The Green Revolution

This month's chemical scare concerns bisphenol A, or BPA, a substance in plastics that may or may not be reprogramming our children's genes to make them more susceptible to cancer and other horrifying afflictions. BPA is not to be confused with phthalates (last month's chemical scare), plasticizers often found in personal hygiene products that might alter children's hormones. If you're not fazed by these two, consider that your blood probably contains 148 industrial chemicals whose effects on human health are largely unproven but that have been linked to neurological disorders, endocrine and immune system ailments, reproductive problems and organ failure, not to mention the Big C.

Recent news reports about BPA, which is often found in polycarbonate containers stamped with the recycle number 7, doubtless prompted many worried consumers to rummage through their cabinets and toss out anything with the dreaded digit on the bottom. It would be nice if we could protect ourselves that easily. In truth, dangerous industrial chemicals are so ubiquitous in the products filling our homes, and these products are so inadequately labeled, that they are essentially unavoidable. That may be about to change.

The state of California is joining Europe and Canada in an international movement whose aim is almost absurdly ambitious: to overturn the Industrial Revolution, or at least start a new one called the Green Revolution. The state is exploring sweeping changes in such areas as building design, vehicle efficiency and energy generation to cut pollutants and reduce its carbon footprint. But perhaps the most complex undertaking of all is an attempt to reinvent industrial chemistry.

There are about 80,000 industrial chemicals used in the United States today, many of which are thought to have a deadly impact on humans and the environment -- yet the companies that make and use them are not required to disclose or investigate their hazardous effects. In California alone there are 208,000 annual cases of chronic disease and 4,400 deaths linked to chemical exposure at the workplace, producing healthcare costs of $1.4 billion. That doesn't count the sickness and deaths of people who are exposed simply by breathing the air, slathering themselves with poisonous lotions or drinking out of containers made from toxic plastic.