States Protect Our Health While Chemical Industry Protects Bottom Line
The Safe Chemicals Act (SCA) of 2011, an update to the outdated Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976, got its first major hearing in the United States Senate at the end of November. The Toxics Substances Control Act oversees chemical use and production in the country. However, it is out of date and allows toxic chemicals onto store shelves and into our daily lives.
The hearing, under the purview of Senators Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Inhofe (R-OK), was intended to be a discussion of strategies to fix this broken system. Unfortunately, instead of helping move the search for solutions forward, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) claimed that they were ambushed by this hearing and began quickly to work behind the scenes to stop any forward momentum for the Safe Chemicals Act.
They refused when asked to provide alternative language to the bill portions to which they object. According to our allies at Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF), the ACC then canceled a long-scheduled meeting between advocacy groups and industry thus signaling that they are unwilling to work toward a compromise. Daniel Rosenberg, the National Resources Defense Council's Senior Attorney, said of the ACC: "They declined to engage constructively on this issue at exactly the time when Democrats are ready to move forward with legislation."
This behavior is especially disappointing because in state hearings on toxic chemical bills, the ACC often makes a case for federal regulation over state regulation. This week it became crystal clear: they want federal regulation only if they can weaken it and gut its intention so that the industry can continue to do what it wants--produce chemicals unchecked, refuse to disclose what chemicals are used in our everyday products, and avoid public and scientific scrutiny at every turn.
On the bright side there were a few in industry, like the Consumer Specialty Products Association (which represents brands like Procter and Gamble and SC Johnson), who acted as a constructive player in the hearing. "Perhaps because these companies sell directly to consumers they recognize the economic costs of the current collapse of confidence in our federal safety regulations" Said Andy Igrejas, Campaign Director for SCHF.
We at Safer States stand behind our partners working on the Safe Chemicals Act: Nationwide regulation is needed as the DNA to guide chemical production in this country. But we will not be backing down on regulation on the state level. Dozens of laws have been passed in statehouses and localities to protect children, families and workers from toxic chemicals. In the wake of this behavior from the ACC, state legislators around the country are again mobilizing en masse to protect local families in their states and introduce another wave of chemical reform legislation in the coming year—and every year—until common sense protections from toxic chemicals are adopted federally.
You can read more about the hearing at Safe Chemicals, Healthy Families where Campaign Director Andy Igrejas has published his notes from the hearing.
