{"id":68646,"date":"2019-02-11T08:30:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T16:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?post_type=commentary&p=68646"},"modified":"2019-02-11T08:30:35","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T16:30:35","slug":"green-chemistry-makes-products-safer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_zh\/environment\/2019\/02\/green-chemistry-makes-products-safer\/","title":{"rendered":"My turn: ‘Green chemistry’ makes products safer. Here\u2019s how California can do better"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gina M. Solomon and Martin Mulvihill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gina M. Solomon, is a principal investigator at the Public Health Institute in Oakland,\u00a0Gina.Solomon@phi.org, and Martin Mulvihill is the co-founder of SaferMade, a venture capital fund,\u00a0martin.mulvihill@safermade.net. They wrote this commentary for CALmatters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Californians\u2019 demand for healthier products is part of a trend toward healthy living that has changed our expectations of chemistry. <\/span><\/p>\n

We led the nation a decade ago by launching a Green Chemistry Initiative to advance the safer use of chemicals. <\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the environment committees of the Senate and the Assembly convene to review the status of this important initiative, and its centerpiece, the Safer Consumer Products Program. This is a time to celebrate its successes\u2014and call for stronger action to protect Californians.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Safer Consumer Products Program was designed to deal with \u201cchemical whack-a-mole.\u201d In this real-life version of the carnival game, individual toxic chemicals are banned or regulated, only to be replaced by similar chemicals that have not been studied and can be just as hazardous.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take flame retardants. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 2002, California scientists discovered toxic flame retardants, known as <\/span>polybrominated diphenyl ethers, <\/span>PBDEs for short, in San Francisco Bay harbor seals, and in breast biopsy samples from California women. <\/span><\/p>\n

PBDEs were linked to thyroid hormone disruption, neurological damage, and cancer. The Legislature banned most PBDEs the following year, but it soon became clear that other hazardous chemicals were replacing these toxicants in everything from furniture foam to children\u2019s nap mats. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is an alphabet soup of other toxic chemicals\u2014 from BPA to PCBs \u2014that were removed from products, only to be replaced by toxic cousins. Parents may have thought their families were being protected, but many had no idea the replacement chemicals could be just as bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was time for a new approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2008, t<\/span>hen-Assemblymember Mike Feuer of Los Angeles and then-Senator Joe Simitian <\/span>of Palo Alto carried legislation that established the <\/span>Safer Consumer Products Program<\/span><\/a> as the key component of the state\u2019s Green Chemistry Initiative, to incentivize the use of safer chemicals in consumer products.<\/span><\/p>\n

A recently completed <\/span>independent study<\/span><\/a> of the initiative, funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program, found that California\u2019s approach is important and innovative. However, after 10 years, much-needed improvements <\/span>are needed<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n