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What’s New
On March 2, 2006, a key House of Representatives subcommittee held hearings on rival bills to implement a landmark international treaty to protect the public from perhaps the world’s most dangerous chemicals. At issue are a class of toxic chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which include dioxins, PCBs, and DDT, chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects, and a host of other health problems. U.S. PIRG is calling on Congress to pass H.R. 4800, a strong health-based bill introduced by Representative Hilda Solis (CA). Congress also should reject H.R. 4591, a weak bill introduced by Rep. Paul Gillmor (OH) that fails to protect the public and would override strong local and state laws that exist now.
How You Can Help
Email your representative and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 4800 to protect the public from persistent organic pollutants.
Overview
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are extremely dangerous toxic chemicals that concentrate in the food chain, accumulate in our bodies, and take years or decades to degrade. These chemicals include some of the most notorious toxics such as dioxins, PCBs, and the pesticide DDT. Because POPs degrade slowly, they can travel long distances on wind and water currents. The ease with which these deadly toxics are transported from country to country makes their reduction and elimination a global problem and calls for an international solution
Between 1998 and 2000, more than 150 nations, including the United States, engaged in a series of discussions to address the global POPs threat. These discussions resulted in a treaty to eliminate the 12 most dangerous POPs known as the “dirty dozen.” (PDF, 12 KB) Because the “dirty dozen” represents only a small portion of the total POPs in existence, the treaty also contains an “adding mechanism” that authorizes a panel of international scientific experts to propose additional toxic chemicals for future reduction or elimination.
Representatives Hilda Solis (CA) and Paul Gillmor (OH) have introduced competing bills that would amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the purpose of allowing the United States to implement the POPs treaty. Both bills respect and maintain U.S. sovereignty by ensuring that the United States can make its own, independent decisions whether to be bound by future international actions to regulate additional POPs. But the two bills have widely divergent visions of how Americans should be protected from these dangerous substances.
The Solis bill (H.R. 4800) gives EPA clear authority to regulate POPs and places the protection of human health as a primary standard for regulations. In contrast, the Gillmor bill (H.R. 4591) undermines health-based objectives by incorporating a cost-benefit analysis for regulation and does not require that EPA take any action once a decision is made to regulate a new toxic chemical.
One last important distinction between the two competing bills is their effect on state laws. Many states are already taking action to regulate and eliminate POPs, including California, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington. The Gillmor bill seeks to preempt state laws and would abolish all state efforts to reduce POP chemicals. In contrast, the Solis bill respects state and local efforts to protect public health by specifically allowing states to adopt and maintain stricter POP regulations.
