Community | January 05, 2010 | 8 comments

17,000 potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under obscure law

source: http://rawstory.com/2009//01/17000-potentially-harmful-chemicals/

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lookatmypix

http://rawstory.com/2009//01/17000-potentially-harmful-chemicals/

"Of some 84,000 chemicals being used commercially in the United States, some 20 percent -- or 17,000 -- are kept secret not only from the public, but from medical professionals, state regulators and even emergency responders, according to a report at the Washington Post.

And the reason for this potentially harmful lack of openness? Profit.

A 1976 law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, mandates that manufacturers report to the Environmental Protection Agency any new chemicals they intend to market, but manufacturers can request that a chemical be kept secret if disclosure 'could harm their bottom line,' the Washington Post reports."
http://rawstory.com/2009//01/17000-potentially-harmful-chemicals/


Two excerpts:
"Of the secret chemicals, 151 are made in quantities of more than 1 million tons a year and 10 are used specifically in children's products, according to the EPA."


" 'People who were submitting information to the EPA saw that you can claim that virtually anything is confidential and get away with it,' Owens said." (EPA)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010302110....



What an unpunished crime to humanity!
Since 1976... thirty four years have passed by, enough to harm people's health and render us slaves of the big Pharm.
Nobody did anything.
Profit. It's all about profit.



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8 comments // 17,000 potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under obscure law

  • artemis6
  • artemis6
  • spacemikey
  • grassroutes
    • 0
      grassroutes  

    • Talk about a matter of national security!
      The legal precedence that protects corporations as an individual citizen while allowing them half the accountability is outrageous.
      THIS HAS TO STOP

    • 3 years ago
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  
    • Image

    • This is problematic for rather obvious reasons. More than anything, though, it forces us to put an awful lot of trust in companies that are not accountable to us, or to public health agencies. A hypothetical: Let's say company X makes a floor cleaner. Chances are good that a handful of the chemicals used in said floor cleaner are not made by the company selling you the finished product. Does that company know what's in the ingredients they purchase from a third party chemical manufacturer? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Do they know whether or not that ingredient is safe? Almost certainly not. If you want to know if it's safe, can you find out? Almost never.

      So that was hypothetical. Here's a real life example that's even scarier:

      "Two days [after treating a guy involved in a chemical spill], the nurse, Cathy Behr, was fighting for her life. Her liver was failing and her lungs were filling with fluid. Behr said her doctors diagnosed chemical poisoning and called the manufacturer, Weatherford International, to find out what she might have been exposed to.

      Weatherford provided safety information, including hazards, for the chemical, known as ZetaFlow. But because ZetaFlow has confidential status, the information did not include all of its ingredients."

      The laws are in place to protect business, not consumers—we're expected to just go on faith that everything will be okay in the end. This year, though, those laws will be up for review, so here's hoping pressure from the GAO and the Obama administration push things in the right direction.

      http://www.good.is/post/archaic-laws-still-protect-businesses-not-consumers-from...

    • 3 years ago
  • lookatmypix
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  

    • This is heinous and should be protested and the rules changes. Time to lobby, lobby, lobby. People have a right to know what their children are being exposed to.

    • 3 years ago
  • lookatmypix

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