United States voluntary initiatives

The extension into peacetime of project-research required a commonly held ideal similar to the "inspiration of a common patriotism." Armsby believed this could be found in the program of the newly reorganized NRC, in that its plan for cooperative research was based upon the voluntary initiative of investigators, united by their common interest in solving problems essential for the advancement of science in the United States. Because the leaders of the NRC were convinced that this attitude prevailed... 

The mobilization of chemists for research on chemical warfare was accomplished almost entirely through their own voluntary efforts and not at the instigation of the military. In fact, military leaders in the United States initially had ignored the need for any chemical research in this area, although many chem-, ists at the time recognized this need, as did the director of the Bureau of Mines. 

The presentation by Margaret W. Rossiter, of Cornell University, was titled 1970-2000 A Less Than Golden Age for Women in Chemistry The last 25 years have been a kind of golden age for women in science and engineering in the United States, compared with previous times. Laws were passed in 1972 that, pushed by well-publicized lawsuits, government investigations, voluntary pressure, and individual initiative, made substantial quantitative differences in the training and job opportunities... 

The first section of this chapter provides a discussion of hazard assessment, classification of potentially dangerous substances, and the process of risk assessment. A summary of the mandatory and voluntary initiatives for regulating chemicals and biocides in the United States and Europe is also included together with information on the regulatory aspects of hazard communication. The second section deals with the scientific aspects of hazard identification and risk assessment of carcinogenic chemicals within the regulatory context. 

The discussion that follows provides an overview of laws in the United States and Europe for regulating industrial chemicals, followed by a discussion of voluntary initiatives for evaluating medium- and high-production-volume industrial chemicals. Thereafter, the laws for regulating biocides in the United States and Europe are discussed. 

By 1971, the concerns about human health and environmental impacts led Monsanto, the producer of PCBs in the United States, to a voluntary ban on sales of PCBs except for closed systems use. Monsanto ceased all production in 1977 and there was no large-scale increase in imports. PCBs were banned from production and further use in the United States in 1978. Equipment that already contained PCBs, e.g., transformers, were allowed to remain in use but restrictions were placed on the disposal of PCBs when the equipment was decommissioned. Delegates from 122 countries completed a draft treaty on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in December 2000. The POPs that were initially addressed and banned from further use include chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene, PCBs, hexachlorbenzene, chlorinated dibenzofurans, and chlorinated dibenzodioxins. Fimited selective use of DDT for human disease vector control is allowed in some countries. 

While Responsible Care as conceived is a voluntary program, the CMA, whose members control more than 90% of the basic chemical capacity in the United States and Canada, has made participation in this initiative a requisite for membership. Each CMA company, and each of its chemiced businesses, must subscribe to the principles of Responsible Care and is expected to participate in the development of programs. 

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) that took place at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 tried to help redress the balance (with mixed results) by encouraging states to take responsibility for policing their own environmental issues. This proved very effective in industrialised countries, which continue to tighten their control, and chemical industry associations played their part through initiatives such as the Voluntary Energy Efficiency Programme (VEEP). Even so, economic considerations have perpetuated the concept of pollution havens elsewhere, and the export of low added value processes to less effectively policed economies continues. 

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