New Protection Against 80,000 Chemicals *

Amid reports that the federal government is rolling back or stalling studies and regulation of potentially toxic chemicals widely used in consumer products, it's refreshing to hear about strong government action to remove bad actors from commerce.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed the so-called "green chemistry" bill, which will set the stage for a wholesale review of the 80,000 most commonly used chemicals in the state. Instead of targeting specific chemicals or products bill by politically frought bill, this sets up a regulatory system designed to stop the manufacture of chemicals that might be toxic or which might disrupt hormones -- before they are used by workers, or put into products.

It represents a step toward a system of regulation based on the precautionary principle -- something advocates have long argued for. Instead of introducing chemicals into commerce and then essentially using the population as a test for long health studies about their low-level effects, this law puts the more emphasis on identifying potentially harmful chemicals before they are widely used.

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