Blog

Stop Congress from gutting chemical safety laws

 

You shouldn’t have to worry that your shampoo, cookware, or drinking water might harm your health.

That’s why we were so concerned when the chemical industry started pressuring Congress to roll back protections on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) — a bedrock chemical safety law which empowers the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop companies from putting dangerous chemicals into everyday products.

Congressmen Brett Guthrie and Gary Palmer have scheduled a hearing in the House today to discuss gutting this vital chemical safety law at the expense of our safety. If this bill is successful, it would become much harder — and in some instances impossible — for EPA to require that chemicals are tested for safety.

Lawmakers worked across party lines to update TSCA in 2016 in order to give EPA the tools it needed for decades to stop dangerous chemicals like asbestos and PFAS from getting into consumer products, food, and drinking water. TSCA is overwhelmingly popular across party lines with 82% of Congress supporting it according to polling from the Environmental Defense Fund. So why are some representatives in Congress trying to undermine these critical protections?

The truth is this new bill is a stunningly reckless wishlist for chemical industry lobbyists, which would:

  • Make it easier for chemical corporations to get new chemicals in products on the market
  • Hide more chemical ingredient information and remove safety requirements that protect our health
  • Allow industry to delay public health protections for months or years by filing premature lawsuits challenging EPA risk evaluations and postponing EPA’s issuance of rules until the lawsuits are resolved
  • Undermine states’ rights to ban harmful chemicals in products and protect their water, food, and communities

We can’t afford any more chemicals in our drinking water, food, or products. We can’t loosen state protections — like Proposition 65 in California — that voters strongly support to keep dangerous chemicals out of their local communities.

Take action: Tell Congress to put public health and safety before the profits of chemical companies!