State report urges California to adopt greener chemical policy
California continues to leave the rest of the nation in the (toxic) dust: A new report commissioned by the state legislature recommends a tough “green chemistry” policy to identify, restrict, and replace the most dangerous chemicals used by American industry — because, says the report’s lead author, federal laws are not strong enough to protect the public. Cautioning that the “United States has fallen behind globally in the move toward cleaner technologies,” the research team recommends that industry be required to provide hazard data on individual chemicals, and state regulators be given more authority to restrict the most dangerous substances and motivate industries to find safer replacements. Bills to restrict particular chemicals have been debated recently by California lawmakers, but industry lobbying has derailed most of them so far. Godspeed, obscure research team and soon-to-be-forgotten report!
