Industry hopes Schwarzenegger will nix ban bill

05 September 2007 23:15  [Source: ICIS news]

SAN FRANCISCO (ICIS news)--California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s posture on chemistry-related issues has industry interests hopeful that he will veto a controversial bill that would prohibit the use of polybrominated diphenyl ether and some other phthalates in toys and child-care products, an industry spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Schwarzenegger had not taken a position on the measure, Assembly Bill 1108, which is aimed at children under three years old, a spokeswoman with the governor’s press office said. The Senate gave the bill final legislative approval on Tuesday.

Once the Legislature adjourns, Schwarzenegger will have 30 days to sign the bill, veto it, or passively allow it to become law, the governor’s spokeswoman said. 

Adjournment was expected sometime between this Friday and the following Friday, she said.

Marian Stanley, a senior director of the American Chemistry Council, said there was reason to hope for a veto. 

Stanley, who manages the group’s Phthalates Esters Panel, said Schwarzenegger’s approach has been to deal with chemical issues on a broad rather than an individual-substance basis, in order not to get bogged down by a high volume of related legislation.

At Schwarzenegger’s direction, the California Environmental Protection Agency was developing a “green chemistry” programme that is scientifically based.

The agency recommended a series of amendments for the phthalates ban bill, Stanley said, but they were rejected by the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, who represents the west side of San Francisco.

The ACC was avoiding discussing the potential economic impact of the bill for antitrust and competition-related reasons, Stanley said. With only two US companies producing phthalates, “each competitor would know what the other is doing” if any dollar figures were mentioned, she said.

By: Richard Knee
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