemical Use ReportDRAFT EDUCATION / INFORMATION REPORT ON CHEMICAL USE SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY BOARD —JUNE 2010 Role of the Sustainability Advisory Board: Advise city manager and council on sustainability issues affecting municipal operations and the community at large This Document is Concerning: Federal report from the US Department of Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and the National Cancer Institute titled "Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, What We Can Do Now" released April 2010 Relationship to City Programming: The city of Oshkosh currently utilizes chemical herbicides and pesticides, including application directly into Lake Winnebago. Source: Leffal, L. D., & Kripke, M. L. (2010, April). Reducing environmental cancer risk: What we can do now. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http: / /deainfo. nci.nih.gov /advisor�/pcp /pcp08- 09rpt/PCP_ Report _08 -09_5 08. pdf The following provides a summary of the key points from the report: 1. Most Chemicals Available Have Not Been Tested The prevailing regulatory approach in the United States is reactionary rather than precautionary. That is, instead of taking preventive action when uncertainty exists about the potential harm a chemical or other environmental contaminant may cause, a hazard must be incontrovertibly demonstrated before action to ameliorate it is initiated. Moreover, instead of requiring industry or other proponents of specific chemicals, devices, or activities to prove their safety, the public bears the burden of proving that a given environmental exposure is harmful. Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety. 2. Hazardous Chemicals are Inadequately Regulated U.S. regulation of environmental contaminants is rendered ineffective by five major problems: (1) inadequate funding and insufficient staffing, (2) fragmented and overlapping authorities coupled with uneven and decentralized enforcement, (3) excessive regulatory complexity, (4) weak laws and regulations, and (5) undue industry influence. Too often, these factors, either singly or in combination, result in agency dysfunction and a lack of will to identify and remove hazards. Existing regulations, and the exposure assessments on which they are based, are outdated in most cases and many known or suspected carcinogens are completely unregulated. Enforcement of most existing regulations is poor. In virtually all cases, regulations fail to take multiple exposures and exposure interactions into account. DRAFT EDUCATION / INFORMATION REPORT ON CHEMICAL USE SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY BOARD —JUNE 2010 3. Herbicides and Pesticides are often Hazardous to Human Health The entire U.S. population is exposed on a daily basis to numerous agricultural chemicals, some of which also are used in residential and commercial landscaping. Many of these chemicals have known or suspected carcinogenic or endocrine - disrupting properties. Pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides) approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contain nearly 900 active ingredients, many of which are toxic. Many of the solvents, fillers, and other chemicals listed as inert ingredients on pesticide labels also are toxic, but are not chemicals listed as inert ingredients on pesticide labels also are toxic, but are not required to be tested for their potential to cause chronic diseases such as cancer. In addition to pesticides, agricultural fertilizers and veterinary pharmaceuticals are major contributors to water pollution, both directly and as a result of chemical processes that form toxic by- products when these substances enter the water supply. Nearly 1,400 pesticides have been registered (i.e., approved) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for agricultural and non - agricultural use.214 Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to brain/central nervous system (CNS), breast, colon, lung, ovarian (female spouses), pancreatic, kidney, testicular, and stomach cancers, as well as Hodgkin and non - Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and soft tissue sarcoma. Approximately 40 chemicals classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as known, probable, or possible human carcinogens, are used in EPA - registered pesticides now on the market 4. The Role of Government All levels of government, from federal to local, must work to protect every American from needless disease through rigorous regulation of environmental pollutants. The Panel believes that just as there are many opportunities for harmful environmental exposures, ample opportunities also exist to intervene in, ameliorate, and prevent environmental health hazards. Governments, industry, the academic and medical communities, and individuals all have untapped power to protect the health of current and future generations of Americans and reduce the national burden of cancer. The Panel urges you most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation's productivity, and devastate American lives.