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M8.5 Blog about an ideal chemical policy

After watching all of the provided videos and reading material blog about what you think is essential for an ideal chemical policy and then elaborate on one of the elements from a public health protection perspective.

 I think the most essential components of an ideal chemical policy are:

  1. Requiring the use of the safest chemical and product available 
  2. Requiring written justification and approval from the government on a narrow case-by-case basis for ANY chemical or product that is deemed hazardous or potentially hazardous for human health. (and requiring this approval be renewed with a new application appeal process annually)
  3. Elimination of use for all the most toxic chemicals across the U.S. and pushing out guidance to the rest of the world. 
  4. Regulating U.S. companies' use of toxic chemicals not only in the U.S., but abroad through tax structures that penalize any use of hazardous chemicals or products by the company anywhere in the world.
  5. Requiring comprehensive disclosure of all chemicals used in a product be made publicly available on a searchable database and also including information on safety risks, and all available information on the potential hazards or harms of a product and its components in a user-friendly language that the public can easily understand and access.
  6.  Protecting workers' and communities through prioritizing claims and allowing them to sue companies for any damage they have incurred or could potentially occur due to the increased risk the company has put them in.
  7. Regulating chemicals through a stringent process that requires proving the safety of every new chemical through rigorous study PRIOR to it ever being allowed to be used in any commercial setting. Every chemical should require government approval prior to use. This would essentially be a reversal of what is currently the standard. Instead of placing the burden on researchers and consumers after-the-fact to prove a chemical is having lasting hazardous impact on human health and communities, the burden should be placed on companies who would like to use a chemical to provide significant evidence of its safety to the government and public and receive approval for use, prior to ever allowing the chemical to come to market or be used in any process or product that could expose people to the chemical. 

Comments

  1. KJOctober 16, 2019 at 3:04 PM

    I love #4 and #7. Forcing ourselves to be accountable and also forcing the companies that ship items into our country to be accountable is the only way we can make a positive impact on the environment. It is crazy that a lot of chemicals and toxins weren't regulated for the longest and all of a sudden they are being regulated on our end, but if other countries aren't following suit we will end up with harmful products still.

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