June 2009 The current financial crisis has highlighted the failure of the federal regulatory system to ensure honest accounting. The meltdown of trillions of dollars of value followed upon regulatory failures earlier in the decade. This report examines one group of regulatory loopholes that continue to render corporate financial statements and disclosures a highly approximate and unreliable indicator of value. Among other things, the regulatory flaws encourage companies to conceal damaging scientific findings from investors, fail to disclose estimates of the range of potential liabilities, and place undue reliance on litigators, in conflict with their obligations to protect privileged information. Drawing on case studies of disclosures about asbestos and nanotechnologies, this report offers practical solutions to bridge this regulatory accounting gap.

BEYOND THE CHEMICAL CENTURY: Restoring  Human Rights and Preserving Life on Earth

The chemical industry has given us many useful and lifesaving products — from aspirin to AIDS medication, from agricultural products to high powered computers. Yet the same industry has unleashed a plague of new ills on the biosphere: moving dangerous poisons into worldwide commerce, fusing new toxic substances with the fabric of life, and working to sell more of its products even at risk to life on earth.

This report is an examination of some of the worst abuses of the chemical century. Taken individually, the incidents are tragic. But viewed together they tell us that something is terribly wrong. While the industry’s incidents over the last century have been termed “accidents” or disasters, our analysis indicates that these are also human rights violations, resulting from the industry’s cost cutting, concealment, manipulation of science, and delays of precautionary action. The industry’s maneuvers often amount to hidden violence against thousands of victims.

This report takes a fresh look at some of the major chemical industry incidents of the past century through excerpts of previously published case studies. These are followed with brief updates and analyses of the human rights implications of each incident.