EPA Sees Decrease in Toxic Chemicals

The amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment was cut by 4 percent from 2003 to 2004. So says EPA’s new “Toxics Release Inventory” report. Linda Travers, acting assistant administrator for the Office of Environmental Information, says the report’s results demonstrate that economic growth and effective environmental protection can go hand-in-hand. “We are encouraged to see a continued reduction in the overall amount of toxic chemicals being released into the environment,” she added. Significant decreases were seen in some of the most toxic chemicals. For example, dioxin and dioxin compounds decreased 58 percent, mercury and mercury compounds were cut by 16 percent and PCBs went down 92 percent.