CHANGE at Department of Toxic Substances Control Workshops

Posted on Feb 25, 2009 | Comments (0)

On February 18th the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) held the first of 5 workshops designed to gather input on creating the regulation surrounding AB1879 and SB509. As a new member of the CHANGE coalition I attended this meeting and learned just how important it is for citizens concerned with the Green Chemistry Initiative to take part. There are four more upcoming meetings if you missed the first one.

Join us at the next workshop on Thursday, February 26 in Chatsworth, CA.

The beginning of the workshop not only gave clarity on AB1879 and SB509 but brought understanding to how DTSC is choosing to interpret their responsibility surrounding these two important pieces of legislation. Later, members of the environmental and public health communities and industry broke up into groups. These groups were given the task of writing regulation for one of four topics, identifying chemicals of concern, life cycle analysis, safer alternatives analysis and range of regulatory responses. The presence of those who care about Green Chemistry is of the upmost importance in these workshop breakout groups.

My breakout group focused on writing regulation about Chemicals of Concern. The majority of participants were environmental and public health groups, with only two major players from industry. Our group’s proposal for DTSC contained regulatory language that defined Chemicals of Concern in a manner that protects all Californians from harmful chemicals. Other groups with larger participation of industry representatives found it difficult to form regulatory language with the same positive environmental effect.

The next DTSC workshop is this Thursday, February 26th. The workshop will concentrate on safer alternatives analysis. Participation in these workshops will help to insure that the DTSC forms regulation that will protect Californians from harmful chemicals. Information on upcoming workshops being held can be found at CHANGE   and at the Department of Toxic Substances Control .

Post contributed by Ryan Nestle.