http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/
California's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sign an agreement that gives added momentum to California's groundbreaking push for safer chemicals in everyday products. The agreement, known as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), is a major advance for Californians looking to buy safer children's toys, personal care products and other products.
Script:
Safer Consumer Products -- DTSC and US EPA sign MOU
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Nats of Event -- SOT of Debbie Raphael, DTSC Director
Today is truly a celebration of a path forward.
VO:
California's Department of Toxic Substances Control and US EPA are partnering up to push for safer chemicals in everyday products. It's part of DTSC's efforts to protect California's consumers.
Nat's of document signing
VO:
DTSC and US EPA signed the agreement combining the two agencies resources at Kaiser Permanente's Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center in San Leandro.
SOT of Debbie Raphael, DTSC Director
We want every resident of California to have confidence that when they walk into the market, when they walk into a business, when they walk into a hospital, they don't have to worry that the products they buy contain toxic chemicals.
SOT of Jim Jones, Acting Administrator US EPA
It marks the beginning of a collaboration between our agencies whereby we're going to be bringing the expertise the we have at the EPA to the expertise that DTSC has to help us identify more quickly and effectively some alternatives to chemicals that are of concern.
VO:
Getting harmful chemicals out of consumer products is the goal of both DTSC and US EPA. It's also the goal for one of the country's largest healthcare groups.
Bite of Kathy Gerwig, Kaiser Permanente
We care about the health of our patients and our communities and because of that we want to see chemicals that are not harmful to human health in every product that we buy.
NATS of tour
VO:
Kaiser Permanente runs The Garfield innovation Center. The center is a world leader in the advancement of medical practices using real world situations in a controlled environment. The national health care provider is also one of the largest consumers of green health care products. Kaiser spends billions of dollars on products that are manufactured with safer chemicals.
SOT of Kathy Gerwig, Kaiser Permanente
I would love to kill the myth that being green costs more. What we've found in our experience// is that overall we save money by making sustainable choices. Environmental sustainability is good for business.
NATS of Tour
VO:
Kaiser is constantly asking manufacturers 'is this harsh chemical necessary' and it's paying off.
SOT of Kathy Gerwig, Kaiser Permanente
We have a product used in the operating room that we're visiting today, a rigid endoscope...we use a new version of it that can be steam sterilized instead of chemically sterilized. That means we're not using a lot chemicals and in that contract we're saving a million dollars a year.
SOT of Debbie Raphael, DTSC Director
Kaiser buys materials as a consumer that would benefit all sorts of business....not just the health care industry. When Kaiser says we want a carpet without PVC backing or we want tubing that doesn't have DEHP which is a toxic chemical that can cause harm in newborn babies.// They get what they're looking for in the marketplace and then the rest of us benefit as well.
NAT SOT of Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator US EPA
We want people to know what is in the products that they're buying.
SOT of Debbie Raphael, DTSC Director
State Government, Federal Government, private industry all working towards that same end. To make sure that the products on our shelves...the products that companies buy ...the products that people buy ...all of them are made with human health and the environment in mind.
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