Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States
-- from flame retardants in furniture to household cleaners --
nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded
from consumers and virtually all public officials under a
little-known federal provision.
The policy was designed 33 years ago to protect trade secrets in
a highly competitive industry. But critics -- including the
Obama administration -- say the secrecy has grown out of
control, making it impossible for regulators to control
potential dangers or for consumers to know which toxic
substances they might be exposed to.
At a time of increasing public demand for more information about
chemical exposure, pressure is building on lawmakers to make it
more difficult for manufacturers to cloak their products in
secrecy. Congress is set to rewrite chemical regulations this
year for the first time in a generation.
Under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, manufacturers must
report to the federal government new chemicals they intend to
market. But the law exempts from public disclosure any
information that could harm their bottom line.
Government officials, scientists and environmental groups say
that manufacturers have exploited weaknesses in the law to claim
secrecy for an ever-increasing number of chemicals. In the past
several years, 95 percent of the notices for new chemicals sent
to the government requested some secrecy, according to the
Government Accountability Office. About 700 chemicals are
introduced annually.
Some companies have successfully argued that the federal
government should not only keep the names of their chemicals
secret but also hide from public view the identities and
addresses of the manufacturers.
"Even acknowledging what chemical is used or what is made at
what facility could convey important information to competitors,
and they can start to put the pieces together," said Mike Walls,
vice president of the American Chemistry Council.
Although a number of the roughly 17,000 secret chemicals may be
harmless, manufacturers have reported in mandatory notices to
the government that many pose a "substantial risk" to public
health or the environment. In March, for example, more than half
of the 65 "substantial risk" reports filed with the
Environmental Protection Agency involved secret chemicals.
"You have thousands of chemicals that potentially present risks
to health and the environment," said Richard Wiles, senior vice
president of the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy
organization that documented the extent of the secret chemicals
through public-records requests from the EPA. "It's impossible
to run an effective regulatory program when so many of these
chemicals are secret."
Of the secret chemicals, 151 are made in quantities of more than
1 million tons a year and 10 are used specifically in children's
products, according to the EPA.
The identities of the chemicals are known to a handful of EPA
employees who are legally barred from sharing that information
with other federal officials, state health and environmental
regulators, foreign governments, emergency responders and the
public.
Last year, a Colorado nurse fell seriously ill after treating a
worker involved at a chemical spill at a gas-drilling site. The
man, who later recovered, appeared at a Durango hospital
complaining of dizziness and nausea. His work boots were damp;
he reeked of chemicals, the nurse said.
Two days later, the nurse, Cathy Behr, was fighting for her
life. Her liver was failing and her lungs were filling with
fluid. Behr said her doctors diagnosed chemical poisoning and
called the manufacturer, Weatherford International, to find out
what she might have been exposed to.
Weatherford provided safety information, including hazards, for
the chemical, known as ZetaFlow. But because ZetaFlow has
confidential status, the information did not include all of its
ingredients.
Mark Stanley, group vice president for Weatherford's pumping and
chemical services, said in a statement that the company made
public all the information legally required.
"It is always in our company's best interest to provide
information to the best of our ability," he said.
Behr said the full ingredient list should be released. "I'd
really like to know what went wrong," said Behr, 57, who
recovered but said she still has respiratory problems. "As
citizens in a democracy, we ought to know what's happening
around us."
The White House and environmental groups want Congress to force
manufacturers to prove that a substance should be kept
confidential. They also want federal officials to be able to
share confidential information with state regulators and health
officials, who carry out much of the EPA's work across the
country.