U.S. Rules Allow the Sale of Products Others Ban

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U.S. Rules Allow the Sale of Products Others Ban

Chemical-laden goods outlawed in Europe and Japan are permitted in

the American market.

By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer

October 8, 2006

OAKLAND — Destined for American kitchens, planks of birch and poplar

plywood are stacked to the ceiling of a cavernous port warehouse. The

wood, which arrived in California via a cargo ship, carries two

labels: One proclaims " Made in China, " while the other warns that it

contains formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical.

Because formaldehyde wafts off the glues in this plywood, it is

illegal to sell in many countries — even the one where it originated,

China. But in the United States this wood is legal, and it is

routinely crafted into cabinets and furniture.

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As the European Union and other nations have tightened their

environmental standards, mostly in the last two years, manufacturers —

here and around the world — are selling goods to American consumers

that fail to meet other nations' stringent laws for toxic chemicals.

Wood, toys, electronics, pesticides and cosmetics are among U.S.

products that contain substances that are banned or restricted

elsewhere, particularly in Europe and Japan, because they may raise

the risk of cancer, alter hormones or cause reproductive or

neurological damage.

, a professor at UC Berkeley's Center for Occupational

and Environmental Health, said the United States is becoming

a " dumping ground " for consumer goods that are unwanted and illegal

in much of the world. warned earlier this year in a report

commissioned by the California Legislature that " the United States

has fallen behind globally in the move toward cleaner technologies. "

The European Union, driven by consumers' concerns, has banned or

heavily restricted hundreds of toxic substances in recent years,

invoking its " precautionary principle, " which is codified into law

and prescribes that protective steps should be taken when there is

scientific evidence of risks to public health or the environment.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal

agencies have relied on voluntary steps from industries rather than

regulations, saying the threats posed by low levels of chemicals are

too uncertain to eliminate products valuable to consumers or

businesses.

In the absence of U.S. regulations, some international corporations,

including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Mattel, Revlon and Orly

International, have declared that all their products, no matter where

they are made or sold, will comply with EU standards, the most

stringent chemical laws in the world.

" We don't operate to different standards in different parts of the

globe, regardless of differing environmental standards, " said

Frey, manager of corporate environmental strategies at Palo Alto-

based Hewlett-Packard.

But many U.S. and foreign companies do.

Some toys, nail polishes and other beauty products are made with

plastic softeners and solvents called phthalates that the EU has

banned as reproductive toxins. Several of U.S. agriculture's most

popular herbicides and insecticides, including atrazine, endosulfan

and aldicarb, are illegal or restricted to emergency uses in other

countries. And a few electronic items, including Palm's Treo 650

smart phone and Apple's iSight camera, were pulled off shelves in

Europe this summer because of lead components but are still sold here.

Industry groups say their products have undergone rigorous reviews in

the United States and are not only legal here but safe. They say some

governments, particularly the EU, have overreacted and banned

chemicals with little or no evidence of a human health threat.

" Consumers can remain confident about using their cosmetics given

their oversight by the Food and Drug Administration, the extensive

research on their safety and long history of safe use, " the Cosmetic,

Toiletry and Fragrance Assn. said.

The EPA hasn't eliminated any industrial compounds since it sought

unsuccessfully to ban asbestos 18 years ago. Unlike EU policies, U.S.

law requires the EPA to prove a toxic substance " presents an

unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, " consider

the costs of restricting its use and choose " the least burdensome "

approach to regulate industry.

" The dumping problem is concentrated in a few product sectors. But

these sectors happen to be really ubiquitous in the everyday lives of

Americans. Chemical risks are being spread all over the country in

ways that are invisible to consumers, " said Alastair Iles, an

international chemical policy expert who was a research fellow at UC

Berkeley and still works with faculty there on consumer issues.

Last year alone, China exported to the United States more than half a

billion dollars' worth of hardwood plywood — enough to build cabinets

for 2 million kitchens, a sixfold increase since 2002. Though China

sends low-formaldehyde timber to Japan and Europe, Americans are

getting wood that emits substantially higher levels of the chemical.

One birch plank from China, bought at a Home Depot store in Portland,

gave off 100 times more formaldehyde than legal in Japan and 30 times

more than allowed in Europe and China, according to July tests

conducted by a lab hired by an Oregon-based wood products

manufacturer. Formaldehyde exposure has been shown in human studies

to cause nose and throat cancer and possibly leukemia, as well as

allergic reactions, asthma attacks, headaches and sore throats.

With no government standards, monitoring or labeling, U.S. consumers

cannot easily identify chemical-free products.

" I'll guarantee you that no one tells a customer building a $75,000

kitchen that their cabinets contain plywood from China that will off-

gas formaldehyde, " said Larry Percivalle of Oakland-based EarthSource

Forest Products, a distributor that sells low-formaldehyde and

sustainably grown wood.

In the wood industry, even though low-cost, chemical-free substitutes

are available, much of the plywood, fiberboard and particleboard sold

in the United States is manufactured with adhesives, or glues, that

contain formaldehyde, said Wolfe, a wood products consultant

in Emeryville, Calif.

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