The Intersection of Toxicology, Environmental Health Law, and Justice

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As the foremost experts on the effects of chemicals, biological substances, and more, toxicologists are key contributors to health regulation and laws. Law Professor and lawyer Claudia Polsky, University of California Berkeley, discusses how science can influence environmental health law, as well as environmental justice, with co-hosts Anne Chappelle and David Faulkner and reveals legal gaps in protecting public health.
About the Guest
Claudia Polsky, JD, MAS, is a Clinical Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Environmental Law Clinic.

Before launching the Clinic, Ms. Polsky spent 18 years as a public sector and public interest environmental litigator: 14 as a Deputy Attorney General in the Environment Section of the California Department of Justice and four at Earthjustice and Public Citizen Litigation Group. She has litigated cases in trial and appellate courts, including the US Supreme Court; testified before Congress and the California legislature; and drafted and successfully defended environmental regulations.
Ms. Polsky also served as Deputy Director for Pollution Prevention and Green Technology at California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. There, she managed a program that addressed an area of ongoing professional focus: reducing exposure to toxic chemicals throughout the supply chain, from workers to consumers and communities impacted by toxic waste. The Environmental Law Clinic handles many toxics-reduction matters, ranging from pesticide exposure cases to the regulation of hazardous ingredients in consumer products. It also addresses other issues of environmental health and environmental justice, including climate justice and access to safe drinking water for all.
Ms. Polsky’s past environmental advocacy work has encompassed negotiating conservation easements for The Nature Conservancy; protecting threatened Pacific salmon populations through dam removal; obtaining an injunction to save 50 million national forest acres from logging and roadbuilding; and serving as a volunteer park ranger in Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks.

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Chapter

1. Introduction to the Episode (00:00:00)

2. What Do You Do—and Salmon Are Really Better Protected than People? (00:01:12)

3. The Tension between Science and Laws (00:05:45)

4. Is California's Prop 65 Effective? (00:08:52)

5. The Importance of Communities in Environmental Health (00:16:49)

6. The Safety—or Not—of Cosmetics (00:19:23)

7. What Can Scientists Do to Help Create Better Regulations or Laws? (00:22:55)

8. What Can People Do to Get Safer Products in the Market? (00:25:17)

9. If You Weren't a Scientist... (00:27:37)

10. Do You Have a Hidden Talent? (00:28:58)

11. Episode Credits (00:29:50)