Bad Chemistry

The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that the American Chemistry Council (ACC) systematically obstructs science-based chemical regulations to protect industry profits. The report details the ACC's use of 'revolving door' lobbyists, political donations to key congressional committees, and the promotion of flawed industry-funded studies to delay regulations on substances like BPA, flame retardants, and formaldehyde. It further examines the ACC's efforts to weaken the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), limit public access to chemical facility risk data, and influence international trade agreements like the TTIP to prevent the regulation of endocrine disruptors.

• The ACC exerts significant political influence through high lobbying expenditures and a 'revolving door' where nearly 70 percent of its federal lobbyists in the 2013–2014 cycle previously held government positions.
• The ACC has actively worked to prevent the regulation of Bisphenol A (BPA) by encouraging federal agencies to prioritize industry-funded studies following Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) over independent academic research.
• The chemical industry has fought to maintain the use of flame retardants despite evidence that they can make fires more toxic and are linked to lower IQ in children, early puberty in girls, endocrine disruption, birth defects, and cancer.
• The ACC and its allies have spent years delaying a national standard for formaldehyde in wood products, despite the chemical being classified as a known human carcinogen.
• The ACC has opposed updated regulations for crystalline silica, challenging the scientific basis for OSHA's 2013 proposal to tighten permissible exposure limits to protect workers from silicosis.
• The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976 is described as ineffective, having allowed over 62,000 chemicals to be 'grandfathered' in without safety testing.
• The ACC has lobbied for TSCA reforms that would include preemption clauses, which would prevent states from enacting more protective chemical regulations than the federal government.
• The ACC successfully influenced the EPA to limit public access to Risk Management Plan (RMP) data for chemical facilities, restricting it to physical reading rooms rather than an online database.
• In international trade, the ACC and the European Chemical Industry Council secretly proposed draft texts for the TTIP to use regulatory differences to block the regulation of endocrine disruptors (EDCs).

APA

Goldman, G., Carlson, C., & Zhang, Y. (2015). Bad Chemistry. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/ucs-american-chemistry-council-report-2015.pdf

Chicago

Goldman, Gretchen, Christina Carlson, and Yixuan Zhang. Bad Chemistry. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2015. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/ucs-american-chemistry-council-report-2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Goldman |first1=Gretchen |last2=Carlson |first2=Christina |last3=Zhang |first3=Yixuan |title=Bad Chemistry |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=July 2015 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/ucs-american-chemistry-council-report-2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{goldman2015bad, author = {Goldman, Gretchen and Carlson, Christina and Zhang, Yixuan}, title = {{Bad Chemistry}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2015}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/ucs-american-chemistry-council-report-2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }