In 1998, Washington state adopted a groundbreaking policy to eliminate persistent toxic chemicals. To carry out this policy, the state Departments of Health and Ecology have developed “chemical action plans,” which evaluate the exposures, uses, and toxic effects of a chemical, and its potential alternatives. This process has brought important information gaps to light. While attempting to determine the availability of safer alternatives to deca-PBDE, for example, the departments had no access to basic data on persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of alternative chemicals. The state resorted to computer modeling to predict the alternative chemicals’ behavior, but this solution was far from perfect.

State agencies have been further frustrated by the lack of information about which companies use what chemicals, and which chemicals end up in a company’s final products. This information gap is highlighted when agencies attempt to control specific chemicals, such as PBDEs or lead, and find that they must either conduct their own testing or beg companies for information. Without access to this information, agencies are limited in their ability to assist industry in reducing pollution or switching to safer materials.