Word: epa
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Radioactive wastes are the current gloomy spectre, but all types of hazardous wastes may haunt officials in the future. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently considering regulations to change waste disposal procedures. Should the regulations be implemented, says Carl Gerber of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, the number of wastes defined as "hazardous" will expand. The proposed EPA rules, says Coddington, are "written with an industrial setting in mind." The typical industry, he says, deals with tens of thousand of gallons of only a few hazardous materials. "But in a health laboratory," he continues...
...John I. Clemons, safety engineer in the medical area office of environmental health and safety, estimates that about 30 to 40 per cent of Harvard's medical research produces some kind of hazardous waste. "At the moment there is no problem," Clemons says. But he quickly adds that the EPA regulations may generate substantial problems, including cutbacks in research projects. The proposed regulations would apply to infectious wastes--those generated by hospitals. A study by Clemons' office indicates that, if the EPA regulations are implemented as proposed, a Harvard-affiliated hospital which currently spends about $50,000 annually for disposal...
...hazardous waste issue piecemeal. Coddington believes Harvard's "each tub on its own bottom" philosophy--giving each school policy autonomy--has prevented the formation of a University-wide policy. "We have not attacked the problem in a coordinated way," he says. Federal officials are equally frustrated. While the EPA, NRC and other agencies struggle to promulgate rules and regulations, jurisdictional disputes are likely to erupt. Some are optimistic that disposal problems will be resolved, but others are not. "It's pure anarchy," says one official who asks not to be identified, "and everyone's going to suffer...
...Environmental Protection Agency, however, is the worst of the three agencies. Some carcinogenic pesticides continue to be used, although many scientists believe there is no safe level of use. The EPA entirely exempts from regulation what it calls "inert" chemicals, which may be mixed with pesticides to increase their effectiveness, even though many inert chemicals are poisonous. The EPA also uses a data base collected 15 years ago to estimate how much of what foods the average individual consumes today--data which Congress says "borders on the absurd." Since the EPA study was made in 1965, Congress reports, "We have...
Even if Congress is stirred into action, though, the Office of Technology Assessment notes that increased regulation by the FDA, USDA, and EPA "are not likely to prevent the deliberate or accidental misuse or disposal of the thousands of toxic substances manufactured in the U.S." The answer, then, is to create incentives within industry, and so to encourage industry to regulate itself. This answer has been proposed in a bill coming up in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-Cal.), H.R. 4973 imposes a minimum of two years in jail and a fine...