Much-needed Reform: New Bills in Congress

On July 22, 1010, Representatives Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) introduced the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 (H.R. 5820), an ambitious bill aimed at revamping the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act.

The bill is similar to the Safe Chemicals Act, introduced by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) in April, but fixes a few key problems in the Senate bill.

Bills propose vital changes to law

The House and Senate bills both go a long way toward bringing our chemicals policy into the 21st century. Some highlights:

• Remove "grandfather" loophole.Tweet This The bills close the loophole that has allowed 62,000 older synthetic chemicals to remain untested, by requiring them to be tested in order to stay on the market.
• Shift the burden of proof to chemical companies.Tweet This Companies would be required to prove their chemicals are safe. Currently under TSCA, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to prove a chemical is harmful before it can impose any controls.
• Inform the public and the market about chemicals.Tweet This The bills would limit companies' ability to hide information about toxic chemicals and would establish an Internet-based public database.
• Prioritize action for chemicals of high concern.Tweet This Chemicals of high concern would be subject to expedited actions to reduce their use or exposure to them, or expedited safety determinations.

Senate bill must be strengthened further

The Senate legislation is a vast improvement over TSCA but needs improving in three critical areas:

• Close loophole allowing new chemicals on the market without first showing they're safe.Tweet This As it stands, the bill could allow hundreds of new chemicals to enter the market and be used in products for many years without first requiring them to be proven safe.
• Give EPA authority to quickly restrict the most dangerous chemicals.Tweet This The bill does not provide clear authority for EPA to immediately restrict production and use of the most dangerous chemicals, even persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals, which have already been extensively studied and are restricted by governments around the world.
• Use the best and latest science when testing chemicals.Tweet This The bill should require EPA to adopt the National Academy of Sciences' recommendations to incorporate the best and latest science when determining the safety of chemicals. (The Senate version bill does call on EPA to consider those recommendations, but does not require their use.)

Health advocates, industry back reform but differences remain

For the first time, Congress's attempt to reform our nation's system for regulating toxic chemicals has the support of the chemical industry as well as public health advocates. But some significant differences remain over what shape that reform will take.

What public health advocates want

• Public disclosure of safety information for all chemicals in use
• Prompt action to phaseout or reduce the most dangerous chemicals
• Deciding safety based on real-world exposure to all sources of toxic chemicals

What the chemical industry wants

• Limited testing of a handful of chemicals, leaving us in the dark about most safety hazards
• More lengthy and costly studies of chemicals already proven to be dangerous
• An assumption that we're only exposed to one chemical at a time from one source at a time

Posted: 31-May-2010; Updated: 31-May-2010