I hardly needed another reason to move to Europe--but I've found one. In the current issue of Harper's, Mark Schapiro has written an exhaustively researched article (which I think may be adapted from his new book) about how lax the U.S. has been about regulating toxic chemicals. The Toxic Substances Control Act, passed in 1976, has absolutely no teeth. In fact, its "loophole" (which to me seems to negate the entire point of the legislation), is that every chemical on the market before 1979 was exempted from the law's screening requirements! As a result, over 60,000 potentially hazardous chemicals are still used in everything from children's pajamas to cosmetics in the U.S. Many Americans—those that still naively trust their government—think that because it's for sale, it's been vetted and is safe. Schapiro quotes Robert Donkers, an EU official who has reviewed Europe's regulatory laws as saying, "The assumption among Americans is 'If it's on the market, it's okay.' That fantasy is gone in Europe."
The E.U. has passed legislation called REACH that will have far-flung repercussions--even in the U.S. (Any company that hopes to sell its products to the E.U. will have to follow REACH's mandates.) REACH places the onus of testing a chemical and proving that it's safe on the manufacturers.
Unsurprisingly, the U.S. government teamed up with the chemical industry to lobby vigorously against REACH, which they say will cost American chemical producers tens of billions of dollars in lost exports. (Wahh!)
But—ha!—they lost.
And as Schapiro points out, the E.U. has now surpassed the U.S. both in population and in wealth, so they are now calling the shots when it comes to both economic and moral leadership. (Thank god.) Furthermore, even if U.S. manufacturers don't comply (and even if we don't get Clinton or Obama in 2008, who would hopefully rectify Bush's environmental backwardness), informed American consumers can opt to buy European products that have been tested and proven safe over American products that contain all sorts of nasty chemicals.
To read more, click here
And a few more facts if you don't have time to read the full article:
• In 2005, Greenpeace released a study that found numerous toxic chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of European infants.
• That same year, World Wildlife Fund International tested the blood of three generations of women from twelve European countries and found 63 chemicals in the group of grandmothers. But the next highest level of chemicals were found among their grandchildren, aged 12-28. (They had 59 toxic chemicals each). One of these women, who later sent Schapiro her test results, had brominated flame retardants (potential liver, thyroid and neurological toxins taht are used to coat electronics), DDT and lindane (the latter of which is suspected of contributing to breast and other cancers), perfluroinated chemicals (known carcinogens used as stain and water repellents on clothing, furniture and non-stick cookware), and artificial musk aromas.
• In 2005, our very own CDC tested the blood of a cross-section of Americans and found 148 toxic chemicals. A vast majority of the subjects harbored almost all the toxins.
• Also in 2005, the CDC's National Survey on Family Growth concluded that the rates of infertility were rising for women under the age of 25, a spike many scientists attribute (at least in part) to routine exposure to toxic chemicals.