Regulatory Policy Implications of 1,4-Dioxane - Environmental Investigation and Remediation - page 455

eit her a rg u ment (e.g., t he M ich iga n MCL hea r i ngs proi led in Chapter 6) (Taverne, 2008). Nevertheless,
the doubts raised by campaigns to foment uncertainty about the potential harm of emerging contami-
nants must not be confused with proof that emerging contaminants are harmless (Davis, 2007).
The reliability of information on emerging contaminants is sometimes eroded by the sources of
the information. For example, a study of the effect of drinking naturally occurring perchlorate
occurring in three Chilean towns' water supplies presented compelling evidence that neonatal thy-
roid hormone ratios are not adversely affected (Tellez et al., 2005), yet the study was widely disre-
garded by key environmental groups because it was funded by a major producer of perchlorate. The
veracity of toxicology and risk assessment studies of emerging contaminants should be subjected to
the same level of healthy debate and independent verii cation as all scientii c endeavors, yet it is
difi cult, if not impossible, to escape industry-funded studies in the framework of limited govern-
ment funding for research into emerging contaminants. Scientists employed by Dow Chemical pub-
lished the dei nitive studies on 1,4-dioxane toxicity using physiologically based pharmacokinetic
(PBPK) modeling (Reitz et al., 1990). Recent rei nements to the PBPK models were funded by the
Dioxane Risk Management Consortium, an industry interest group formed to address the regulatory
response to 1,4-dioxane (Sweeney and Gargas, 2006; Sweeney et al., 2008).
The research-funding dilemma is well posed in a sage editorial commentary that appeared in a
special issue of Environmental Science and Technology focused on emerging contaminants, as
excerpted here (Field et al., 2006):
At present, regulatory communities are placed in a reactive, rather than proactive, position with respect
to identifying emerging contaminants and addressing public concern. This position is exacerbated in
situations where federal funding is provided only on a piecemeal, short-term basis and only for specii -
cally identii ed research needs, which by dei nition are reactionary calls to i ll data gaps. This approach
to funding generates short-term products for stakeholders, yet it leads to fragmentary science. In the
long term, such a piecemeal, constrained, and goal-oriented approach to environmental funding does not
allow for exploratory research that can be used to anticipate future environmental issues. Unfortunately,
in the U.S., few, if any, competitive funding vehicles exist for the discovery of new contaminants. In
addition, no cohesive plan exists to proactively screen and identify all contaminants of potential con-
cern. On the other hand, both Canada and the EU are actively developing plans [REACH] that will
place them in positions from which they can anticipate or thwart future environmental issues. *
The precautionary principle as a basis for the regulation of emerging contaminants is not without
its detractors. Opponents to this approach are concerned that a more precautionary approach to
forestalling potential environmental hazards will stil e innovation, economic productivity, and free
enterprise or that it may compromise science (McKenna and Sylvester, 2004). While the costs of
preventive actions are a legitimate concern for both business interests and regulatory agency bud-
gets, they are usually tangible, clearly allocated, and often short term. In contrast, the costs of fail-
ing to act are less tangible, less clearly distributed, and usually longer term, posing problems of
governance (EEA, 2000). Failure by industry and regulatory agencies to take the long-term view of
environmental risks has led to long latent periods between i rst exposures and late health effects. As
a result, a series of unstoppable consequences, decades long, were set in place before actions could
have been taken to stop further environmental exposures (EEA, 2000). Following decades of releas-
ing millions of tons of chlorol uorocarbons and other ozone-degrading compounds to the atmo-
sphere, impacts to the lower stratospheric ozone layer were unavoidable. The fungicide
hexachlorobenzene was detected in blood samples collected from 99.9% of 1800 Americans tested
in 2003 and 2004 despite a 1984 ban on the use of the chemical (Englehaupt, 2009). Similarly,
releases of MTBE and 1,4-dioxane to groundwater have led to the slow but inexorable migration of
these contaminants toward drinking water supply wells.
* Field, J.A., Johnson, A., and Rose, J.B., 2006, What is “emerging”? Environmental Science and Technology 40(23): 7105.
Used with permission.