The Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals
A
Platform for Creating a Safe and Healthy Environment
through Innovation
Fundamental reform to current chemical laws is necessary to protect children, workers, communities, and the environment. We must shift market and government actions to protect health and the natural systems that support us. As a priority, we must act to phase out the most dangerous chemicals, develop safer alternatives, protect high-risk communities, and ensure that those responsible for creating hazardous chemicals bear the full costs of correcting damages to our health and the environment.
By designing new, safer chemicals, products, and production systems we will protect people’s health and create healthy, sustainable jobs. Some leading companies are already on this path. They are creating safe products and new jobs by using clean, innovative technologies. But transforming entire markets will require policy change. A first step to creating a safe and healthy global environment is a major reform of our nation’s chemicals policy. Any reform must:
Require Safer
Substitutes and Solutions
Seek to eliminate the use and emissions of hazardous chemicals by
altering production processes, substituting safer chemicals,
redesigning products and systems, rewarding innovation and re-examining
product function. Safer substitution includes an obligation on the part
of the public and private sectors to invest in research and development
of sustainable chemicals, products, materials and processes.
Phase Out Persistent,
Bioaccumulative, or Highly Toxic Chemicals
Prioritize for elimination chemicals that are slow to degrade,
accumulate in our bodies or living organisms, or are highly hazardous
to humans or the environment. Ensure that chemicals eliminated
in the United States are not exported to other countries.
Give the Public and
Workers the Full Right-to-Know and Participate
Provide meaningful involvement for the public and workers in decisions
on chemicals. Disclose chemicals and materials, list quantities of
chemicals produced, used, released, and exported, and provide
public/worker access to chemical hazard, use and exposure information.
Act on Early Warnings
Act with foresight. Prevent harm from new or existing chemicals when
credible evidence of harm exists, even when some uncertainty remains
regarding the exact nature and magnitude of the harm.
Require Comprehensive
Safety Data for All Chemicals
For a chemical to remain on or be placed on the market manufacturers
must provide publicly available safety information about that
chemical. The information must be sufficient to permit a
reasonable evaluation of the safety of the chemical for human health
and the environment, including hazard, use and exposure
information. This isthe principle of “No Data, No
Market.”
Take Immediate Action
to Protect Communities and Workers
When communities and workers are exposed to levels of chemicals that
pose a health hazard, immediate action is necessary to eliminate these
exposures. We must ensure that no population is
disproportionately burdened by chemicals.
Dates must be set for implementing each of these reforms. Together these changes are a first step towards reforming a 30-year old chemical management system that fails to protect public health and the environment. By implementing the Louisville Charter and committing to the innovation of safer chemicals and processes, governments and corporations will be leading the way toward a healthier economy and a healthier society.
Require Safer Substitutes and Solutions
Phase Out Persistent, Bioaccumulative, or Highly Toxic Chemicals
Give the Public and Workers the Full Right-to-Know and Participate