W.Va. chemical spill poses a new test for lawmakers
There are more than 80,000 chemicals in the United States catalogued by government regulators, and the health risks of most of them are unknown.
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The 15-page material safety data sheet for the chemical, which is manufactured by
Tennessee-based Eastman Chemical, uses the phrase “no data available” 152 times.
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Chemicals in the United States are generally treated as innocent until proven guilty. A company does not have to prove that a chemical does not pose a health hazard in order to introduce it in the commercial market.
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U.S. law, though, did not require Eastman to test Crude MCHM. The company voluntarily conducted 18 toxicity tests on the product and its major component. Demuth played down the significance of the “no data available” entries on the data sheet, noting that nine of the 152 such entries refer to water, which is harmless. She said that the company abides by the European Union’s strict requirements for toxicity disclosure and that had the company followed the U.S. standard, it wouldn’t have included the “no data” entries.
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http://m.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/west-virginia-chemical-spill-in-elk-river-poses-a-new-chemistry-test-for-lawmakers/2014/01/19/993d5a66-7ed7-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html
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