United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics
(7409)
EPA742/F-98/020
November >998 —
&EPA
The goal of EPA's strategy is to farther
reduce risks to human health and 'the
environment from existing and future
exposure to priority PBT pollutants.
FACT SHEET
DRAFT MULTIMEDIA STRATEGY FOR
PRIORITY PERSISTENT,
BlOACCUMULATIVE, AND TOXIC (PBT)
__^_ POLLUTANTS
THE PROBLEM
Persistent, bioaccumulative toxic pollutants (PBTs)
are highly toxic, long-lasting substances that can
build up in the food chain to levels that are harmful
to 'human and ecosystem health. They are
associated with a range of adverse human .health
effects, including.effects on the nervous system,
reproductive and developmental problems, cancer, "
and genetic impacts. EPA's challenge in reducing - . . _ em A »
risks from PBTs stems from the pollutants' ability to 4 MAI N ELEM ENTS OF EPA S
travel long distances, to transfer rather easily ~
among air, water, and land, and to linger for oTRATEG Y.
generations in people and the environment.
™* Develop and implement national action
plans to reduce priority PBT pollutants,
utilizing the full range of EPA tools;
"^ Continue to screen and select more priority
PBT pollutants for action;
EPA is committed to protecting children and
women of child-bearing years from exposure
to PBTs, and reducing the concentration of
PBTs in our Nation's -waterways.
BETTER MONITORING OF PBTs IMPROVES
THE PUBLIC'S "RIGHT-TO-KNOW"
The-total number of fish consumption advisories (i.e.
consumption restrictions) in the United States increased
' by 80 percent from 1,278 in 1993 to 2,299 in 1997.
.''
, Change in Number of Fish Consumption Advisories from
1993-1997
Prevent new PBTs from entering the
marketplace; and,
•"^ Measure progress of these actions against
our Government Performance and Results Act
(GPRA) goals and national commitments.
Puerto Rico
Key
I [No change or decrease
[iijT] Increase (1-10)
Hjlncrease (11-30)
EPA's First 12 Priority PBT Pollutants
From the Canada- U.S. Binational Toxics
Strategy
aldrin/ dieldrin
benzo (a) pyrene
chlordane
DDT
hexachlorobenzene
alkyl-lead
mercury 85 compounds
mirex
octachlorostyrene
PCBs
dioxins & furans
toxaphene
^Increase (>30)
In addition, the following states have issued statewide advisories
for certain types of waters due to PBTs: ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, CT,
NJ, NY, OH, IN, Ml, MO, NC, AL, FL, LA, and TX.
-------
WHY IS A STRATEGY NEEDED?
To date, EPA actions to reduce emissions of
PBTs have been largely separate regulatory
activities aimed at different environmental
media (air, water, or land). Such actions will
now be better coordinated to assure, for
example, that regulations removing the
pollutant from air do not inadvertently result in
transferring the pollution to the land or water.
Developing an Agency-wide strategy enables
EPA to harness all of its tools ~ voluntary,
regulatory, international, enforcement,
compliance, and research -- and direct them at
a set of priority pollutants of common concern
to all EPA program offices.
HOW WILL EPA MAKE THIS
STRATEGY WORK?
EPA's strategy outlines a number of actions the
Agency will take to reduce exposures to and
uses of PBTs. Some of the near-term actions
include:
Preventing the introduction of new PBTs into
commerce that may pose an unreasonable risk to
human health and the environment, and to require
testing to confirm a chemical's PBT status. (Refer to
TSCA New Chemicals Federal Register Notice dated
10/5/98)
Encouraging voluntary reductions of priority
PBTs in hazardous waste. EPA's Office of Solid
Waste has challenged industry to voluntarily target
priority PBTs found in hazardous waste for waste
minimization activities. (EPA has proposed a list of
53 PBTs for this purpose in the draft RCRA PBT List
in the Federal Register Notice dated 11/9/98.)
Giving the public information on mercury
emissions from utilities. EPA will require
Utilities to conduct coal and emissions sampling for
mercury in order to analyze the link between
mercury emissions and sources.
Increasing the public's right-to-know about
local sources of PBT emissions. EPA's Toxics
Release Inventory (TRI) program will issue a
proposed rule in late 1998 that will add certain PBTs
to the Toxics Release Inventory and lower reporting
thresholds for PBTs already on TRI so that the
public will have the right to know about these
pollutants.
Evaluating fish in U.S. water bodies for PBT
contamination. EPA's Office of Water will conduct
a comprehensive study of PBT contamination in fish
tissue as an indication of PBT contamination in our
nation's water bodies.
WHY ARE PARTNERSHIPS SO
IMPORTANT?
EPA cannot do this alone and will rely on close
cooperation with its regulatory partners to
carry out these shared priorities. EPA will need
their input to ensure that local and regional
PBT problems are adequately addressed.
Additionally, EPA will be engaging in
partnerships with industry, environmental
groups, and the public and will strive to fully
involve stakeholders. Long-term success will
be based on cooperative efforts that are
mutually beneficial. The following partnerships
exemplify the spirit of EPA's Strategy:
i/ The American Hospitals Association (AHA),
Healthcare Without Harm (HWH), and the EPA
reached a landmark agreement with the goal of
virtually eliminating mercury-containing waste
from hospital waste streams by the year 2005.
t/' Three Indiana steel facilities - Bethlehem
Steel Burns Harbor, Ispat Inland Inc. Indiana
Harbor Works, and U.S. Steel Gary Works -
signed an agreement to reduce the use of
mercury at their facilities through pollution
prevention.
/ The Chlor-alkali sector of the chemical
industry has committed to reduce mercury use
by 50 percent by 2005.
HOW DO I FIND OUT MORE?
For copies of EPA's Draft PBT Strategy
and other related documents, call the
Pollution Prevention Information
Clearinghouse at (202) 260-1023.
Documents are also available on the
World Wide Web at:
http://www.epa.gov/pbt
------- |