Green Chemistry Bill Reintroduced in House

Washington, DC, March 14--Legislation that would increase the federal focus on green chemistry to discover more environmentally benign chemical products and processes was reintroduced in the House of Representatives last week. Nearly identical legislation was overwhelmingly approved by the House in the previous Congress (on April 21, 2004) by a vote of 402 to 14. The bill, H.R. 1215 was introduced by Representatives Phil Gingrey (R-GA), Jim Marshall (D-GA), Environment, Technology, and Standards Subcommittee Chairman Vernon J. Ehlers (R-MI), and Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY). Companion legislation is expected to be introduced in the Senate by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). H.R. 1215 has been endorsed by, among others, the American Chemical Society (ACS), DuPont, Rohm & Haas, Genencor International, Pfizer, Shaw Industries, and the Carpet and Rug Institute. The legislation is scheduled for consideration by Science Committee on Thursday, March 17. Speaking on the House floor, Rep. Gingrey, the lead sponsor of H.R. 1215 explained the importance of a new federal focus on green chemistry. "Chemical manufacturing is the source of many products upon which we depend such as medicines, plastics, fuels, and fabrics. "However, chemical manufacturing has at times resulted in harm to the environment and human health. The goal of green chemistry is to minimize or, ideally, to eliminate this potential harm. It is defined as chemistry and chemical engineering that designs chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances while producing high quality products through a safe and effective manufacturing process. By factoring the elimination of hazardous byproducts into the design of products and processes, chemists can design chemicals to be safe, just as they can design them to have other properties, such as color or texture." The Green Chemistry Research and Development Act, seeks to promote green chemistry by authorizing a coordinated green chemistry research and development (R&D) program. It would use existing funds, at the Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Department of Energy for R&D grants, promotion of green chemistry education, and collection and dissemination of information about green chemistry.

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