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CHEMICAL TESTING Chemical makers volunteer to conduct toxicity tests on commonly used chemicals
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hrough a unique voluntary pro- tion of CMA's Product Stewardship and gram, 62 of the nation's largest Responsible Care programs as well as the chemical companies have commit- association's growing emphasis on reted to ensure that some 600 commonly search. The agreement also followed used chemicals are screened for basic pressurefromEPA, EDF, and Vice Presitoxicity, officials with the Chemical dent Al Gore, as well as Manufacturers Association (CMA), En- studies that found basic vironmental Defense Fund (EDF), and toxicity data existed for Environmental Protection Agency an- only 10% of the chemicals nounced last week. (C&EN, Feb. 1, page 9). The announcement follows more The announcement than a year of discussions among the marks a significant step in three parties and years of failed at- a lengthy process to gathtempts to get several hundred widely er complete screening used chemical compounds tested data for 2,800 so-called (C&EN, Nov. 2,1998, page 19). high-production-volume The companies are CMA members (HPV) chemicals that are and signal the association's leadership used or imported in quanin marshaling the chemical industry's tities exceeding 1 million testing effort, which will include an In- lb per year. Despite wide ternet tracking system that was un- use, these chemicals have Sigel not been subjected to baveiled along with the commitments. "The right thing to do" was how sic testing requirements because of a Arthur R. Sigel, CMA board chairman loophole in the Toxic Substances Control and head of Velsicol Chemical, termed Act of 1976. An international attempt to the deal, adding that it was "thefirstma- require testing began 10 years ago, but jor installment in our public commit- its pace has been so slow that testing would not be completed until 2040. ment" to the testing program. Sigel, along with executives from Dow The completion date for the new proChemical and DuPont, attributed the de- gram is 2004, and Sigel estimated that cision to test the chemicals to a combina- industry might pay up to $500 million to
62 CMA members are early volunteers Air Products & Chemicals Akzo Nobel Chemicals AlliedSignal Angus Chemical Arch Chemicals Ashland Chemical Ausimont USA Bayer Borden Chemicals & Plastics BP Amoco Celanese ChemFirst Chevron Chemical Ciba Specialty Chemicals Condea Vista Crompton & Knowles Daikin America Dixie Chemical Dow Chemical Dow Corning DuPont
Eastman Chemical Elf Atochem Norm America Equistar Chemicals Ethyl Exxon Chemical Fina Oil & Chemical FMC Georgia Gulf Haltermann Hatco Chemical Hercules Huntsman Corp. ICI Americas LaPorte LaRoche Industries Lubrizol Lyondell Chemical Mallinckrodt Chemical Metachem Products Millennium Chemicals Mobil Chemical
Morton International Nova Chemicals Occidental Chemical Perstorp Polyols Phillips Chemical PPG Industries, Chemicals Group Rhodia Roche Vitamins Rohm and Haas Sartomer Shell Chemical Solutia Solvay America Stepan 3M Union Carbide Velsicol Chemical Vulcan Chemicals Wacker Chemical Witco
run the 13 screening tests, including ecological and mammalian toxicity and environmental fate. The program is "unprecedented for our industries," said William S. Stavropoulos, Dow Chemical president and chief executive officer, noting the international flavor of the program. Its "sheer size," he said, means it will involve "hundreds of companies around the world, hundreds of testing labs, and literally thousands of scientists." He also highlighted the leadership role of industry—not governments—and predicted the evolution of new industry testing consortia and the creation of volumes of new information for better policy decisions, as well as more industry openness. Indeed, CMA's new Internet tracking system requires companies to commit publicly to chemicals and timetables, and notices will be posted on the web site if companies miss deadlines beyond 60 days (www.hpvchallenge.com). Stavropoulos also noted that the deal was a "voluntary program with teeth" that included the "ultimate backstop of regulation and enforcement." How that will play out is yet to be seen. Companies have until March 15 to step up and make preliminary commitments to test HPV chemicals they make or import and until year's end to make final decisions; CMA expects more companies to sign up by then. At that time, EPA will issue a regulation assigning companies to test chemicals that have not been adopted. Along with the CMA members, petroleum companies have agreed to test some 400 chemicals, and the International Council of Chemical Associations—an international industry trade association—has set a goal of testing 1,000 chemicals by 2004. However, many of these chemicals probably overlap; consequently, it is unclear exactly how many chemicals are covered by the various commitments. Also, the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) announced that it now supports the program as a result of commitments made by EPA SOCMA officials had raised concerns about impact on small companies. Jeff'Johnson MARCH 8,1999 C&EN
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