INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
▸ Better occupational health surveillance needed, report says The U.S. should invest in a more robust occupational health and safety surveillance system to help understand and prevent workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths, a new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine report says. The current system, which is fragmented among several federal agencies and states, undercounts workplace illnesses and injuries and their costs. Among the recommendations, the report suggests improved monitoring of hazards and exposures in the workplace that can lead to acute and chronic diseases. Currently, federal and state agencies collect little data about chemical and other workplace exposures, which makes risks hard to identify and prevent. The report also recommends a household survey that would fill in data gaps about injuries to self-employed, contract, and small-farm workers. “We are experiencing rapid changes in the nature of work, and with new risks developing, the nation is in dire need of a smarter surveillance system that tracks occupational injuries, illnesses, and exposures,” says study chair Edward Shortliffe of Arizona State University.—ANDREA WIDENER
CHEMICAL REGULATION
C R E D I T: U.S . EN V IRO N ME N TA L P ROTECTI ON AG E N CY
▸ EU targets seven more substances for tight control The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on Jan. 15 added seven chemicals to its list of substances that are candidates for strict regulation. They include three cadmium compounds and two chemicals, chrysene and benz[a] anthracene, that Chrysene are normally not produced intentionally but are impurities in other substances. These five chemicals were listed in part because they are carcinogenic, ECHA says. Another substance, a flame retardant called dechlorane plus and its isomers, was added because it is very persistent and very bioaccumulative. The seventh chemical, used as an additive
POLLUTION
EPA pushes redevelopment of Superfund sites The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking investors for 31 hazardous waste sites that EPA determined have the greatest potential for redevelopment. The sites, scattered across the country, feature several former chemical manufacturing sites, including the old Kerr-McGee Chemical company in Jacksonville, Fla., as well as a the BoRit Asbestos site in Ambler, Pa. All 31 have been on EPA’s Superfund list of hazardous waste sites for priority cleanup and have undergone remediation. And all have “significant redevelopment potential” because of access to transportation, local land values, previous interest by investors, or other factors, the agency said on Jan. 17. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is pushing hard to get remaining cleanup of Superfund sites completEPA removed waste material containing ed and the land back into asbestos at the BoRit site in Ambler, Pa. use. He says sites on the list are “ready to become catalysts for economic growth and revitalization.” It’s unclear whether Pruitt expects those potentially responsible for the contamination to pony up more money for faster cleanup. As sites get developed, EPA will add new ones to the group targeted for reuse.—CHERYL HOGUE
in lubricants and greases, made the list because of endocrine-disrupting properties, ECHA says. Suppliers of the substances must communicate to customers down the supply chain, including consumers, that their products contain a listed chemical. Materials on the list are candidates for inclusion in a group of chemicals for which a company must apply for official permission to use under the European Union’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals law, known as REACH.—CHERYL HOGUE
TRADE
▸ U.S. House approves tariff relief for some chemical imports The U.S. House of Representatives voted 402-0 on Jan. 16 to pass legislation that would suspend import duties on nearly
1,700 products that are not made in the U.S. or are not available in sufficient quantities. Slightly more than half of the items— approximately 850—are raw materials and intermediate products that are used by the manufacturers of chemicals and plastics and related industries. The bill (H.R. 4318) now goes to the Senate, which is also likely to approve it. The tariff relief provided by the measure “will strengthen the competitive advantage of chemical manufacturers and the thousands of other businesses that depend on our products,” says the American Chemistry Council (ACC), an industry trade group. Eliminating the duties on the chemicals and plastics products listed in the bill will save U.S. manufacturers an estimated $207 million this year. The duty suspensions would expire at the end of 2020. Congress has not passed a tariff bill since a 2010 law expired at the end of 2012. Since then, “Chemical companies have been burdened by import duties on these materials, weakening our industry’s ability to compete globally and create well-paying jobs,” ACC says.—GLENN HESS, special to C&EN JANUARY 22, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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