The Sacramento Bee

Daniel Weintraub: 'Chemistry' project may neutralize toxic waste

Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, May 13, 2007

Hoping to build on work done in Europe and Canada, the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has launched a "green chemistry" initiative that could transform the way California regulates hazardous materials.

The idea behind the program is to control chemicals at the front end of the manufacturing process rather than trying to capture waste at the back end -- or clean up chemical messes when the waste is not contained. The project's reach could extend from subsidizing research and development of new, safer chemicals to banning products found to be hazardous.

The effort is being shepherded by the California Environmental Protection Agency and Maureen Gorsen, Schwarzenegger's director of Toxics Substances Control, a former industry lawyer who is trusted by chemical manufacturers while getting high marks from environmentalists.

In an interview, Gorsen said the "bread and butter" business of her department has been cleaning up the "toxic waste legacy of the past" and managing the hazardous waste generated today. Most of the 1,000 or so employees under her direction, she said, spend their time ensuring that manufacturers construct adequate "chamber pots" to collect chemical waste and then making sure that those pots are transported and disposed of safely.

Only 30 people, she said, work on preventing the generation of toxic waste in the first place.

Instead of that "cradle-to-grave" approach, Gorsen is proposing what industry observers have coined a "cradle-to-cradle" approach.

"Instead of worrying about what's coming out in the end, (we should be) worrying about what's going in at the beginning," she said.

Gorsen carries with her a plastic bag containing a child's necklace imported from China. A thin vinyl strap that is part of the piece was tested and found to contain 10,000 parts per million of lead -- 10 times the standard allowed in consumer products and 40 times the concentration allowed in schoolyard soils. The lead, she noted, had nothing to do with the product but was the inadvertent result of bad design in the manufacturing process.

That's the kind of thing she wants to stop -- although in this case her department, rather than dealing with the manufacturer in China, would probably move to stop the product's import or sale in California.

So far, the "green chemistry" project is only a concept. Gorsen plans to launch a Web site next month that will solicit comments from the community -- from scientists and business people to the general public and government officials -- and encourage a six-month, online discussion of the issue. After that, her staff will spend another six months winnowing the ideas into a policy that Schwarzenegger can offer to the Legislature.

That policy could include state support for research and development of safer chemicals that can be substituted for more dangerous ones. The government might also offer incentives for companies to change their product designs. Voluntary enforcement of new rules might be included but, Gorsen said, there will almost certainly be stricter regulation by the state. At its core would be a public database of thousands of chemicals, their properties, their uses and their effects on humans and the environment. The European Union and Canada already are working on such lists, and California would probably incorporate theirs and expand upon them.

Tim Shestek, a Sacramento representative for the American Chemistry Council, an industry lobbying group, said his association hopes that the new approach will reduce the number of "rifle shot" proposals in the Legislature to ban individual products or substances considered dangerous. By one count, there were at least 35 such proposals introduced in the Legislature in 2005.

When the Legislature considers banning a chemical or strictly regulating its use, Shestek said, the debate tends to be emotional and driven by anecdotes. "There's no scientific discussion that takes place," he said.

Example: A bill to ban a class of chemicals known as "phthalates" in toys and other consumer products intended for use by children. The chemicals are used to soften plastic, making it more pliable and less likely to break, arguably reducing the hazard from choking. Although scientific studies have generally found the chemicals to be safe, the legislation suggests that not enough is known about them to allow them in products that children might put in their mouths.

Bill Magavern, an expert on toxics for the Sierra Club, agreed that the Legislature is a poor forum for such discussions.

But he added: "It's not really the Legislature's fault that they take the piecemeal approach, because a comprehensive approach draws so much opposition that it's impossible to pass." Still, Magavern said it is "difficult to settle" these disputes in brief legislative hearings where each side gets perhaps 10 minutes to present its argument on matters that involve complicated scientific findings. It would be better, he said, to have those discussions in front of a regulatory agency and to focus on finding alternatives at the front end rather than banning chemicals after they are already in use.

The "green chemistry" project has so far received little notice outside industry insiders and environmentalists. But if it rolls out as planned, the effort could become a model for other states and even the national government. It's one worth watching.

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