Toxic Substances

American industry releases millions of tons of toxic chemicals each year, endangering human health and the environment. The production, storage, transportation, use, and disposal of toxic chemicals also pose serious risks. Several states have passed laws to minimize the use of toxic chemicals, and recent congressional hearings have examined how the federal government can help reduce the use of these chemicals. This report provides information obtained from state and industry officials as well as environmental groups on (1) the environmental and economic advantages of reducing the use of toxic chemicals, (2) barriers to firms' reducing their use of toxic chemicals, and (3) actions taken by states to encourage firms to reduce their use of toxic chemicals.

GAO found that: (1) reductions in the production and use of toxic chemicals can reduce the risk of adverse health and environmental effects, in addition to creating such economic advantages as reductions in costs for waste disposal and control and raw materials; (2) firms can also incur expenses by changing their production processes to improve efficiency or by purchasing substitute chemicals; (3) firms have tried to comply with federal and state pollution laws by controlling their releases of toxic chemicals, rather than by changing their production processes; (4) small- and medium-sized firms often lack the capital to acquire technology to reduce their use of toxics; (5) 10 states have enacted laws to promote reductions in the use of toxic chemicals; (6) state measures include developing toxic use reduction plans for industrial facilities, providing technical assistance, and establishing reporting systems; and (7) industry officials generally did not favor external reporting of toxics use reduction because of their concerns over proprietary data.