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Home / Washington Business - November/December 2004 / The Low Down on Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins |
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The Low Down on Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins |
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Written On: November/December 2004 |
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Written By: By Shawn Sullivan |
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Don’t Panic! Here’s What You Need to Know About PBTs!
Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins are potent compounds which are believed to accumulate in plant and animal tissue and breakdown slowly. PBTs can pose a threat to human health if people are exposed to them in high enough doses over extended periods of time.
Some PBTs occur naturally in the environment, while others are by-products of combustion and reach the atmosphere through emissions from our cars, trucks, buses, some factories and power plants. All are heavily regulated and require state–of-the-art pollution-prevention technology. The question is, “Are PBTs in danger of becoming over-regulated?”
Currently, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is implementing a national strategy to address PBTs to determine acceptable levels of risk. In Washington, the Dept. of Ecology has developed its own strategy to reduce PBTs in the environment and is establishing its own criteria and PBT list. This means the next question is, “Which set of regulations do we follow?”
Environmentalists are also taking aim at PBTs. They want legislators and Ecology to phase out and ban PBT use completely in Washington. Unfortunately, many environmental advocates often fail to mention that many of these chemicals are already banned or phased out, and the ones that are still in use are severely regulated.
This aggressive campaign increases pressure to add more restrictive regulations than may be necessary.” The question we are asking is will these regulations be based on sound science and take into consideration the costs to comply,” AWB Environmental Director Grant Nelson said. “We hope that those added costs won't further erode the business climate in Washington state and cause employers to consider moving elsewhere.”
“If our state regulators create unworkable and costly new rules in addition to stringent federal standards for PBTs all we may succeed in doing is shifting the problem to another state or country,” AWB President Don Brunell said. “Then the jobs and tax base go with it and that is not good for our state or nation.”
Where the PBT regulatory rubber hits the road is the implementation of Chemical Action Plans. The key to CAPs is the criteria for selecting chemicals and substances for these action plans. AWB is actively involved in the process by which these will be developed.
”It will be important to get these CAPs right, including determining what the goals and expected outcomes of the CAP should be,” Nelson said. “The environmental community is expected to advocate bans, virtual-eliminations or phase-outs of these chemicals without much consideration of costs associated with those goals.”
After assessing current regulations and their effectiveness, we believe it would be better to manage and reduce the releases of PBTs, Nelson added. Prior to phasing out or banning any chemical or substance, it is paramount that we clearly understand whether alternative chemicals are as effective and safe as the PBT that is being replaced.
“Many AWB members have implemented pollution control measures,” Brunell added, “often on a voluntary basis, and have switched to alternative technologies and chemicals as they have become available. These alternatives and technologies can be very costly and those costs are often partly offset by the very tax incentives some seek to repeal in the Legislature.”
The bottom line is AWB believes Washington should follow EPA's lead by adopting the federal list of PBTs and develop chemical action plans based on sound science. And if further regulations are necessary to protect human health and the environment, AWB believes we need to ensure that the costs of those actions have a commensurate benefit and do not put Washington at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the nation.
For more information or to participate in the PBT rule making process, contact Grant Nelson at (360) 943-1600 or grantn@awb.org. Time is running out on this process, and every employer should be aware of forthcoming policies related to PBTs and their potential impacts.
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