Donate to CHANGE
Share Our Content
Follow Us on Twitter
Find Us on Facebook
Watch Us on YouTube
Central Valley Toxics Forum February 22, 2012
Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy (CHANGE), Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) and the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition (CVAQ)…
Invite you to participate in a Community Forum on Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Productson February 22, 2012
New Draft Safer Consumer Product Regulations
We need your voice to make sure Californians and our environment are protected in the state’s Safer Consumer Product Regulations, a key component of the Green Chemistry Initiative! A new informal draft was officially released on October 31 by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). Please mark your calendar for a Dec. 5 public workshop hosted by DTSC - sign up for updates on CHANGE at this workshop! More details below.
We want to protect Californians by removing the most pervasive and hazardous chemicals from the market, promoting the use of safer/healthier alternatives, and protecting the health of workers, fenceline communities, and those facing the greatest hazards. We all deserve a chemical policy framework that accomplishes these goals.
We'll be adding more information and analysis as the public meetings unfold. Please sign up here to receive updates from CHANGE.
Read more...Lawmakers, Scientists, Advocates All Oppose Green Chemistry Rules
Despite widespread opposition from scientists, doctors, public interest advocates and lawmakers – including Assemblyman Mike Feuer, the author of the state’s Green Chemistry law – the flawed proposal for Green Chemistry regulations may be pushed through.
CHANGE and many other groups submitted their final comments on December 3 and received great media coverage of this pressing issue from LA Weekly, SF Chronicle, and more. Read CHANGE-led letters opposed to this gutted regulation:
Read more...Stop the Governor's Green Chemistry Betrayal!
It's a mockery of the public participation process and betrays the real purpose of the Green Chemistry Initiative.
Take a stand with us today against the revised Green Chemistry safer product regulation that has been gutted in a last-minute attempt to sneak through industry-backed rules that overlook hazards to health and the environment. The revised regulation is a betrayal of the Green Chemistry promise and ignores two years of public input while caving to backroom industry lobbying.
Click here to learn more and to use our easy action tool to send a message to DTSC and let them know that you want to stop this Green Chemistry betrayal. The Governor will try and claim a "green" legacy, but this regulation will leave behind a toxic one.
Read more...Upcoming Event: OEHHA Hazard Trait Regulations
A critical part of the Green Chemistry Initiative is
identifying what kind of information is required to go into the Toxic
Information Clearinghouse required by SB 509.
The Green Chemistry Initiative laws require the Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to identify these hazard traits – things like whether
a chemical is a carcinogen or a reproductive toxin; is it toxic to wildlife or
is it dangerous because of how we are exposed to it? These hazard traits will also be used to
assess safer products in the Safer Product Regulations being developed by the
Department of Toxics Substances Control.
A draft of proposed regulations has been issued by OEHHA (Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment), which will look specifically at hazard traits, environmental and toxicological
end-points, and other relevant data. The Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) will then use information from the clearinghouse to help identify
chemicals of concern in consumer products to make
OEHHA will be holding a workshop to
get public comment concerning these regulations on Monday August 23, from
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Klamath Room at the Cal/EPA Headquarters
Building at 1001 I Street in
AB 289: Chemical Testing Requirements
In the fourth story of our ongoing series, "Independence from Toxic Chemicals," Ryan Berghoff describes California's AB 289 from 2006.
Every year more than 55,000,000 pounds of all chemicals are released in the state of California. There are over 85,000 chemicals that are commercially available today, and many are known to cause cancer, damage the brain, or disrupt the nervous and reproductive systems. Analytical test methods only exist for approximately 30 percent of all chemicals, and thus there is a large body of chemicals that remains completely untested. In order to test these numerous chemicals, laboratories within the California Environmental Protection Agency must use millions of taxpayer dollars to develop detection methods for finding chemicals in the air, water, soil, and human body, placing a significant financial burden on Cal- EPA. That’s where AB 289 comes in.
Read more...Safer Product Regulations Fall Short
California’s Green Chemistry Initiative has been touted as a bold and innovative move toward more effective and efficient regulation of industrial chemicals in consumer products. But the Initiative’s draft regulations would perpetuate the most serious flaws of the current system: too weak, too slow and stacked against the public in favor of industry.
In two letters, over 50 environmental, public health, consumer, social justice, and labor advocates from every region of California have written to Gov. Schwarzenegger and to Cal-EPA Secretary Linda Adams, saying the draft regulations issued last month “fall far short of meeting the worthy goals of the Initiative.”
Read more...Department of Toxics Wants Your Feedback
At long last, California's Department of Toxics Substances Control (DTSC) has released its draft regulations for implementing the first pieces of California's Green Chemistry Initiative and its quest for Safer Alternatives. Now, DTSC wants to hear from you. If you are in Sacramento on July 7 and 8, come raise your voice. If not, you can follow along with the webcast and submit comments via email. Final coments on the proposal are due July 15, 2010.
When:
Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 8:30 am - 12:00 pm
Thursday, July 8, 2010, 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Safer Products Preliminary Draft Regulations
Today, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released the Green Chemistry Draft Regulation for Safer Products. From now until July 15th is a critical window to share your feedback!
Let DSTC know how you envision a safer chemicals management system for California, and how it compares to this draft regulation. Read the full document here (pdf).
Two half-day public workshops for public comment are coming up:
Read more...You Can Comment on California's Green Chemistry Initiative
Are you ready for March Madness? No, we're not talking about college basketball. Over the next couple of weeks there are a mad number of opportunities to learn about and provide input to California's Green Chemistry Initiative.
California's Department of Toxics Substances Control, the agency responsible for implementing the bulk of the AB 1879, California's Safer Alternatives legislation, recently released a flowchart representing their vision for regulations to accelerate the quest for safer products.
Read more...