From Lab to Law: The Phthalates Ban, the Precautionary Principle, and How New Science Becomes New Policy
12:00 pm US Eastern Time
Slides & Resources
Phthalates
Our Stolen Future- Phthalates: What are phthalates? What are the health concerns?
Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act
Download the full text of the act (PDF)
Progress against toxins in toys takes small step, Chicago Tribune, August 2008
REACH (Regulation, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals)
Download the full text of the legislation (PDF)
HEAL brochure- Understanding REACH (PDF)
Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals, The Lancet
Chemicals review by Dr. Phillippe Grandjean and founding CHE Partner Dr. Phillip Landrigan, 2006
Disease Causation: Complexity and Proof
Good Genes Gone Bad, The American Prospect
Article on epigenetics and the environment by distinguished CHE Partner Pete Myers, 2006
The Problem With Hormesis, Article about low-dose impacts by Pete Myers
DNA is Not Destiny, Discover, October 2006
What price would you put on your prostate, liver, or fertility? Oakland Tribune, March 2006
Green Chemistry
Calling All Chemists, Green chemistry cover story, Chemical & Engineering News, August 2008
The journey to safe chemicals, editorial, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 2008
Reports produced by the Program in Green Chemistry & Chemicals Policy, Center for Environmental and Occupational Health, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health:
- Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable California
- Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation, Commissioned by the California Legislature
California Green Chemistry Initiative
Resolutions Calling for Chemicals Policy Reform
In late July, lawmakers in the United States passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which includes provisions banning three types of phthalates (plastics softeners) and temporarily banning three other types from certain children's products. The ban is based on limited data suggesting that phthalates act as endocrine disruptors. The CPSI Act, as well as the 2007 European REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation, are landmark examples of a precautionary, rather than reactionary, approach to public health.
How do REACH and the phthalates ban fit into a larger movement toward the precautionary approach? What constitutes "proof of harm" in light of emerging knowledge about the complexity of disease causation? Just how does new science become new policy?Nearly a hundred CHE Partners and friends joined us on Sep 25, 2008 for a special CHE Policy Education Callexploring these important and timely questions.
The call was moderated by Steve Heilig, MPH, Director of Public Health and Education at the San Francisco Medical Society. The call lasted one hour and will be recorded for archival purposes.
Featured Speakers
- Janet Nudelman, Director of Program and Policy at the Breast Cancer Fund
- Dr. Ted Schettler, Science Director at the Science & Environmental Health Network
- Lisette van Vliet, Toxics Policy Advisor at the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and Health Care Without Harm
