Message From the Chair

Kipp Coddington
Alston & Bird, LLP
Washington, D.C.

On behalf of the leadership of the Committee on Pesticides, Chemical Regulation, and Right-To-Know, welcome to another busy year of Committee activities. The Committee is pleased to report that it has moved from "Special" status to that of a regular Committee, as of the Section's Fall Council Meeting.

I encourage everyone to attend the Committee's program on genotoxinomics that will be held at the Section's 32nd Annual Conference on Environmental Law in Keystone, Colorado, scheduled for March 13-16, 2003. The program will be moderated by Publications Vice-Chair Lynn Bergeson. Toxicogenomics is an emerging scientific field that combines studies of genetics, genetic susceptibility, gene expression, and bioinformatics to understand the roles of gene-environment interactions in disease. Toxicogenomic data increasingly are having an impact on risk assessments, toxic tort litigation, and environmental regulation. While there are clear benefits of toxicogenomics, significant information on an individual's susceptibility to disease has many vexing legal, scientific, and social implications to individuals involved in disputes regarding environmental exposure. Lynn's panel will discuss the National Center for Toxicogenomics, how toxicogenomic data can be used in risk assessment and in other regulatory contexts, and how this emerging area likely will revolutionize theories in toxic tort cases, risk assessment, and environmental regulation.

As he has done for many years, Pesticides Vice-Chair Kenneth Weinstein has planned a series of quarterly meetings to discuss and share information about current legal and policy developments affecting pesticides. The meetings will be held at the Washington, D.C. offices of Latham & Watkins (555 11th St., N.W., Suite 1000) on the following dates: Nov. 19, 2002; Jan. 21, 2003; April 1, 2003; and June 17, 2003.

Chemicals/Right-to-Know Vice-Chair Herb Estreicher, along with Larry Culleen and Jim Chen (vice-chairs for Alternative Programs and Technology, respectively), intend to hold a half-day meeting sometime in December 2002 to address antimicrobials. Details about the meeting, along with information about all Committee activities, will be posted on the Web site (http://www.abanet.org/environ/committees/pesticides/) when they become available.

In late 2002, we intend to hold a brown bag meeting on the recently released Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Issued in response to an Office of Management & Budget policy directive under Section 515(a) of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001, the Guidelines have the potential to significantly change the way EPA manages information, including data related to chemicals, pesticides, and facility operations under a variety of right-to-know programs. The Guidelines are intended to impose information quality standards on EPA, and - perhaps most importantly - provide mechanisms by which affected parties can seek relief.

In response to the ongoing policy debates about homeland security, including the possible creation of a new Department of Homeland Security, we intend to hold a program in early 2003 on the relationship between right-to-know and security policy. A key part of the program will be a discussion of S. 1602, the pending legislation sponsored by Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) that would require as many as 15,000 chemical facilities to submit detailed facility security plans to EPA. Those plans would have to assess vulnerabilities and describe the measures that the facility was taking to address security and theft weaknesses. Perhaps most significantly from a right-to-know perspective, the bill would even require facilities to consider changing their methods of operation and use of feedstocks if EPA concluded that the plant's current situation was unsafe or insecure.

Our Committee's activities are only a success to the extent the membership gets involved. To that end, please join us if you are not already a member. Please contact Membership Vice-Chair Scott Schang (scott.schang@lw.com) for information about how to join. Doing so is easy - in fact, you can even join online at the ABA Web site. If you are already a member of the Committee, please get involved. You can do so by contacting me or any of the leadership for more information.

Finally, we intend to make use of a list serve as a communications tool. Technology Vice-Chair Jim Chen (jchen@crowell.com) is responsible for the list serve, so please feel free to contact him if you have any questions.