{"articles":[{"reaction_config":[{"text":"Yes","color":"#624960","stance":"yes"},{"text":"No","color":"#4ac6ec","stance":"no"}],"id":35857,"title":"A New Low Even For The Trump EPA On Chemical Safety","html_content":"

by Environmental Defense Fund | 10.8.19

This article has been authored by the Environmental Defense Fund. Learn more about new EPA decisions regarding the chemical safety law, and click above to take action and make your voice heard.

By Richard Denison

Recent decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency are failing to protect workers from the leading cause of asthma in the workplace: a class of chemicals called isocyanates.

It's a new low in this administration’s implementation of the nation’s chemical safety law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA.

First — a bit of background for understanding how this happened and why it presents an even more concerning turn in the Trump EPA’s reckless approval process for new chemicals to enter the market.

Nasty chemicals that endanger workers

Isocyanates (pronounced “eye-soh-SY’-uh-nayts”) are nasty chemicals used in various industrial processes as well as everyday materials and products.

They are dangerous when they’re left unreacted as “residuals” after manufacturing other chemicals or in products such as paints, insulation and certain plastics.

In prior new chemical reviews under TSCA, the EPA repeatedly indicated that “[i]socyanate exposure has been identified as the leading attributable cause of work-related asthma, and prevalence in the exposed workforce has been estimated at 1-20 percent” (emphasis added).

The EPA in the recent past imposed various restrictions and concentration limits on isocyanates. The conditions have included:

A prohibition on activities that could put the chemical into the air workers are breathing.
Mandatory requirements for use of respirators and gloves.
Strict limits on the amount of unreacted isocyanates allowed to be present in the new chemical.

How the Trump EPA is risking workers' health

But now: Few or no restrictions, no protections

Considering the high worker risks and the history of the EPA’s statements and actions on such chemicals, how has the Trump EPA been treating new chemicals with residual isocyanates?

Over the last year alone, in at least 10 such cases, the EPA has declared the chemicals “not likely to present an unreasonable risk,” clearing them for market access without requiring their manufacturers to employ any of these protections — even in cases where the EPA has specifically identified significant risks to workers.

The determinations, and lack of restrictions, are particularly astounding because they are based on the EPA’s unfounded “expectation” that employers would universally require and workers would use suitable protective equipment.

For one new isocyanate, while the Trump EPA did propose a rule that would require companies to notify the EPA before exceeding a residual concentration, the concentration level the EPA set is vastly higher than the level it has set in the past, as needed to protect health.

Trump’s EPA is caving to industry

The clear winner at least in the short term is the chemical industry. The American Chemistry Council — the main trade association for chemical companies — has pressured the EPA to loosen limits on isocyanates for years.

Now, it appears its wishes are being granted — without the EPA providing any explanation for the abrupt shift in practice or any public notice and opportunity for comment.

For many of these new isocyanates, much of the information about them — who plans to make the chemical and where, how it will be used, and even the identity of the chemical itself — is withheld from the public because it is claimed to be confidential.

However, what we do know is disturbing: Often against career staff recommendations and the agency’s own risk findings, the EPA has abandoned precedent and approved numerous new chemicals with residual isocyanates to enter the market with few or no restrictions on their manufacture or use.

Once again, the EPA is caving to the chemical industry’s demands, and worker health is being left in the dust.

Originally published by the Environmental Defense Fund

","image_urls":{"large":"https://ul.countable.us/ul/q_auto/uploads/W56w78YE/b091ec/iStock-485495077.jpg","medium":"https://ul.countable.us/ul/q_auto/uploads/W56w78YE/b091ec/iStock-485495077.jpg","small":"https://ul.countable.us/ul/q_auto/uploads/W56w78YE/b091ec/iStock-485495077.jpg","thumb":"https://ul.countable.us/ul/q_auto/uploads/W56w78YE/b091ec/iStock-485495077.jpg","xsmall":"https://ul.countable.us/ul/q_auto/uploads/W56w78YE/b091ec/iStock-485495077.jpg"},"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/articles/35857-new-low-trump-epa-chemical-safety","article_comments":"https://www.causes.com/api/articles/35857-new-low-trump-epa-chemical-safety/comments"},"comment_count":63,"action_count":479,"cta_prompt":"Do you think Trump's EPA is caving to the industry? ","cta_type":"reactions","share_count":2,"published_at":"2019-10-08T18:14:59.465Z","is_countable_article":false,"allow_advocacy":true,"profile_id":961,"signed":false,"signatures_count":null,"signatures_goal":100,"signable_progress":0,"video_url":null,"video_dimensions":null,"video_aspect_ratio":null}],"users":[{"name":"Ayush","vote_count":100,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/mL6V7DMe/large_ml6v7dme-1569468511.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/mL6V7DMe/small_ml6v7dme-1569468511.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/mL6V7DMe/tiny_ml6v7dme-1569468511.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/mL6V7DMe/following","followers":"/api/users/mL6V7DMe/followers"},"about_me":"Massachusetts resident -- Self-identified Progressive Democrat -- Climate change most important issue -- Cactus lover for no reason. Trump should definitely be impeached, but he couldn’t get his corruption done without his best friend pulling the strings in the senate. #Ditchmitch. Here is a link to an op-ed I wrote on gun laws: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQLSaehF0eu7qIlMNrPaVHh1IzcHHHQBXMmSIu2prwh2rTxz873fLUMx0cRSOZL1enmvGDFmrvBc47V/pub. It is also the link to my website on the profile (click the circle with a house on it above).","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":"https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQLSaehF0eu7qIlMNrPaVHh1IzcHHHQBXMmSIu2prwh2rTxz873fLUMx0cRSOZL1enmvGDFmrvBc47V/pub","slug":"ayush","issue_count":144,"is_following":null,"influence_score":340,"influence_level":20,"follower_count":14,"following_count":5,"position_count":97,"id":"mL6V7DMe","partner_id":null},{"name":"Robert ","vote_count":423,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49VrwED9/large_49vrwed9-1492274632.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49VrwED9/small_49vrwed9-1492274632.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/49VrwED9/tiny_49vrwed9-1492274632.jpg","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/1630669563636248/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/49VrwED9/following","followers":"/api/users/49VrwED9/followers"},"about_me":"Human being. Retired HR manager. Proud father and grandfather. Corporal Marine Corps, Peace Corps volunteer. Hoosier. IU & Notre Dame. Seagan. INFP Livin’ the dream.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":46,"is_following":null,"influence_score":8150,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":270,"following_count":482,"position_count":297,"id":"49VrwED9","partner_id":null},{"name":"Joanne ","vote_count":361,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/zm8wROXZ/large_zm8wroxz-1583291005.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/zm8wROXZ/small_zm8wroxz-1583291005.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/zm8wROXZ/tiny_zm8wroxz-1583291005.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/zm8wROXZ/following","followers":"/api/users/zm8wROXZ/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":2670,"influence_level":30,"follower_count":106,"following_count":15,"position_count":273,"id":"zm8wROXZ","partner_id":"efa417af-11b4-4a08-9b10-fff245626400"},{"name":"jimK","vote_count":544,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/large_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/small_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/tiny_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/9odrQBnb/following","followers":"/api/users/9odrQBnb/followers"},"about_me":"Retired, Politically Independent. Won’t listen to slogans, chanted mantras or generally any kind of marketing spin or “rebranding” crap. I firmly believe that everyone else is entitled to their erroneous opinions. Citizen vigilance and due diligence is price we must pay to live in a thriving, functional democracy.\nI fear that our citizens are too easily swayed by politician’s pablum about “babies”, “jobs” and now, in particular, perceived “enemies”. I fear that a citizenry focused on the “here-and-now” is easily tricked by short term benefits that have negative long-term consequences. I fear that our legislators are more concerned about buffing their constituents than looking out for the long-term welfare of our country- and are way too eager to provide those short-term benefits to the “here-and-now” crowd.\nI fear that honor is generally being sacrificed/replaced by expediency. I hear politicians eloquently argue for one side of an issue and later, when it’s to their benefit, just as eloquently argue for the opposite side. OK, so they are good at arguing- but what is that they actually believe? What is it that they actually stand for? An honorable person has values that persist even when it is not convenient or expedient. An honorable person has a moral compass that stops them from doing something wrong even if it is not illegal. A foul is a foul- even if the referee doesn’t catch you.\nI fear that each of our federal governmental branches have devised or discovered shortcuts which tend to protect them from the checks and balances our founders intended.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"jimk","issue_count":4,"is_following":null,"influence_score":44880,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":1530,"following_count":81,"position_count":539,"id":"9odrQBnb","partner_id":null}],"article_comment":{"flagged":false,"id":1069031,"body":"Unfortunately, the administration in the White House cares more about their wallets than the American People and the environment.","parent_type":"Article","parent_id":35857,"created_at":"2019-10-10T22:10:09.379Z","liked":false,"like_count":4,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/comments/1069031","likers":"https://www.causes.com/api/v1/likers?likeable_id=1069031&likeable_type=Comment"},"article_id":35857,"shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/comments/1069031.png","note":{"text":"Yes","color":"#624960","stance":"yes"},"note_text":"Yes","note_color":"#624960","user_id":"mL6V7DMe","liker_ids":["49VrwED9","zm8wROXZ","9odrQBnb","mL6V7DMe"]}}

Like Causes?

Comment Liked by 4 Users