Table of Toxic Chemicals

In 1998 the US Environmental Protection Agency did a study of the hazard data available on 2,863 chemicals that the US imported or produced in quantities greater than 1 million lbs/year. Most had never been tested to determine how toxic they were to humans or the environment. Only 7% of those chemicals had been subjected to the internationally accepted 6 basic tests. 43% had no available test data. Of the 203 chemicals on the toxic release inventory, only 54% had basic test data. Only 25% of 491 chemicals used by children and families in consumer products had full screening data. It would cost less than 0.2% of the total annual sales of the top 100 us chemical companies to fill all of the basic screening gaps for all these high production volume chemicals. - US EPA

Over 70,000 new chemicals have been brought into commercial production and released to the environment in the last 100 years.

More Toxics & Biotechnology Infographics

Sources

Column 2. "Late lessons from early warnings: the precautionary principle 1896-2000." Europen Environment Agency Environmental issue report No 22 http://reports.eea.eu.int/environmental_issue_report_2001_22/en/tab_content_RLR
UNEP General Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land Based Activities — History of Persistent Organic Pollutants" http://pops.gpa.unep.org/04histo.htm;
US EPA http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/perspect/lead.htm;
London Hazards Centre http://www.lhc.org.uk/members/pubs/books/asbestos/asb13.htm

Column 3. "Late lessons from early warnings: the precautionary principle 1896-2000." Europen Environment Agency Environmental issue report No 22 http://reports.eea.eu.int/environmental_issue_report_2001_22/en/tab_content_RLR
US EPA "Persistent Organic Pollutants: A Global Issue, A Global Response" http://www.epa.gov/international/toxics/pop.htm
Environmental Working Group http://www.ewg.org/reports/taintedcatch/part1.php
EPA http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lead/02.htm
LaDou, Joseph. "The Asbestos Cancer Epidemic" Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 112, Number 3, March 2004 http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2003/6704/6704.html

Column 4. US EPA Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) http://www.epa.gov/iris/index.html
US Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) http://www.osha.gov/dts/chemicalsampling/toc/toc_chemsamp.html

Column 5. EPA web site http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/pcbs/01.htm;
UNEP General Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land Based Activities — History of Persistent Organic Pollutants" http://pops.gpa.unep.org/04histo.htm and New York Times February 23, 2002 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F 70E13F93B5A0C708EDDAB0894DA404482&incamp=archive:search
UK Pesticide Safety Directorate http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/approvals.asp?id=55 and UNEP General Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land Based Activities — History of Persistent Organic Pollutants" http://pops.gpa.unep.org/04histo.htm

Column 6. US EPA Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) http://www.epa.gov/iris/index.html
US Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) http://www.osha.gov/dts/chemicalsampling/toc/toc_chemsamp.html

Tags: toxic chemicals, pcbs, ddt, dioxin, lead, mercury, asbestos, pbdes, toxic chemicals, toxics-biotechnology