Safe Chemicals Legislation Would Protect Children and Families from Toxic Risks
New York, NY-The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) applauds Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and 29 other U.S. senators for introducing the Safe Chemicals Act of 2013 yesterday. CEH supports the bill as an important step towards fixing our nation’s broken chemical regulations and protecting human health.
“For over 16 years, the Center for Environmental Health has exposed health threats from dozens of products sold to millions of Americans. These products contained avoidable dangerous chemicals that posed serious health risks to children and families,” said Michael Green, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Health. “If our toxics laws were doing their job, such products would never make it onto store shelves in the first place. Congress must protect our health by quickly passing the Safe Chemicals Act.”
The Safe Chemicals Act would help to protect Americans from chemicals that are linked to reproductive and developmental disorders, cancers and other illnesses that are costly to treat and often preventable. It would:
• Require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify and restrict the “worst of the worst” chemicals.
• Require companies to provide basic health and safety information for chemicals.
• Upgrade scientific methods for assessing chemical safety.
• Arm the EPA with the authority it needs to restrict chemicals that pose health and environmental concerns.
The Center for Environmental Health has a sixteen-year track record of protecting children and families from harmful chemicals in our air, water, food and in dozens of every day products. CEH also works with major industries and leaders in green business to promote healthier alternatives to toxic products and practices. In 2010, the San Francisco Business Times bestowed its annual “Green Champion” award to CEH for its work to improve health and the environment in the Bay Area and beyond.
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