Purging persistent Pollution

by Renee Kjartan

In 1998 the Washington state Department of Ecology proposed eliminating the release of 27 persistent bioaccumulative toxics (PBTs) in Washington state. These toxins, which include mercury and dioxin, "last for generations, if not forever," according to the Washington Toxics Coalition. "They build up in people and wildlife, are passed to offspring during the earliest and most vulnerable stages of life, and can increase in concentrations up the food chain.... Every child on earth is exposed even before birth to chemicals known to cause cancer and to interfere with development.... What have we done to our children's world?"

Since the Department of Ecology's 1998 proposal:

1) The state has held statewide hearings on the issue and proposed a 20-year phase-out of nine of the PBTs.

2) WTC has released its own draft proposal for phasing out PBTs. WTC says more than nine PBTs must be phased out, and they should be eliminated sooner than the year 2020. In addition, WTC says some of the nine PBTs scheduled for phaseout are already banned.

3) The US Environmental Protection Agency has agreed with a petition from the WTC to publish information on the release of another PBT: phthlates. These are added to PVC-made items to make them pliable, and can be found in flexible vinyl products such as shower curtains and medical devices such as tubing and IV bags, upholstery, raincoats, balls and soft squeeze toys. The WTC charged that phthlates can cause cancer, systemic toxicity, developmental toxicity and endocrine disruption.

4) The WTC also has published Visualizing Zero, a pamphlet discussing the production and release of PBTs. The booklet says none of these toxics should be in the environment.

Visualizing Zero focuses on four toxins: dioxins, pentachlorophenol, mercury and lead, detailing how they have contaminated thousands of sites in Washington, and have harmed wildlife, humans, and the food chain. "Every day permits continue to be granted for the release of these chemicals," the pamphlet states. "And those permit limits do not generally take into account the cumulative loading of pollutants; they are calculated as though each facility operates by itself in a vacuum."

The main sources of these four toxics in Washington are pulp mills, incinerators, cement kilns, aluminum and steel manufacturers, electronics plants, shipyards, petroleum refineries, plastic manufacturers, and metal finishers and fabricators.

The report says Governor Locke and the Department of Ecology have the power to stop issuing permits for industries to emit these poisons, and that non-health-threatening alternatives to most manufacturing processes exist.

One problem is that industry is allowed to release chemicals until their harm is proved. Thus, "irreversible contamination and harm are done before action is taken," the pamphlet says. It argues that the "precautionary principle" should be used, requiring proof of safety before the chemicals are released.

The situation in Washington is deplorable, yet the situation in this state is ahead of all the other states in beginning to tackle the problem.

To learn more about this issue, go to the WTC website, listed above.