ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE REBUKES AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL
Strongly Worded Letter Criticizes Industry Group's
Appearance On PBS Toxics Safety Program
(27 March, 2001 -- New York) Responding to nationally televised claims by the American
Chemistry Council that its products have been "carefully scrutinized"
for safety, Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp today asked the
chemical industry's top official to prove it or publicly back down.
Krupp reminded Fred Webber, head of the industry
association previously known as the Chemical Manufacturers Association, that
Webber himself had spoken up for the urgent need to test industrial chemicals,
after his own group's exhaustive study confirmed that less than 10% of
top-selling U.S. chemicals could show even preliminary test results in the
public record.
The documentary "Trade Secrets" by journalist
Bill Moyers, which aired last night on public television, was immediately
followed by an on-camera discussion including American Chemistry Council
spokesman Terry Yosie. Yosie insisted to Moyers that the public could rely on
chemicals having been tested.
In fact, Krupp wrote to Webber, "what brought the
American Chemistry Council to sit down with environmentalists was exactly the
opposite: joint recognition that most of the industry's top-selling chemicals
have not been tested," and a sense of urgency about starting to fill
"the enormous gap of ignorance about chemical hazards."
Krupp called on Webber to produce test results for the
9,000 chemical products his spokesman had referred to on Moyers' program, or
"issue a public retraction and admission" that Yosie had misled the
public.
Environmental Defense, a leading national nonprofit
organization based in New York, represents more than 300,000 members. Since
1967 we have linked science, economics, and law to create innovative, equitable,
and cost-effective solutions to the most urgent environmental problems.
Letter from Environmental Defense Executive Director
Fred Krupp to Frederick L. Webber, President and CEO of the American Chemistry
Council
March 27, 2001
Frederick L. Webber
President and CEO
American Chemistry Council
1300 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22209
Dear Fred:
Last night after the Bill Moyers documentary “Trade
Secrets” on public television, the American Chemistry Council told a national
audience that industrial chemicals are safe because “they have been tested”
and “have been carefully scrutinized.” Those misstatements, by your
spokesman Terry Yosie, require a public retraction.
As you know better than anyone, what brought the American
Chemistry Council to sit down with environmentalists was exactly the opposite:
joint recognition that most of the industry’s top-selling chemicals have not
been tested, even preliminarily, for their human health standards, as far as the
public record shows. Two years ago you shared a podium with me and then-Vice
President Al Gore to say so, and to announce first steps to doing something
about the enormous testing gap that your own research had confirmed.
If your spokesman last night had acknowledged what you
personally, your organization’s own study, and your work with
environmentalists have already stood for, the chemical industry would have
deserved credit for a new candor, and for leadership in beginning to close the
enormous gap of ignorance about chemical hazards.
But, sadly, telling the public today that industrial
chemicals are safe when you know the information isn’t there is akin to
telling workers 30 years ago that there was no evidence vinyl chloride and
benzene were harmful. In both cases, your organization’s file cabinets know
better.
Mr. Yosie forcefully argued to the television audience
that the chemical industry has learned from the mistakes of the past and was
committed to openness and transparency. If that claim is to be credible, then it
is incumbent on you to issue a public retraction and admission that Mr.
Yosie’s testing claims were inaccurate. Of course, if the chemical industry
does have testing data on the 9,000 chemicals that Mr. Yosie described, then
openness requires that you make those test data public. You should do either
without delay.
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