Sludge Watch ==> San Diego County - high levels of toxics released in county

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

"No chemical or drug should be produced and/or distributed for use unless a 
complete life cycle analysis is performed on these compounds.  Included 
should be the fate and consequences of these compounds getting into 
wastewater, treated effluents, biosolids, and environmental media both from 
a human health and ecological aspect. "

Cheers

........................

County's rising chemical content spurs quest for tighter controls

By Mike Lee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 10, 2006

Bucking state and national trends, San Diego County has increased its 
reported amount of toxic chemicals emitted by smokestacks, hauled to 
landfills and released into the environment in other ways.

Between 2000 and 2004, the amount of federally tracked toxins discharged in 
California and the United States dropped by about one-third. In contrast, 
the countywide total swelled by 60 percent, according to an analysis done by 
The San Diego Union-Tribune  using a federal database called the Toxics 
Release Inventory.

The reasons for the region's increase are roughly split between economic 
expansion and changes in reporting requirements that substantially increased 
Camp Pendleton's total. Twelve more companies made the county list in 2004 
than in 2000. In addition, a few businesses – including GE Osmonics in Vista 
and General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego – released significantly more 
chemicals.

The county's jump underscores concerns about the proliferation of toxic 
chemicals – even ones disposed of legally. The U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency tracks about 650 chemicals that are released in numerous ways, 
including evaporation into the air, injection into wells and discharges into 
waterways.

Such compounds show up everywhere, from San Diego Bay to people's bodies 
worldwide.

“We just have no idea what some of these (chemicals), individually or in 
combination, could be doing,” said James Nagler, who investigates the 
effects of waterborne contaminants on fish at the University of Idaho.

There are more than 82,000 chemicals commercially available in the United 
States. About 700 more are introduced each year, but the EPA's reviews 
“provide limited assurance that health and environmental risks are 
identified before the chemicals enter commerce,” according to a 2005 audit 
by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Today in Sacramento, three state senators, public-health advocates and the 
Environmental Working Group will unveil the results of a study that measured 
toxins in the blood of California mothers and daughters.

Also today, a divided chemical industry will hold a special meeting in Los 
Angeles. Its members will begin crafting a response to growing calls for 
changes in how the state regulates and uses chemicals.

Industry leaders say they are moving toward more environmentally friendly 
chemicals and don't need more regulations. They emphasize the importance of 
their products, which are the building blocks for everything from baby 
bottles to pharmaceuticals to water purification systems.

The state lacks a comprehensive chemical policy. Lawmakers are looking at 
ways to create one because some public-health experts say federal 
regulations are filled with holes.

Ideas being discussed in Sacramento include requiring chemical makers to 
provide the state with methods to detect their compounds in water, air, 
soil, fish and people. State health agencies lack testing methods for about 
70 percent of chemicals used in California, according to the office of 
Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland.

In the state Senate, the Environmental Quality Committee is planning 
statewide hearings on how best to promote “green chemistry.” The concept 
includes designing chemicals and manufacturing processes to reduce the use 
of toxic substances. It could lead to new mandates on California businesses.


Pervasive issue
San Diego County is the third-most polluted county in California based on a 
range of chemical-related hazards, said Environmental Data Resources, a 
research company in Milford, Conn.
Locally and worldwide, scientists have found that chemicals are widespread 
in the environment.

For example, a new study in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science 
& Technology  shows the vast majority of triclocarban – a common antiseptic 
agent in soaps – ends up in sewage sludge. Much of this sludge is used as 
fertilizers, spreading the compound into the soil.

“This (is) . . . potentially problematic given the compound's widespread 
use, high production volume and established human toxicity,” said the 
authors, who are researchers from Johns Hopkins University. Their study said 
the chemical has been linked to a blood disorder called methemoglobinemia, 
which can cause serious illness or death.

Health professionals, consumer advocates and others have long harbored fears 
about the profusion of chemicals. Their concerns were captured in a March 
report that urged the state Legislature to take a more aggressive role in 
regulating chemicals.

Today's conference in Los Angeles is a direct response to that study. One of 
the event's key speakers is Michael Wilson, a University of California 
Berkeley scientist and author of the March report.

He plans to say that California companies can blaze the nation's path toward 
green chemistry and make money doing so.

Also on the agenda is Robert Donkers, environment counselor for the 
Delegation of the European Commission to the United States in Washington, 
D.C. He plans to talk about how Europe is cracking down on toxic products 
with a program known as REACH, or Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation 
of Chemicals.

“It's about time that the chemical industry learns that (it) should be 
responsible for (its) products, not the government,” Donkers said.


Competing perspectives
Organizers of today's chemical industry conference said they aren't 
conceding that the critics are right, only that they want to make sure their 
sector is ready if legislators start drafting new rules.
If responses to Wilson's report are any indication, the industry isn't close 
to consensus.

The Chemical Industry Council of California called the document a “benchmark 
around which further dialogue can and must be conducted.” The American 
Chemistry Council, a national trade association, said Wilson raised 
unnecessary fears based on limited data, sweeping generalizations and a 
“significant lack of understanding.”

Viewpoints also are split in San Diego County.

Corporate environmental health and safety managers such as Cliff Hanna worry 
that more regulations would require new state reports and tracking systems 
that double up on current county and federal rules.

“It's a terribly inefficient use of resources to duplicate those efforts,” 
said Hanna, who works for Biosite Inc. of San Diego, a maker of health care 
diagnostics.

Hanna said he encourages Biosite to use the least environmentally harmful 
substances available, but that they come at a price. For example, 
high-hazard chemicals tend to cost less than more benign substitutes, he 
said.

Despite such challenges, green chemistry is gaining ground.

In late April, for instance, Pfizer La Jolla Laboratories pledged to reduce 
its hazardous waste by about 1.5 percent as part of a federal program. The 
company also has started sending its used solvents to an incineration plant 
that generates energy while it destroys the chemicals.

Countywide, however, the reported amount of toxic discharges has mostly 
risen in recent years, according to the Toxics Release Inventory.

After a decade of dramatic declines, San Diego County hit its all-time low 
in 1998 with 827,000 pounds of toxic releases. But two years later, 76 
facilities countywide reported a total of 1.3 million pounds.

In 2004, the most recent year for public data, 88 facilities in San Diego 
County released more than 2.1 million pounds of toxic chemicals.

Several factors have driven the regional rise, including the dozen new 
companies listed on the database. Also, there has been a major increase in 
the disposal of the solvent N,N-Dimethylformamide, which has been linked to 
headaches, nausea, stomachaches and liver disease in people.

GE Osmonics, which makes water filtration membranes in Vista, said that 
solvent is a critical component of its production process. The company is 
responsible for virtually all N,N-Dimethylformamide releases in the county.

A company spokeswoman said General Electric, which bought the facility in 
2003, is trying to limit its environmental impact by recycling more of the 
solvent-laced water.

Other local facilities also have reported jumps in their toxic releases 
between 2000 and 2004, the database shows. At General Dynamics NASSCO, 
environmental manager Mike Chee said his company's increase in toxic air 
emissions was due to new shipbuilding projects that generate greater use of 
solvent-based paint.

The county's increase also can be tied to changes in federal reporting 
requirements, including a substantial reduction in the threshold for 
disclosing lead and lead compounds. At Camp Pendleton, officials said their 
numbers rose when they had to report chemicals from ammunition and 
wastewater treatment.

The federal inventory doesn't say whether facilities are handling their 
toxins properly. Making that determination is complex because at least eight 
agencies have oversight and few of their enforcement files are readily 
accessible to the public.



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Mike Lee: (619) 542-4570; mike.lee at uniontrib.com











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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060510-9999-1n10chemical.html