New York Advisory Council Green Procurement Chemical Avoidance List Released Publicly

As we reported last month, the Sustainability and Green Procurement Advisory Council (Advisory Council) of the New York Interagency Committee on Sustainability and Green Procurement (Interagency Committee) voted 9-1 to recommend creating a “chemical avoidance list” that would be a list of chemicals that New York government agencies should avoid buying. The list would comply with Governor David Paterson’s 2008 Executive Order directing state agencies, public authorities, and public benefit corporations to buy environmentally friendly products. The Interagency Committee met more recently on December 22, 2009, to allow both sides of the issue to present their reasons for supporting and opposing the list. Following the presentations, the Interagency Committee submitted the list to its Procurement Subcommittee for further consideration and recommendation.

The Advisory Council recommended that the Interagency Committee adopt a Priority Chemical Avoidance List that includes approximately 94 substances:

1. Persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals found in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Waste Minimization Priority List;
2. Carcinogens listed in the National Toxicology Program’s Report on Carcinogens as substances “known or reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”;
3. Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE) banned by New York State law (octa and penta) and classified as a possible human carcinogen by EPA (deca);
4. Bisphenol A (BPA), “as a growing number of governments and companies are taking action to phase out the use of BPA due to significant weight of evidence that shows environmental and health risks”; and
5. Perfluorinated compounds, “as a growing number of governments and companies are taking action to phase out the use of such compounds due to significant weight of evidence that shows environmental and health risks.”

The Advisory Council recommended that the Interagency Committee provide the proposed Chemical Avoidance List for public comment. The Advisory Council intends to assess annually and make recommendations to the Interagency Committee to add any new chemicals to the list. The letter from the Advisory Council Chair to the Interagency Committee is available online, the Advisory Council’s recommendation is available online, Advisory Council Member Steve Rosario’s dissenting opinion is available online, and the list of chemicals is available online.

*   *   *   *   *

We hope this information is helpful. As always, please call if you have any questions.