Toward a Toxic Partnership

The report argues that the EU's proposed regulatory cooperation on chemicals under TTIP aligns too closely with industry interests and threatens to undermine EU chemical laws. It specifically warns that cooperation on prioritizing chemicals, classification alignment, and 'new and emerging issues' like endocrine disruptors could freeze progress on toxic substance regulation and stifle the transition to safer alternatives. The authors conclude that meaningful cooperation is impossible without significant structural reform of the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

• The European Commission's vision for TTIP in the chemicals sector is heavily influenced by industry proposals, incorporating five of eight specific suggestions from the chemical industry and leaving the door open for the remaining three through a 'living agreement' and a regulatory cooperation council.
• Proposed cooperation in prioritizing chemicals for assessment may reduce or delay the number of substances undergoing risk management. The report notes that there is little regulatory efficiency to be gained because the US and EU already have very little overlap in their priority lists, with only ten chemicals overlapping out of over 230.
• Efforts to align chemical classification and labelling could lower protection levels in US states that have implemented standards exceeding national or Global Harmonised System (GHS) requirements, such as California.
• Regulatory cooperation on 'new and emerging issues' is viewed as a threat to the regulation of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and nanomaterials. The report suggests that US trade pressure and industry lobbying may already be pushing the EU toward weaker risk-assessment approaches for EDCs that mirror US laws.
• Proposed enhancements to information sharing and the protection of confidential business information (CBI) could decrease transparency and the public's right-to-know, particularly as the EU is bound by the Aarhus Convention to disclose certain environmental information that the US may treat as confidential.
• The authors assert that structural reform of the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is a fundamental prerequisite for any genuine trans-Atlantic regulatory cooperation, as current US laws do not allow for the systematic substitution of hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2014). Toward a Toxic Partnership. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ToxicPartnership_Jun2014.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Toward a Toxic Partnership. 2014. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ToxicPartnership_Jun2014.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Toward a Toxic Partnership |date=July 2014 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ToxicPartnership_Jun2014.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2014toward, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Toward a Toxic Partnership}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2014}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ToxicPartnership_Jun2014.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }