Abstract
AS PART OF the chemical management reform she launched last year, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson directed EPA to devise strategies to control chemical substances that have attracted controversy. The agency recently released the last of the action plans for chemicals or families of compounds that Jackson initially targeted for attention. Those plans, issued in August, cover a brominated flame retardant, a family of surfactants, and azo dyes (C&EN, Aug. 23, page 24). Parts of the chemical industry are critical of each of these blueprints for regulatory and voluntary actions to control the use of or exposure to the substances. One of the three action plans covers hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). This brominated flame retardant bioaccumulates, persists in the environment, and is toxic to aquatic organisms, according to EPA. It has been detected in human breast milk, fat tissue, and blood. The agency is also concerned, on the basis of tests in laboratory animals, that ...
Published Version
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