Chemical Exposures Cost California $2.6 Billion in 2004

As a result, diseases among Californians who are exposed to chemicals and pollution cost the state's insurers, businesses and families an estimated $2.6 billion in direct and indirect costs during 2004, says the report, released Thursday together with a set of recommended policy reforms for the state.

The California Environmental Protection Agency commissioned the Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health, COEH, at UC Berkeley and UCLA to prepare the report.

Dr. John Balmes (Photo courtesy UC Berkeley)

"This report, for the first time, puts cost estimates on the consequences for Californians of current chemical and product management policies," said COEH director Dr. John Balmes, a professor of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley and a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco.

"California has shown that creating new jobs and investment opportunities can go hand in hand with protecting human health and the environment," said Dr. Balmes. "We have been doing this with vehicle emissions and energy use, and this new report makes it obvious that we will need to do the same with chemicals and products."

In 2004, more than 200,000 California workers were diagnosed with deadly, chronic diseases, such as cancer and emphysema, attributable to chemical exposures in the workplace, according to the report. Another 4,400 died as a result of those diseases.

Equipment for chrome plating to produce bright, shiny surfaces on consumer products (Photo courtesy California Air Resources Board)

The new findings, based on well-established methodology for analyzing economic impact, indicate that those diseases resulted in $1.4 billion in both direct medical costs and indirect costs that include lost wages and benefits.

An additional $1.2 billion in direct and indirect costs is attributed to 240,000 cases of preventable childhood diseases related to environmental exposure to chemical substances, the report says.

The existing problems and recommended policy changes are detailed in the report, "Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable California," which has been endorsed by 127 faculty members from seven UC campuses, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The report presents data from the California's Department of Toxic Substances Control showing that 61 of the state's 85 largest hazardous waste sites are leaking toxics directly into groundwater.

An estimated one million California women of reproductive age have blood mercury levels that exceed what the federal government considers safe for fetal development.

California leads the nation in the number of pounds of pesticide applied, and each year pesticides poison hundreds of workers.

Although chemical exposures are relevant to the general population, two groups - children and workers - are particularly vulnerable, the report states. Immigrants, minorities, and lower-income groups in California are more likely to experience the highest levels of exposure, both as residents and as workers.

Lettuce pickers in a California field (Photo courtesy California Department of Public Health)

The standard regulatory mechanism for protecting workers from chemical exposures is the Permissible Exposure Limit, PEL, which establishes an exposure level considered safe for most workers, based on a 40 hour workweek. While California has established 688 PELs - compared to 453 federal PELs - this represents only a small fraction of the hazardous chemicals and mixtures to which workers are potentially exposed.

PELs have not been established in California for 44 workplace carcinogens, the report states.

With global chemical production predicted to increase 330 percent by 2050, health problems related to environmental contamination are likely to grow unless comprehensive steps are taken now, the report's authors say.

"Green chemistry," the use of renewable and safer raw materials, manufacturing processes and products, offers a sustainable solution, according to the report.

"Research conducted in the past decade has provided ample evidence of significant health impacts from exposure to toxic chemicals," said John Froines, COEH director at UCLA and a professor of environmental health sciences.

"It is timely for California to reduce the use of toxic agents through innovative technological approaches available through green chemistry. New policies that prevent hazards rather than cleaning up problems after the fact will foster innovation and help green chemistry emerge as a central part of our economy," said Froines.

The report calls on California to lead the nation in implementing a comprehensive approach to the management of chemicals and products by:

• Passing new laws to remedy the insufficient data available on the toxicity of chemicals so that California businesses, regulators and consumers can make informed choices about the products they use.


• Providing California agencies with a new legal framework to enable them to act when there are reasonable concerns about a product's safety, even when complete hazard or tracking data are unavailable.


• Investing in the design of chemicals, materials and manufacturing processes that are inherently safer for humans.

That legislation did not pass and is expected to be reintroduced in 2008.

The report is online at the UCLA Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at www.coeh.ucla.edu/greenchemistry.pdf

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