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Detoxifying Terrorism

Innovative companies, business leaders, and public authorities worldwide have proven that many toxic chemicals are simply unnecessary, and that phasing them out with safer substitutes or with redesigned industrial processes saves money, is healthier for workers and the public, and reduces potential domestic targets. Commentary by Anne Platt McGinn.

STRASBOURG, France, November 21, 2001 (AP) – Despite heavy opposition from the chemicals industry, the European Parliament supported a measure to overhaul EU chemicals policy, marking a significant step toward reducing unnecessary risks. The Parliament voted to replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives by 2020; label consumer products containing toxic chemicals; lower the safety threshold for human health to consider the effects of chemicals on young and unborn children; and subject high-volume chemicals to greater scrutiny in terms of health effects.
Heightened national security concerns have renewed interest in our vulnerabilities to toxic chemicals, a health threat that has faced Americans for decades. In the U.S., around 850,000 industrial facilities routinely use hazardous and extremely hazardous chemicals, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, creating a plethora of health and environmental problems even when the facilities are working normally.

Post September 11, these facilities are potential sitting ducks for terrorists. Bombing any one of them could disrupt local and national economies, cripple public safety, and spew untold amounts of poisonous chemicals into the environment.

Our exposure to potential terrorist attacks on chemical facilities is alarming. But even without any new acts of terrorism, these facilities were already systematically damaging people's health and well-being. In 1999, the latest year for which there are complete figures, the EPA reports that U.S. industrial facilities released 7.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals during production and disposal into the air and water.

And this total is far from complete: Only large manufacturers are required to report; the current list of 650 chemicals does not cover all toxic chemicals or sources; and releases during routine use are not included. Moreover, many of these compounds interfere with the normal biological functioning of species in ways we have only begun to identify, let alone fully comprehend. We have no basic health and environmental data for 71% of the most widely used chemicals in the United States today.

In addition, every year, thousands of workers die in industrial accidents caused by toxics. Between 1987 and 1996, more than 2,500 people were killed each year in chemical accidents at industrial plants or during transport, according to the U.S. Chemical Health and Safety Investigation Board.

In the aftermath of September 11, many of these chemical facilities are now under heightened security, as are the nation's transportation systems, military sites, and government properties. Better security is necessary, but in the long-term, our strategy should be to minimize our use of toxic chemicals altogether, and the sooner the better.

Innovative companies, business leaders, and public authorities worldwide have proven that many toxic chemicals are simply unnecessary, and that phasing them out with safer substitutes or with redesigned industrial processes saves money, is healthier for workers and the public, and reduces potential domestic targets.

Companies from IBM to Motorola have significantly reduced their use of chlorinated solvents in cleaning operations, turning to water-based washes instead. Toy manufacturers have phased out PVC plastic, to protect children from absorbing harmful chemical additives known as phthalates. The American Hospital Association has pledged to eliminate all mercury-containing wastes by 2005. Burning these wastes releases potent toxins that damage the nervous system.

In a more systematic approach, Massachusetts passed a law in 1989 requiring manufacturers to examine their use of toxic chemicals and prepare reports on alternatives. Although the law says nothing about adopting these alternatives, some 80% of companies followed their own advice and reduced toxic inputs by 24%, while increasing production at the same time.

There is also a booming business in reducing the toxicity of manufacturing by producing goods entirely from renewable resources, rather than the current mix of toxic inputs. In the United States, million tons of industrial and consumer materials -- including paints, plastics, and detergents -- are now produced from crops, rather than chemicals. Bio-based products now account for more than 30% of the U.S. market in adhesives, surface cleaning agents, and additives in plastics. Last year, Dow Chemical and Cargill (an international food and agricultural company) broke ground on the world's first manufacturing facility that will make plastic from corn sugar, rather than petroleum.

Since September 11, there have been many suggestions about how to make the country less vulnerable to terrorism. At the very least, funding the research and development of safer alternatives and cleaner manufacturing processes should be an integral part of any plan to reduce our vulnerability to terrorism.

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Anne Platt McGinn is a senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental research organization. She is the author of Worldwatch Paper 153, Why Poison Ourselves? A Precautionary Approach to Hazardous Chemicals.

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