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http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2008/2008-01-21-01.asp

Chemical Exposures Cost California $2.6 Billion in 2004
LOS ANGELES, California, January 21, 2008 (ENS) - High mercury levels
and more than 100 synthetic chemicals and pollutants have been found
in breast milk, umbilical-cord blood, and other bodily tissues of
California residents, yet state laws regulating hazardous chemicals
have serious gaps and fail to protect public health and the
environment, finds a new report by researchers at the University of
California.

As a result, diseases among Californians who are exposed to chemicals
and pollution cost the state's insurers, businesses and families an
estimated $2.6 billion in direct and indirect costs during 2004, says
the report, released Thursday together with a set of recommended
policy reforms for the state.

The California Environmental Protection Agency commissioned the
Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health, COEH, at UC
Berkeley and UCLA to prepare the report.
Dr. John Balmes (Photo courtesy UC Berkeley)

"This report, for the first time, puts cost estimates on the
consequences for Californians of current chemical and product
management policies," said COEH director Dr. John Balmes, a professor
of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley and a professor of
medicine at UC San Francisco.

"California has shown that creating new jobs and investment
opportunities can go hand in hand with protecting human health and the
environment," said Dr. Balmes. "We have been doing this with vehicle
emissions and energy use, and this new report makes it obvious that we
will need to do the same with chemicals and products."

In 2004, more than 200,000 California workers were diagnosed with
deadly, chronic diseases, such as cancer and emphysema, attributable
to chemical exposures in the workplace, according to the report.
Another 4,400 died as a result of those diseases.
Equipment for chrome plating to produce bright, shiny surfaces on
consumer products (Photo courtesy California Air Resources Board)

The new findings, based on well-established methodology for analyzing
economic impact, indicate that those diseases resulted in $1.4 billion
in both direct medical costs and indirect costs that include lost
wages and benefits.

An additional $1.2 billion in direct and indirect costs is attributed
to 240,000 cases of preventable childhood diseases related to
environmental exposure to chemical substances, the report says.

The existing problems and recommended policy changes are detailed in
the report, "Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable
California," which has been endorsed by 127 faculty members from seven
UC campuses, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory.

The report presents data from the California's Department of Toxic
Substances Control showing that 61 of the state's 85 largest hazardous
waste sites are leaking toxics directly into groundwater.

An estimated one million California women of reproductive age have
blood mercury levels that exceed what the federal government considers
safe for fetal development.

California leads the nation in the number of pounds of pesticide
applied, and each year pesticides poison hundreds of workers.

Although chemical exposures are relevant to the general population,
two groups - children and workers - are particularly vulnerable, the
report states. Immigrants, minorities, and lower-income groups in
California are more likely to experience the highest levels of
exposure, both as residents and as workers.
Lettuce pickers in a California field (Photo courtesy California
Department of Public Health)

The standard regulatory mechanism for protecting workers from chemical
exposures is the Permissible Exposure Limit, PEL, which establishes an
exposure level considered safe for most workers, based on a 40 hour
workweek. While California has established 688 PELs - compared to 453
federal PELs - this represents only a small fraction of the hazardous
chemicals and mixtures to which workers are potentially exposed.

PELs have not been established in California for 44 workplace
carcinogens, the report states.

With global chemical production predicted to increase 330 percent by
2050, health problems related to environmental contamination are
likely to grow unless comprehensive steps are taken now, the report's
authors say.

"Green chemistry," the use of renewable and safer raw materials,
manufacturing processes and products, offers a sustainable solution,
according to the report.

"Research conducted in the past decade has provided ample evidence of
significant health impacts from exposure to toxic chemicals," said
John Froines, COEH director at UCLA and a professor of environmental
health sciences.

"It is timely for California to reduce the use of toxic agents through
innovative technological approaches available through green chemistry.
New policies that prevent hazards rather than cleaning up problems
after the fact will foster innovation and help green chemistry emerge
as a central part of our economy," said Froines.

The report calls on California to lead the nation in implementing a
comprehensive approach to the management of chemicals and products by:

* Passing new laws to remedy the insufficient data available on
the toxicity of chemicals so that California businesses, regulators
and consumers can make informed choices about the products they use.

* Providing California agencies with a new legal framework to
enable them to act when there are reasonable concerns about a
product's safety, even when complete hazard or tracking data are
unavailable.

* Investing in the design of chemicals, materials and
manufacturing processes that are inherently safer for humans.

Some of these recommendations echo a 2006 UC report to the California
Legislature on green chemistry policy, which contributed to the
introduction of new state legislation in 2007 to require improved
reporting on the sale of high-quantity chemicals and reductions in
some uses of the most toxic chemicals.

That legislation did not pass and is expected to be reintroduced in
2008.

The report is online at the UCLA Center for Occupational and
Environmental Health at www.coeh.ucla.edu/greenchemistry.pdf

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