EPA hazard list criticised
EPA hazard list criticised
Keywords Corrosion,Environment, Zinc
The American Zinc Association (AZA) is criticising the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)recently released Prioritised Chemical List for ranking zinc as more hazardous than cyanide, mustard gas, paraquat, and a host of other chemicals recognised as deadly.
The list, intended as a waste minimisation guide for regulators and industry, ranks approximately 800 chemicals for human and ecological risk. The AZA says the EPA's assigned human-toxicity value for zinc is invalid because it was derived solely from data on aquatic and marine organisms. "Basing human toxicity on plants and marine data is akin to a surgeon operating on a human on the basis of X-rays of a fish," says AZA Executive Director George Vary. "The patient would have a good claim for medical malpractice, and zinc has a solid claim for bureaucratic malpractice against EPA."
