Newsvine - NY considers list of 85 chemicals to avoid buying

I recall across the Hudson River, in New Jersey, they have a "Right To Know Law" that listed a couple of thousand chemicals considered dangerous. It was rewritten under Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who was later director of the EPA under then President George W. Bush, because many of those listed were rarely used by anyone, anyway and being there argued a distraction. In Federal law, at least at Bellevue Hospital in HAZMAT where I certified, required for the EPA archeology of Superfund National Priority sites, after the superheated steam explosion in nearby Gramercy Park that killed two ConEd workers and emptied the buildings out until cleaned of airborne asbestos, we were taught you cannot be told to mix A with B to produce C in your workplace without being informed what A is and what B is and the risks working 8 hours a day with them and C by Federal law. I'm glad, New York is also considering this, who by the way track every drum of chemicals in the state, at least in theory. However it also seems to be a political patronizing of the public, without real reform in the workplace. A list doesn't ensure safety.

#1 - Mon Jan 4, 2010 12:37 PM EST

Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law

Washington Post Jan. 4, 2010

#2 - Mon Jan 4, 2010 11:09 PM EST

Newsvine - NY considers list of 85 chemicals to avoid buying