By placing conditions on access to European markets, REACH has set what may become a de facto global standard. The influx of chemical information expected under REACH, as well as the potential for countries outside Europe to become markets for toxic substances prohibited in the EU, presents other regions with an opportunity, and imperative, to retool their chemicals policies.

In the fall of 2009, the Obama Administration unveiled principles for U.S. chemicals policy reform, proposing that chemical producers be required to submit sufficient hazard, exposure, and use data for EPA to determine that chemicals meet a health-based safety standard (21). The principles further acknowledge the EPA’s need for authority to act on priority chemicals, reducing risks they pose to sensitive subpopulations. These principles could influence development of TSCA reform. If implemented, they could improve EPA’s ability to protect public health and the environment, while also providing the necessary incentive to move the chemicals market toward green chemistry, with the ultimate goal of placing the U.S. chemical industry on a more sustainable footing.

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Core Distinctions between Chemicals Policies of the United States (TSCA) and the European Union (REACH)

]]> http://onsustainability.com/2009/11/30/comparing-us-and-eu-chemicals-policies/feed/ http://onsustainability.com/2009/11/30/eco-alchemy-in-alberta/ http://onsustainability.com/2009/11/30/eco-alchemy-in-alberta/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:52:09 +0000 homer http://onsustainability.mu.commongroundpublishing.com/?p=2055

Bitu-man. A scarecrow in a "tailings pond" helps keep birds out of toxic mine water. CREDIT: MAGNUM PHOTOS

From Sam Kean in Science for 20 November 2009:

Environmental law says that tar sands companies must restore tailings ponds and pit mines back to “equivalent land capability,” but that phrase is contentious. Ecologists and environmentalists would prefer that every square meter of disturbed boreal forest or wetland be restored to its original state. In practice, companies can perform a sort of eco-alchemy: Pit mines can be converted to either new land, like a forest, or a lake, while tailings ponds can become either a lake or new land. Each transformation has its own challenges and controversies.

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