When it comes to toxic chemical reform across the nation, many of the legislative heroes are dads, husbands and grandfathers who are not only working hard to protect the lives of the electorate, but more personally to remove toxic chemical threats from their own families.

Today, we are featuring three legislators, Senator Richard McCormack from Vermont, Representative Dick Roy from Connecticut, and Delegate James Hubbard from Maryland who are not only leaders in their field, but also family men – fathers and grandfathers. "We're the guys who are supposed to be protecting the family from the bad guys," Senator McCormack told us in a recent interview, a sentiment which nicely sums up the quiet, family force behind the work of these heroes.

We here at Safer States stand up and applaud these legislators for keeping us all safe.

Senator Richard McCormack, Vermont

"I do think that there are times that my environmental politics derives in part from my sense of wanting to protect the people that I love."

Because of his hard work on the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, Senator Dick McCormack is a leader in the state of Vermont who helps to pass laws protecting Vermont's citizens. Senator McCormack has been in the Vermont legislature since 1988.

Vermont is a leader in toxics legislation, and their laws include a ban on bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles and sippy cups, a ban on toxic flame retardants, and several laws regulating the use of products containing mercury within the state.

Senator McCormack is particularly concerned about mercury exposure, and serves on the Advisory Committee on Mercury Pollution¹. Describing why mercury is so harmful, Senator McCormack says, "One of the problems is that it bioaccumulates, and there's no such thing as a small dose because it keeps adding up. Several individually harmless exposures stay in the fatty tissue. Aside from the bioaccumulation; another problem is that mercury is ubiquitous." Mercury is harmful to the brain and nervous system of humans, and is particularly bad for developing fetuses².

When the President's Cancer Panel released a report in May 2010 advising Americans to take specific steps to reduce environmental toxins in their lives and thus reduce cancer risk, it was a watershed moment. The report recommended that Americans drink filtered water, avoid bisphenol-A (BPA), eat food grown without pesticides, and carefully choose the household products they use.

In an interview with the Breast Cancer Fund, Dr. Margaret Kripke, member of the President's Cancer Panel, commented on the creation of the report: "This was an enormously eye-opening experience for me." The panel decided to focus on cancer-causing environmental toxins because they are of concern to many Americans, and because 6% of cancers are thought to be caused by environmental carcinogens – this means that about 20,000 Americans are dying each year due to cancer caused by their environment.

There has been a lot of toxics news coming from the states lately. The Safer States organizations have been doing an amazing job of protecting their state's citizens through legislation restricting toxic chemicals. Moreover, elected officials have been hearing the message from their voters: we deserve to be protected from toxic chemicals in our lives.

Here's what's happening, state by state:

Alaska

This year's legislative calendar included a ban on Deca-BDE in mattresses and electronics. The bill ultimately failed, but the momentum for the bill was encouraging.

This month, the Safe Chemicals Act was introduced into Congress. This bill will be the overhaul to the Toxic Substances Chemicals Act -- the decades-old law that regulates toxic chemical use in this country. Time magazine said it well when the author reminded us that when this law was passed, "Gerald Ford was still President and Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was the No. 1 song of the year."

The Safe Chemicals Act will oversee regulation of Bisphenol-A (BPA), flame retardants, and other toxic chemicals which have proven health effects on babies, children, and vulnerable populations.

You can join us in supporting a strong Safe Chemicals Act by taking action and informing your legislators that you are concerned about protecting the health of your family.

by Laurie Valeriano, Policy Director for the Washington Toxics Coalition.

This is a big moment for environmental health advocates and organizations like the Washington Toxics Coalition: today Congress released the Safe Chemicals Act, which is the first draft of a bill which will eventually overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) – a decades-old law that oversees our toxic chemicals in the United States.

In a lot of ways, the release of this bill is the realization of hard work of the Safer States Coalition. 

More than 200 scientific studies have linked Bisphenol-A (BPA) to known health effects including impaired brain and reproductive development in unborn babies, miscarriage in pregnant women, diabetes, obesity and cancer. Populations that are particularly vulnerable to BPA are infants, children and pregnant women.

Here at Safer States, we are working to support efforts toward eliminating BPA and other toxic chemicals from our lives.

Today, we have several updates on the BPA front.

Washington State

The Governor of Washington State signed a bill into law which will ban bisphenol-A from baby bottles, sippy cups, children's dishware and sports bottles.

This week, we checked in with Sarah Uhl, the coordinator for Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut. It's no surprise that the state that passed the most comprehensive bisphenol-a bill in the nation has lots of exciting toxics news to report. This legislative session, the coalition is working to protect citizens of Connecticut in several important ways.

CHILD SAFE PRODUCTS ACT

House Bill 5130 is in committee. It has passed through one committee and will have to pass through a few more before heading to the House and Senate floors. This important bill, called The Child Safe Products Act, would phase out chemicals of high concern from children's products.

More than 200 scientific studies have linked Bisphenol-A (BPA) to known health effects including impaired brain and reproductive development in unborn babies, miscarriage in pregnant women, diabetes, obesity and cancer. Populations that are particularly vulnerable to BPA are infants, children and pregnant women.

These sort of facts are frustrating mothers and families, and this year there are a remarkable number of states working on legislation to eliminate BPA-laden products in vulnerable populations.

We have exciting news from several states this week in the effort to ban BPA:

It's nearly the same story that we told you a year ago: The Ecology Center has released research this week which reports that 1 in 3 toys contain lead, cadmium, arsenic or mercury.

While levels of lead in toys is decreasing, too many toys still contain chemicals which can cause health issues in children -- especially because they put many toys in their mouths or have very close contact with them. Bobbi Chase Wilding, director of Clean New York told the Times Union, "It's good news that lead levels are dropping, but alarming to see other toxic chemicals continuing to be used. The problem of toxic chemicals in products is more widespread than just lead."

Sarah Uhl of Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut talked to the New Britain Herald about this report, emphasizing the role of states in protecting their citizens. "In the absence of a federal toxic chemical law able to protect health, states like Connecticut are leading the way ... It’s time to enact strong reforms that phase out the worst toxins, particularly from children’s products."

Officials from thirteen states joined forces today to dictate a set of eight guiding principles to be used for reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA -- a law from 1976 which provides the EPA with the authority to regulate toxic chemicals.

The Obama Administration and Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the EPA, recently acknowledged that a major overhaul of this decades-old law is imperative for public safety.

There is concern, however, about the way that the Administration is setting out to reform TSCA. As Laurie Valeriano, policy director of the Washington Toxics Coalition wrote recently, "the changes are modeled after an approach that will result in endless government studies and gridlock when what we really need is action."