What is an ideal Chemical Policy? To be or not to be... that is the Question.

The last time the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was revised was in 1976. Wait... 1976?? Yes you heard it right. Forty years ago. How time flies right?

On June 22, 2016, President Obama signed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which updated the TSCA. Although it was a step in the right direction it fell short of what the country needed in order to revolutionize the industry and begin to address the toxic chemicals in our everyday life.

According to the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals there is a platform that they have put out in order to create a safe and healthy environment through innovation by using the following steps for create reform. Any reform must:

• Require Safer Substitutes and Solutions
• Phase Out Persistent, Bioaccumulative, or Highly Toxic Chemicals
• Give the Public and Workers the Full Right-to-Know and Participate
• Act on Early Warnings
• Require Comprehensive Safety Date for All Chemicals
• Take Immediate Action to Protect Communities

 If I were to develop a policy, for me it would be regarding the use of pesticides on farm workers in Monterey County. I would the same steps to build a chemical policy.

• Require Safer Substitutes and Solutions: Require farm owners to reduce use of pesticides and to warn nearby residents of the use of pesticides. If total discontinuation of pesticides is not possible then at least use the ones that have the least amount of toxic effects and newer brands to use that show proof of lower toxic outcomes.
• Phase Out Persistent, Bioaccumulative, or Highly Toxic Chemicals: One of the products that has been banned in the U.S. but used in other parts of the world is DDT. Although we have phased this chemical out, we have replaced it with other pesticides that are just as harmful and also allowed for other countries to use it instead of discontinuation of the production of the chemical.
• Give the Public and Workers the Full Right-to-Know and Participate: MSDS sheets and exposure risks need to be posted for farm workers and if a worker is unable to read, then workshops must be held in the native language of the workers to ensure they understand the exposures that they might be exposed to as an occupation hazard. Education with the use of pesticides is key in addition to proper equipment to use when in contact with the pesticides.
• Act on Early Warnings: It is important that farmers are held accountable for the use of pesticides and one of them is that they should be conducting a feasibility study in order to ensure that the chemicals or pesticides being used are not causing negative outcomes to the communities that work on their lands. Informing farm workers of early warning signs of exposure to pesticides for both adults and children is essential in preventing onset or progression of disease.
• Require Comprehensive Safety Date for All Chemicals: The pesticide industry must post information regarding the pesticides they sell in public and to the workers as well as the communities in which pesticides are sprayed. The EPA and the Department of Public Health in both California and Monterey County should enforce this measure in order for farm owners to spray the pesticides on their farms.
• Take Immediate Action to Protect Communities: If there is any exposure of pesticides to any community, the farm owners who are spraying the pesticides must take immediate action with the Department of Public Health in California and Monterey County to address the exposure and to eliminate the exposure. 

Links:

https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-toxic-substances-control-act

http://smartpolicyreform.org/the-charter/the-louisville-charter