Paving the Way to a Toxic-Free Planet: The New Global Framework on Chemicals – for a Planet Free of Harm from Chemicals and Waste

Published January 31, 2024 By Giulia Carlini, Manager and Senior Attorney in CIEL’s Environmental Health program, David Azoulay, Director of the Environmental Health Program, and Catherine Allary, Communications Campaign Specialist. After years of negotiations, the fifth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5) successfully adopted a new global framework on September 30, 2023, in Bonn, Germany, … Read More.

Toward a Toxic-Free Future: Five Chemicals Issues We’re Following at UNEA 5.2

Starting next week, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will host the 5th Meeting of the Open-Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives to UNEP (OECPR) and the second session of the 5th UN Environment Assembly, the highest political forum on environmental matters. While much of the buzz surrounding the meetings is about the push for a … Read More.

Pushing for the Environment at the United Nations: An Inside Look at the 45th Human Rights Council

There is no longer doubt about the intersection of the environment and human rights. As illustrated throughout the pandemic, all environmental threats, from climate change to toxic exposure, are impacting individuals’ daily lives and human rights, especially in vulnerable communities. Therefore, governments and other stakeholders can’t afford to deal with the environment and human rights … Read More.

2020: A “green switch” for chemicals and waste?

The year 2020 was supposed to be the “super year for nature.” Many people around the world were expecting new, ambitious goals to protect our oceans and biodiversity and to better regulate chemicals and waste. Events were scheduled and hopes were high. After all, this decade is the last real chance to reverse biodiversity loss … Read More.

European Green Deal — A New Hope for Safer Chemicals?

The European Green Deal has been presented as an ambitious plan to transport the European Union to a bright, sustainable future for chemicals management. But is it really? The European Green Deal, presented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on December 11, 2019, is meant to be the “boarding pass” for the European … Read More.

Breaking Silos on Chemicals and the Climate Crisis

I know, I know, it’s a bit of a trope to talk about the need for a “holistic approach” within UN spaces. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the phrase “synergy” or “breaking silos” so much as in the time I’ve been attending UN events in Geneva.  However, despite the cliché messaging, environmental decision-making is … Read More.

EU Residents are Still at Risk from Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

Back in 2017, we shared some juicy updates on the EU’s newly proposed criteria to identify endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). But what has happened since then? Spoiler alert: The Commission is (still) as slow as molasses, and the chemical lobby can gloat as essential public health protections continue to be delayed. Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: A Refresher Endocrine-disrupting … Read More.

Plastic is a global health crisis, and it requires global solutions

This blog post was originally posted by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. There is a global health crisis hiding in plain sight. It’s being transported along our roadways and released into our skies. It surrounds us in our homes and offices. It plagues our oceans, our waterways, and our soil. It’s even in the food we … Read More.

REACHing for a stronger classification for nanomaterials

Strong evidence suggests that titanium dioxide is a carcinogen, but industry manufacturers are moving to block the implementation of European legislation to label the dangerous chemical in their products. If it’s successful, this lobbying effort could put at risk one of the strongest science-based regulations to protect public health from harmful substances. Titanium dioxide can … Read More.

Nanoparticles: Small Problem, Big Issue

What do sunscreen, toothpaste, and pastries have in common? Many of them contain a chemical called titanium dioxide, or TiO2, which is used to increase whiteness and block UV rays. Yet this same chemical — the one slathered on your kids when it’s sunny out and that goes into your mouth when you brush your … Read More.

EU, It’s Time to Get Serious About Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

You may not know about endocrine disruptors, but chances are they’re in your body. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) interfere with the body’s hormonal system and are linked to developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in both humans and animals. EDCs are most toxic at our most vulnerable: Exposure to these chemicals in the womb or during … Read More.

SAICM Beyond 2020: Slow Progress on a Framework for Global Chemicals Management

From water bottles to smartphones, tens of thousands of chemicals are used around the world to make billions of products. Some of these chemicals are harmless. Others, however, carry toxic properties, affecting the development of children at their most vulnerable stages, damaging the environment, and building up in our bodies over time, compounding their already … Read More.

Countries Should Tackle Pollution at Its Source at UNEA-3

From November 27 to December 6 in Nairobi, Kenya, the CIEL team will participate in the third meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-3). UNEA, the main governing body of the United Nations Environment Programme, is the highest political forum on environmental matters, involving all 193 Member States of the UN, as well as … Read More.

The Rotterdam Convention: Finding a Way Forward

You’re going to your sister’s house for a holiday dinner. Your son begins pestering you to bring his favorite pie (pecan), even though your niece is deathly allergic to nuts. Before bringing the potentially hazardous treat, you’ll probably check with your sister to see if it is ok, right? That is how the Rotterdam Convention … Read More.

Toxics Triple COP Parties Press “Pause” on Compliance Mechanism

As a rookie to international negotiations and a curious trainee in CIEL’s five person Environmental Health team, I attended my first Conferences of the Parties of the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm Conventions (BRS COPs) from April 24th to May 5th 2017. The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions regulate the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes … Read More.

Why We March For Science

On Earth Day – April 22, 2017 – in Washington, DC (and in satellite marches in 600+ cities across the globe) thousands of people will come together in a show of force in the March for Science. We march to show our support for the research, analysis, and methods that seek to solve the most … Read More.

A Shakespearean Tragedy in Modern-Day Verona

Reflections by a Venetian on why governments don’t do their best to protect people’s health from chemical pollution. I was born in the beautiful north-Italian region Veneto — the same region where Verona is located, the city of Romeo and Juliet. This spring, though, a toxic pollution scandal shattered into pieces my romantic memories of … Read More.

Are the rights of children enough to protect them from environmental harm?

  Children are particularly affected by environmental degradation and exposed to environmental toxins. While destruction of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, climate change, industrial emissions, and mining damage the environment, they also affect children’s health worldwide. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, widely ratified, aims to protect children. In the context of the 73rd … Read More.

A Toxic Threat to Human Rights

This week, on the tenth anniversary of the illegal dumping toxic waste by the Probo Koala cargo ship in Cote d’Ivoire, United Nations human rights experts call on the Ivorian, Dutch and UK Governments and Tragifura, the multinational commodity trading company, to address the ongoing human rights impacts of the “Probo Koala incident.” The Probo … Read More.

What’s More Hazardous – Endocrine Disruptors or the EU’s Proposed Criteria?

On June 15th, the European Commission presented drafts of two legal acts (for Plant Protection Products and Biocidal Products Regulations) to set criteria for the identification of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). While it has the potential to successfully define endocrine disruptors in order to better protect people and the environment from these chemicals, which have … Read More.

Killing us softly, from farm to plate

Why hazardous pesticides must be phased out Pesticides are designed to kill. And they do. They are used to reduce and kill weeds, insects, rats, and other pests. However, pesticides aren’t nimble killers that eliminate their desired targets and vanish. In truth, pesticides can have a lot of collateral damage – killing bees, bats, amphibians, … Read More.

2015 Highlights: Top 10 Accomplishments

Your energy and advocacy sparked a global momentum shift over the past year, and we are on the cusp of true, transformative change. On all fronts, you have defended your right to a healthy planet. With your support, you help CIEL… Advance Climate Justice For three years, we’ve highlighted the growing legal and financial risks … Read More.

Advancing the Global Strategy towards Sound Chemicals Management: A Report Back from the 4th International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM4)

Hundreds delegates from governments, international organizations, public interest NGOs, and the chemical and pesticide industry just returned from a week-long conference in Geneva. The hot topic? Our health and environment over the next 15 years. Chemicals are in our food, clothes, and children’s toys, in household dusts and on our work floors, in our rivers … Read More.

European Parliament Takes a Stand to Protect REACH

On July 8, 2015, the European Parliament (EP) passed a resolution calling for REACH and other chemical laws to be excluded from the scope of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The European Parliament calls on the EU Commission “to recognise that where the EU and the US have very different rules, there … Read More.

What’s food got to do with it?

In October, the Special Rapporteur on Right to Food Ms. Hilal Elver will present her report to the Human Rights Council, just a couple of months before the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or CoP21, whose aim is to reach a legally binding agreement to combat climate change. Her … Read More.

Big Secrets Benefit Big Industry

Trade secrets: the fuzzy line between freedom of information and intellectual property rights In late November 2013, the European Commission released its proposed directive on the “protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure” with the objective of reinforcing the protection of so-called trade secrets. This proposal … Read More.

Crying Wolf on Chemical Reform

As awareness continues to grow about the impacts of business on people and the environment around the world, companies and trade organizations resort to the old argument that stricter environmental regulations would stymie the economy.  Truth be told, studies show that this argument is simply not the case.   In an effort to refrain from … Read More.

Where’s your seat at the table?

Sure, your local American drug store may sell very European-sounding makeup, but that is where the similarity ends. The laws that determine which ingredients are allowed are very different: the European Union bans 1300 potentially-hazardous chemicals vs. a mere 11 banned under United States law. Toxic freedom! Cosmetics Europe, which represents over 4000 individual cosmetics … Read More.

Lowest Common Denominator

US-EU trade agreement threatens to reduce environmental standards in favor of looser pesticide regulations Industry lobbyists are pushing proposals to weaken pesticide regulations in the EU and US under the proposed Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement.  The ongoing TTIP negotiations between the EU and the US aims primarily to minimize regulatory differences between … Read More.

A Win for Science-Based Policy Making

EU Commission terminates Chief Scientific Advisor position after pressure from CIEL and partners By David Azoulay and Lainey Sidell Science is a critical tool for policy making, in particular on issues relating to human health and the environment. In some cases, science can give very definite answers; in others, there is uncertainty. Recognizing the wider … Read More.

Regulating the Unknown: National Mandatory Nano Registers on the Rise

How can policymakers adequately regulate nanomaterials if they don’t know what’s out here to regulate? This post is the second in a series of updates on the contentious technological development known as nanomaterials. At the heart of nanotechnology regulation is a need for information. Information is the key to developing appropriate regulatory tools to protect … Read More.

Small Steps Taken by EU Towards Nano Regulation, Still Leaves Much to be Desired

This post is the first in a series of updates on the current situation regarding the contentious technological development known as nanomaterials, a topic that has spurred heated debate as policymakers, industry, and environmental health experts weigh its potential to help versus harm. In response to intense lobbying and activism by NGOs and several European … Read More.

Invisibility Cloaks In Our Future?

Nanomaterials are very, very small. When a molecule changes size, its properties – chemical, physical, toxic, etc. – also change. The expanding field of nanotechnology holds enormous potential for advancing technology in exciting ways, but the funding for innovation currently outpaces research into possible negative impacts by more than 3,000%. CIEL works actively to ensure … Read More.

The truth about the EU’s proposal on regulatory coherence

**This blog post is the second in a series discussing the chilling effects TTIP will likely have on laws to better protect people and the environment from toxic chemicals in both the United States and European Union. The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is not a conventional trade agreement. TTIP is, at its heart, … Read More.

The Trans-Atlantic Regulatory Agreement (aka “TTIP”)

**This blog post is the first in a series discussing the chilling effects TTIP will likely have on laws to better protect people and the environment from toxic chemicals in both the United States and European Union. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is not a conventional trade agreement.  TTIP is a regulatory agreement … Read More.

Innovation hearing re-invents the wheel

A new article in The Huffington Post starts with the question, “Whatever happened to innovation in America?” and concludes by hinting that American innovation is not what it once was. According to studies cited by the authors, the United States is second to last in terms of progress over the past decade. So, who are … Read More.

TSCA overview at US House of Representatives highlights problems

On June 13th 2013, the Environment and Economy subcommittee in the US House of Representatives held a hearing to discuss the 1976 U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The House hearing was motivated by a recent bi-partisan bill in the Senate by Senator Vitter (R-LA) and the late Senator Lautenber (D-NJ). Deeply flawed and under … Read More.

France adopts ban on uses of BPA and DEHP

And now for some good news.  Today, France adopted a ban on certain uses of two widely used hormone disrupting chemicals:  Bisphenol A (BPA), and the plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP for short.  Both BPA and DEHP are primarily used to make plastics—polycarbonate and PVC, respectively.   Millions of tons of each chemical are produced and … Read More.

International community kicks it up a notch

(This article originally appeared Oct. 11, 2012 at blog.saferchemicals.org) Recently, the global community kicked it up a notch by issuing a simple statement on hormone disrupting chemicals during negotiations on a process intended to achieve the sound management of chemicals globally by 2020 (called “SAICM”).  Despite seeming like an innocuous statement, it lays the groundwork to … Read More.

At the Crossroads for Global Chemical Safety

Next week, negotiators from over 150 countries and other stakeholders will convene in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the future of global chemicals management.  These critical negotiations come at decisive juncture for the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM), with only eight years left on its ambitious mandate to ensure sound chemicals management—eight years in which … Read More.

US Senate Committee Sends a Global Message on Eliminating Toxic Chemicals

For the first time in 36 years, the U.S. Congress took a significant step towards fixing the ineffective law that primarily governs the use of toxic chemicals in America’s workplaces, homes, schools, and almost every other facet of our everyday lives.  This is a monumental step, not just for the U.S., but for public health … Read More.

Vaccines and the Draft Mercury Treaty

Last week, the Associated Press reported that the international treaty being negotiated to address mercury pollution could ban vaccines that use mercury as a preservative. The preservative, thiomersal (also known as thimerosal), is widely used in vaccines that are distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions where refrigeration may not be available. The AP article … Read More.

The Ocean is not a Waste Dump!

The ocean is vital to the survival of all life on this planet: it is the source of our rainfall, it regulates are climate, it provides us with food, and it serves as the home of countless marine animals. I think we can all agree that the ocean is fundamental to our enjoyment of life. … Read More.

Known Unknowns

In reflecting on his revolutionary achievements, Sir Isaac Newton explained, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Implicit in this statement is the recognition of information as an essential part of the foundation for technological innovation. In the 21st century, information has captured the attention of a broad … Read More.

Limits to EJ & Climate Justice?

One of my daughters just returned from a one-week trip sponsored by SmileTrain to provide free medical care to underprivileged Colombians.  As expected, many of the patients had cleft palates.  Unexpectedly, many of the children had disfiguring and immobilizing burns suffered while working with hydrochloric acid processing cocaine.  Some children could not bend their elbows … Read More.