Decades of scientific evidence
and public health case studies link toxic chemical exposure to serious
health and environmental problems. Hundreds of chemicals are listed in
the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory based on their ability to cause
cancer, neurological problems or other health effects--and substances
like dioxins, mercury, lead and PCBs are some of the most dangerous
substances known to science. These toxins pose a significant threat to
public health and the environment because they are highly toxic even in
minute quantities, remain in ecosystems for long periods of time and
accumulate in the tissue of animals and wildlife. These “persistent
bioaccumulative toxins” often increase their impact as they move up the
food chain, and create a legacy of damage for months, years, and even
decades after they are released into the environment.
Poisoning Our Future: The Dangerous Legacy of Persistent Toxic
Chemicals found that industries across the country reported directly
releasing to the air, land, and water nearly 20 million pounds of
persistent and bioaccumulative toxins in 1996, the most recent data
available from the Community Right to Know Act’s Toxics Release
Inventory (TRI). Releases of these substances at that level present a
significant risk. For example, it takes only a fraction of a teaspoon of
mercury to contaminate an entire 25 acre lake to the point where fish
are unsafe to eat.
However, because of loopholes on the federal reporting program, this
20 million pounds reported represents only a small picture of the real
pollution. Poisoning Our Future found that for the most common of these
substances like mercury and lead, this reported information accounted
for approximately 9 percent of all releases of those chemicals. 1996 TRI
data accounted for approximately 8 percent of EPA estimated releases of
mercury and 35 percent of lead air emissions. The TRI data accounted for
zero percent of dioxin emissions--dioxin, thought to be the most toxic
substance known to exist, is not even on the reporting list. In
addition, we estimate that approximately as little as 30 percent of
facilities that use or release these substances reported to TRI in 1996.
U.S. PIRG and the National Environmental Trust analyzed toxic
chemical releases of 31 substances known to persist in the environment
and bioaccumulate in animals and wildlife. We then used several EPA
studies to estimate the predicted actual releases of five of the most
well-known of these substances, compared to those reporting their
releases to TRI.
The threat of persistent and bioaccumulative toxins is widely
recognized. The International Joint Commission on Great Lakes Water
Quality, upon the advice of dozens of leading scientists, has declared
that “persistent toxic substances are too dangerous to the biosphere and
to humans to permit their release in any quantity.” And nations from
around the world are entering UN sponsored negotiations to create a
global solution for the elimination of persistent organic pollutants.
The 1986 Community Right to Know Act has been lauded by
environmentalists, policy makers, and even industry as one of the most
effective environmental laws in the U.S. Shining the public spotlight on
toxic chemical releases motivates industries to find ways to reduce
pollution. However, the nation’s best reporting law tells us almost
nothing about the chemicals that present the greatest threat to public
health and the environment. Furthermore, the public, policy makers, and
even industries themselves do not have the information needed to track
and promote pollution prevention.
At a time when we should be working to eliminate these substances,
industries in the U.S. are fighting to stop even reporting their
releases to the public and policy makers. The Clinton Administration has
played a leading role in championing Right to Know expansions, but there
are several major holes in the program that keep vital information from
the public. As the EPA is now considering changes to Right to Know
reporting requirements for persistent and bioaccumulative substances, we
are calling on them to stand strong against the pressure from industries
that have been fighting the public’s Right to Know for years. There is
no compelling reason to keep the public in the dark about the most
dangerous substances known to science and the legacy created by their
pollution.
U.S. PIRG and the National Environmental Trust are calling on the
Clinton Administration and EPA to take the critical steps needed to
reduce the use and release of these dangerous substances. Specifically,
the Clinton Administration and the EPA should:
- lower Right to Know reporting thresholds to include information on
all persistent or bioaccumulative toxins, and add dioxins to the
reporting list. This requires that EPA set a single zero threshold for
reporting of these extremely dangerous substances;
- expand Right to Know reporting to include all major industries
that are sources of pollution and are currently exempt from reporting,
and information on toxic chemicals used in the workplace, transported
through communities, and placed in consumer products; and
- take steps to directly eliminate the use and release of substances
like mercury and dioxin by setting strict emissions standards for
mercury from power plants, and requiring the development and use of
alternatives to major polluting practices such as waste incineration,
and industrial chlorine processes that result in the formation of
dioxin.
