Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:26:41 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: Ray Garant <R_Garant**At_Symbol_Here**ACS.ORG>
Subject: Re: Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Exposure Elimination Act of
2011
Comments: cc: Georjean Adams ,
martin.abraham**At_Symbol_Here**ysu.edu, Laura Pence
In-Reply-To: <CAPmBVFKXRwo2peRF+sJptnR9G7bkTdnLDB6CkZUO-YizJthEew**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com>

Folks:

Georjean has correctly identified the current ACS statement on endocrine disrupting chemicals.  With regard to specific legislation, ACS would only take a position if the proposed bill was directly covered by our statement or through a new statement specific to the bill.  Usually we wait to see the actually language before considering this kind of decision, but even by its broad description, this legislation would go well beyond what our position covers. 

To take a position on this bill, the ACS Board would need to receive a proposed statement that covers the matter from CEI, the Committee on Chemical Safety, DivCHAS, or some other representatives of the membership.  If anyone is interested in developing a position on this bill and proposing it to the Board as a statement of the broader ACS membership, CEI would be happy to work with you.

For now, ACS will not take a position on this proposal.

Thanks for the heads up Georjean,

Ray Garant

Staff Liaison, Committee on Environmental Improvement

Assistant Director for Public Policy, ACS Office of Public Affairs

From: georjean**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com [mailto:georjean**At_Symbol_Here**gmail.com] On Behalf Of Georjean Adams
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2011 12:57 PM
To: DCHAS-L Discussion List
Cc: Ray Garant
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Exposure Elimination Act of 2011

ACS has a position statement on endocrine disruptors: htt p://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel= PP_SUPERARTICLE&node_id=2226&use_sec=false&sec_url_var= region1&__uuid=4d680e34-14f1-4a22-83cb-64f7716d6e26

I very much doubt ACS would go further than this or would be ready to support such a bill, other than to support further research into a still controversial area.  Ray Garant, Assistant Director of Public Policy and CEI Staff Liaison, may also want to comment.

Further, my bias is strongly toward the public notice and comment rulemaking process and I would lobby against any kind of automatic ban authority being delegated to a small group of government employees.  Bans (and even black-listing) entail major costs and benefits considerations that require input from all affected stakeholders.

Disclosures: I'm on the ACS Committee for Environmental Improvement, teach a course on environmental regulations at the Univ of Minnesota and am a business consultant, specializing in TSCA and product stewardship.

Georjean Adams

EHS Strategies, Inc.
651-204-3371

On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 9:59 PM, ILPI <info**At_Symbol_Here**ilpi.com> wrote:

This is a fascinating paradigm shift, although I would be genuinely surprised if such legislation could make it  out of committee, let alone through the House.   Does the ACS have a position on this or is it too hot an issue for them to touch given the ACC's strong opposition?

Rob Toreki

See http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/08/chemical.bans/inde x.html?hpt=hp_t2 and the current version of the as-yet-unsubmitted bill at http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/07/08/endocrin e.disrupting.chemicals.exposure.elimination.act.of.2011-jun.24.pdf

Bill would let federal health researchers ban certain chemicals

(CNN) -- A new bill could alter the landscape of chemical regulation in the United States by empowering researchers to take swift action against the most potentially harmful chemicals in use today.

The bill, to be introduced later this month, would give the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and a panel of experts selected by the director, the power to ban up to 10 chemicals from commerce each year by categorizing them as being of high concern.

Those chemicals would become unlawful to use 24 months after receiving that designation.

Among the chemicals that could be subject to a ban is bisphenol A, or BPA, a hormone-disrupting substance widely used in plastics that has been the target of controversy in recent months.

The bill is to be introduced by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Virginia, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, later this month.

The fate of the legislation, though, is far from certain. It will have to make its way through committee in both the Republican-controlled House and the Senate, where Democrats have a small majority.

CNN received an advance copy of the bill*, called the Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Exposure Elimination Act of 2011, which has a self-executing statute under which the listing of high concern by the NIEHS automatically would outlaw the chemical or class of chemicals, and would require each regulatory agency to take action to prohibit the chemical.

*Editor's note: This is an advanced draft of the bill. It could change before being introduced.

If the bill were to become law, the NIEHS, a part of the National Institutes of Health, could have chemicals outlawed much sooner than otherwise possible...

(much more in the rest of the article; see link above).

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