LAT: EU Sets the Bar High for Toxins in Products (now at odds with U.S.)

EU Sets the Bar High for Toxins in Products
Many firms follow bans to protect people from chemicals. But not all agree they're necessary.

By Marla Cone
Times Staff Writer
May 16, 2005


....Europe is setting environmental standards for international commerce, forcing changes in how industries around the world make plastic, electronics, toys, cosmetics and furniture. Now, the EU is on the verge of going further — overhauling how all toxic compounds are regulated. A proposal about to be debated by Europe's Parliament would require testing thousands of chemicals, cost industries several billion dollars, and could lead to many more compounds and products being pulled off the market.

Years ago, when rivers oozed poisons, eagle chicks were dying from DDT in their eggs and aerosol sprays were eating a hole in the Earth's ozone layer, the United States was the world's trailblazer when it came to regulating toxic substances. Regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats reigned in the White House, the United States was the acknowledged global pioneer of tough new laws that aimed to safeguard the public from chemicals considered risky.

Today, the United States is no longer the vanguard. Instead, the planet's most stringent chemical policies, with far-reaching impacts on global trade, are often born in Stockholm and codified in Brussels....

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Europe has imposed many pioneering and aggressive — some say foolish and extreme — bans meant to protect people from exposure to hundreds of industrial compounds that have been linked to cancer, reproductive harm and other health effects. Recent measures adopted by the European Union have taken aim at chemicals called phthalates, which make nail polishes chip-resistant, and compounds added to foam cushions that slow the spread of fires in furniture.

Many companies, even those based in America, follow the European rules because the EU, with 25 countries and 460 million people, surpasses even the United States as a market. Rather than lose access to it, many companies redesign their products to meet European standards....As the EU emerges as the world's toughest environmental cop, its policies increasingly are at odds with Washington....


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-euroreg16may16,0,1013189,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

It's a question of what activities and skills we wish to pay for and the value proposition. Is a healthier planet worth the money? Are possibly millinons of lives worth it? Are the professions and expertise that arise worth having? I'd say so. Fewer marketeers and more toxicology professionals and paraprofessionals sounds good to me. Preserving our coral reefs sounds good to me.

somewhere where it is not okay to dump anti freeze,"one step",and other chemicals down the drain? somewhere you can drink the water instead of getting sick from it because the treatment plant can`t filter out all the chemicals?