STATEMENT OF CARROLL MUFFETT PRESIDENT AND CEO CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (CIEL) ON BEHALF OF CIEL, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AND SIERRA CLUB BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE SUB-COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING AND TRADE HEARING ON THE U.S. – E.U. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: TIPPING OVER THE REGULATORY BARRIERS

Carroll Muffett, President and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), provided testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 24, 2013, regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The statement argues that TTIP could undermine public health and environmental protections, particularly in the chemicals sector, by prioritizing the removal of regulatory barriers over safety standards. Muffett advocates for the retention of national rights to determine health protection levels and the exclusion of investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms.

• The current chemical regulation system is inadequate for the modern economy, evidenced by rising cancer rates and increased chemical concentrations in human bodies. Public health is a core government responsibility that is not being adequately addressed regarding chemicals.
• Harmonization under TTIP risks creating a "lowest-common denominator" for regulatory standards, which would decrease public protection in favor of private interests. This is contrasted with the EU's REACH regulation, which uses a hazard-based approach to drive innovation away from hazardous chemicals, whereas the U.S. uses a risk-based approach under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that often leaves the EPA "almost paralyzed to take action."
• Mutual recognition agreements in the chemicals sector are deemed inappropriate because they could effectively erase restrictions that exist in only one jurisdiction. For example, the EU has banned 1,328 chemicals from cosmetics, while the U.S. FDA has banned or restricted only eleven.
• Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) allows foreign corporations to bypass domestic courts and sue governments in private tribunals, which can undermine public health and environmental laws. The document notes that over US $365 million has been paid to foreign investors in NAFTA-style cases, and $13.1 billion is involved in 16 pending claims related to public interest policies.
• TTIP provisions could preempt protective laws at the sub-federal level in the U.S. and the national level in EU member countries. This includes potential interference with state-level initiatives in California, Maine, and Washington, as well as EU member state moratoria on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in France, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, and the Czech Republic.
• A U.S.-EU trade agreement may exert a "chilling effect" on the development of chemical regulations in other regions, such as the BRIICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, South Africa). The chemical industry views TTIP as an opportunity to set a global standard that could discourage other countries from adopting more stringent measures than those in the U.S. or EU.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2013). STATEMENT OF CARROLL MUFFETT PRESIDENT AND CEO CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (CIEL) ON BEHALF OF CIEL, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AND SIERRA CLUB BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE SUB-COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING AND TRADE HEARING ON THE U.S. – E.U. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: TIPPING OVER THE REGULATORY BARRIERS. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Muffett_Statement_24Jul2013.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. STATEMENT OF CARROLL MUFFETT PRESIDENT AND CEO CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (CIEL) ON BEHALF OF CIEL, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AND SIERRA CLUB BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE SUB-COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING AND TRADE HEARING ON THE U.S. – E.U. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: TIPPING OVER THE REGULATORY BARRIERS. 2013. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Muffett_Statement_24Jul2013.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=STATEMENT OF CARROLL MUFFETT PRESIDENT AND CEO CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (CIEL) ON BEHALF OF CIEL, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AND SIERRA CLUB BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE SUB-COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING AND TRADE HEARING ON THE U.S. – E.U. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: TIPPING OVER THE REGULATORY BARRIERS |date=24 July 2013 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Muffett_Statement_24Jul2013.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2013statement, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{STATEMENT OF CARROLL MUFFETT PRESIDENT AND CEO CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (CIEL) ON BEHALF OF CIEL, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AND SIERRA CLUB BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE SUB-COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MANUFACTURING AND TRADE HEARING ON THE U.S. – E.U. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: TIPPING OVER THE REGULATORY BARRIERS}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2013}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Muffett_Statement_24Jul2013.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }