EPA Climate Change Decision Yields Victory for ICTA after Ten-Year Legal Battle

Agency Finally Complies with 2007 Landmark Supreme Court Victory
Started by Small NGO

April 17, 2009

Washington, DC - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that threaten public health and welfare, beginning the process of regulating global warming-causing gases for the first time ever in the United States. Two years ago this month the Supreme Court ordered EPA to make this determination under the Clean Air Act in a landmark environmental case, Massachusetts v. EPA. That case began as a 1999 legal petition from a small Washington DC-based non-profit, the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA). The Supreme Court eventually ruled that EPA had arbitrarily denied the ICTA petition and that the agency had to analyze whether the climate change pollutants endangered public health and welfare. Today EPA answered that question affirmatively.

Groups Demand EPA Stop Sale of 200+ Potentially Dangerous Nano-Silver Products
May 1, 2008

Nanotech Watchdog Launches First-Ever Legal Challenge To EPA Over Unregulated Nanotech Pesticide Pollution

The International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA) and a coalition of consumer, health, and environmental groups today filed a legal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), demanding the agency use its pesticide regulation authority to stop the sale of numerous consumer products now using nanosized versions of silver. The legal action is the first challenge to EPA's failure to regulate nanomaterials.

• Read the full press release (pdf).
• Read the executive summary (pdf).
• Read the petition (pdf).
• See the nano-silver product list (pdf).

Patent Office Reopens Animal Patenting Debate
08/06/2007
The U.S. Patent and Trade Office announced that it will investigate whether it should have issued a patent on a rabbit whose eyes were intentionally damaged. The Patent Watch Project of the International Center for Technology Assessment was joined by the American Anti-Vivisection Society and the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation in petitioning for the reconsideration of the patent.

BROAD INTERNATIONAL COALITION ISSUES URGENT CALL FOR STRONG OVERSIGHT OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
07/31/2007

With the joint release today of Principles for the Oversight of Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials, a broad international coalition of consumer, public health, environmental, labor, and civil society organizations spanning six continents called for strong, comprehensive oversight of the new technology and its products.

The coalition's declaration outlines eight fundamental principles necessary for adequate and effective oversight and assessment of the emerging field of nanotechnology.

I. A Precautionary Foundation: Product manufacturers and distributors must bear the burden of proof to demonstrate the safety of their products: if no independent health and safety data review, then no market approval.

II. Mandatory Nano-specific Regulations: Nanomaterials should be classified as new substances and subject to nano-specific oversight. Voluntary initiatives are not sufficient.

III. Health and Safety of the Public and Workers: The prevention of exposure to nanomaterials that have not been proven safe must be undertaken to protect the public and workers.

IV. Environmental Protection: A full lifecycle analysis of environmental impacts must be completed prior to commercialization.

V. Transparency: All nano-products must be labeled and safety data made publicly available.

VI. Public Participation: There must be open, meaningful, and full public participation at every level.

VII. Inclusion of Broader Impacts: Nanotechnologys wide-ranging effects, including ethical and social impacts, must be considered.

VIII. Manufacturer Liability: Nano-industries must be accountable for liabilities incurred from their products.

FDA Nanotech Task Force Report Fails to Address Serious Risks to Health, Environment and Workers
07/25/2007

FDA Recommendations Lack Necessary Urgency, Fail to Address Oversight Flaws and Gaps

Civil Society-Labor Coalition Opposes Voluntary NANO Risk Framework of Environmental Defense and DuPont
04/12/2007
The International Center for Technology Assessment and a coalition of labor, environmental, consumer, and other public interest groups oppose the NANO Risk Framework that was developed by Environmental Defense and DuPont. This framework is the latest in a long series of "voluntary" frameworks that have served to slow adequate regulation of serious environmental problems. The rapid commercialization of nanotechnology requires urgent world wide oversight, not piece-meal voluntary programs in which only a few companies ever partipate.

SUPREME COURT FINDS BUSH ADMINISTRATION ILLEGALLY RESISTED EFFORTS TO CONTROL GLOBAL WARMING
04/02/2007

Courts Decision Yields Victory for ICTA After Eight Year Legal Battle

Washington, DC - In an historic environmental ruling and strong rebuke of the Bush Administration, the United States Supreme Court has determined that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated the Clean Air Act when it refused a legal request seeking regulation of global warming pollution emissions. In determining that the Bush administration EPA had acted illegally, the Court also recognized that injuries associated with global warming - such as rising sea levels and exacerbated air pollution - create sufficient standing to sue in courts to address climate change. The ruling in Massachusetts et al. v. E.P.A (Docket No. 05-1120), which ICTA originated in 1999, is being hailed as one of the most important environmental cases in decades and one that will fundamentally alter the nations political discourse on global warming.

Statement on Supreme Court Argument in Massachusetts, et al v. EPA
11/29/2006
Over seven years ago, CTA petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act. On November 29, 2006, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Massachusetts, et al. v. EPA. The case challenges the EPA's denial of the CTA legal petition. The following statement was issued by CTA in anticipation of the oral argument.

CTA and Friends of the Earth Challenge FDA to Regulate Nanoparticles at FDA Hearing
10/10/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 10, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Today, Friends of the Earth (FoE) and the International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA) challenged the FDA to protect consumers from products laced with nanoparticles. Consumer products that currently contain unregulated nanoparticles, including sunscreens and cosmetics used by children and adults could pose new dangers to human health and the environment. The challenge comes as FDA holds its first-ever hearing on nanotechnology.

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Massachusetts, et al. v. EPA (CTA Global Warming Case)
06/26/2006

United States Supreme Court grants certiorari in Massachusetts, et al. v. EPA (CTA Global Warming Case). The case seeks a determination that the EPA can regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
View Case Chronology
View Legal Briefs and Prior Court Decisions


CTA Files Legal Action to Force FDA to Regulate Health Threats from Nanomaterials
05/16/2006

The International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA) and a coalition of consumer, health, and environmental groups today filed a formal legal petition with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), calling on the agency to address the human health and environmental risks of untested and unlabeled nanomaterials in consumer products (including sunscreens). The petition is the first legal action filed to address the potential human health and environmental risks of nanotechnology in the United States.

First Ever Legal Challenge Filed Against the Patenting of an Animal
02/25/2004
CTA demands that the USPTO rescind patent on irradiated beagle.
View the Executive Summary.
View the Legal Action.

Environmentalists Sue Bush Administration Over Continued Failure to Tackle Global Warming Pollution
12/05/2002
CTA and other groups seek national standards on greenhouse gas emissions to protect human health and the environment.
View the Complaint.
View the Amended Complaint (Feb. 25, 2003).

The U.S. Patent Office (PTO) Grants a Patent on Human Reproductive Cloning and the Embryos, Fetuses, and Children It Would Create
05/16/2002
CTA's Patent Watch discovers a U.S. patent and three pending patents on human cloning, each of which would also cover cloned embryos, fetuses, and children.
View CTA's Executive Summary.
View the Patent.

Environmental Organizations Defeat Coal Industry SLAPP Suit
04/05/2001
A federal judge dismisses a coal industry suit against CTA and other groups over a global warming advertisement.
View the Advertisement.
View the Decision.

Statement of Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director, Concerning Legal Petition on Global Warming
10/20/1999
CTA filed a legal petition with the EPA demanding that the Agency regulate automobile emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under section 202 of the Clean Air Act.
View the Petition.

Federal Court Halts Department of Interior's Commercial Sale of Yellowstone National Park's Biodiversity
03/25/1999
U.S. District Court makes first ever decision addressing the legality of bioprospecting on federal lands.

"Real Price Of Gasoline" Report Reveals Actual Cost of Gas to Consumers Is as High as $15.14 per Gallon
11/16/1998
Study released by CTA details over $1.69 trillion in social costs and government "welfare" for the gas industry.
View the Executive Summary.
View the Report.

Edmonds Institute and CTA Legal Action Concerning Yellowstone Case Prompts Response
11/25/1997
National Park Service seeks public comments on plan to allow private firms to exploit microbiological resources in Yellowstone.

Edmonds Institute and CTA Take Legal Step to Prevent Misuse of Yellowstone Park
08/15/1997
CTA and the Edmonds Institute file a legal petition to prevent the federal government from allowing bioprospecting by private corporations in Yellowstone National Park.
View the Petition.