Government Concentrates

EPA rejects request to waive oxygen requirement in gasoline

States that have banned the oxygen-boosting additive methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) must continue to use ethanol or another oxygen-boosting additive in cleaner burning gasoline sold in smog-prone areas, EPA determined on June 2. EPA rejected requests from California, New York, and Connecticut to waive a Clean Air Act requirement that cleaner burning, or reformulated, gasoline contain 2% oxygen by weight. The decision is a significant victory for ethanol manufacturers and corn growers, who produce most of the raw material used to make the alcohol. The three states each banned MTBE in gasoline because the additive is contaminating their drinking water supplies. Instead, they use ethanol as an oxygenate in reformulated gasoline, but say the practice raises the price of the fuel without an accompanying improvement in air quality. In addition, refiners can produce cleaner burning gasoline without oxygen additives, the states say. The requirement for an oxygen additive in reformulated gasoline "can only be waived if a state demonstrates that it prevents or interferes with the state's ability to meet national air quality standards," says Jeffrey R. Holmstead, EPA assistant administrator for air and radiation. "California, New York, and Connecticut did not make this demonstration." This marks the second time EPA has rejected a request from California for a waiver (C&EN, June 18, 2001, page 10).

Army studying chemical arms fires

Five fires at chemical weapons disposal facilities at Umatilla, Ore., and Pine Bluff, Ark., have occurred during the destruction of sarin-filled rockets over a one-and-a-half-month period this spring. Since 1990, fires have occurred infrequently at all Army destruction facilities during the disposal of these rockets, but the sheer number of them in such a short period now has prompted the Army to undertake an investigation. During the disposal process, the nerve agent is drained from the rockets, which are then taken to an explosive containment room where they are cut into eight pieces. It is during the fifth or seventh cuts that the fires have occurred. There has been no release of sarin to the environment, and no worker has been harmed. The Army is analyzing, at its New Jersey armament lab, the rockets' aging propellant as a possible cause of the fires. Despite the two fires at Pine Bluff, destruction has continued there, but Oregon environmental officials have ordered a halt to destruction at the Umatilla site. The Army believes that order will be lifted shortly. To date, 14,500 rockets have been incinerated at Umatilla and more than 8,800 at Pine Bluff.

Drug safety system broken

On June 8, the Institute of Medicine held its first public meeting on the nation's system for ensuring the safety of drugs after approval. At the hearing, Janet Woodcock, FDA's acting deputy commissioner for operations, testified that the system "has broken down to some extent." It is quite good at picking up rare serious adverse events, such as liver failure, after drugs are marketed, she said, but it is poor at detecting increased frequency of more common events, such as heart attacks, that also occur in people not taking the drug. Also, the system has difficulty detecting adverse side effects that occur in the very sick or in those who are taking multiple drugs. When a drug is approved, "we really don't know who should take the drug and who will get side effects," Woodcock said. One way to learn about problems with drugs on the market is to analyze the health records from managed-care organizations, but Congress has not appropriated funds for this. Currently, she said, no entity, government or otherwise, is charged with evaluating the comparative safety of drugs and the long-term outcomes of therapy. The IOM report on the postmarket review system will be published sometime next year. In the meantime, the institute will host several more public meetings on the issue.

Chemical firms entitled to tariff dollars

Dozens of chemical companies are eligible for money distributed under a federal law that has the U.S. in trouble with its trading partners, according to U.S. Customs & Border Protection. The agency earlier this month announced the names of businesses, including large and small chemical manufacturers, that are entitled to money in 2005 under the Continued Dumping & Subsidy Offset Act. That law is better known as the Byrd amendment, named after its author, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), who tacked it onto a federal spending bill in 2000. The Byrd amendment directs Customs to give to companies the tariffs it collects from their foreign competitors that sell goods in the U.S. at below-market prices. The World Trade Organization has twice ruled that the Byrd amendment violates international trade rules. WTO is allowing some countries to respond by collecting punitive tariffs on U.S. goods. Canada and the European Union in April began adding a 15% surtax to many U.S. imports--but not chemicals-- because Congress has not changed the Byrd amendment (C&EN, April 18, page 32).

Government asked to evaluate fluoride

An advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, has petitioned the National Toxicology Program to list fluoride in tap water in its Report on Carcinogens. The report lists substances that are known or reasonably anticipated to cause cancer in humans. EWG says there is a strong body of peer-reviewed evidence showing that fluoride causes a rare form of childhood bone cancer in boys who are exposed during a critical period of bone growth. The most recent research is a 2001 dissertation by Elise B. Bassin at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine that found a strong, statistically significant relationship between exposure to fluoride in tap water and osteosarcoma in young males. Other studies, such as one published by the New Jersey Department of Health in 1992, also indicate that fluoride causes an increased risk of osteosarcoma in young males. "We recognize the potential benefit of fluoride to dental health, but there is very compelling evidence that fluoride can cause cancer in boys," says EWG Senior Vice President Richard Wiles.