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.

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.

Earlier this month the President's Cancer Panel, a panel of doctors who serve as a medical advisory committee to the President, released a report recommending that Americans take action in order to reduce cancer risk in their lives.

The recommendations include avoiding pesticides in foods, filtering water, and avoiding Bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates in order to decrease cancer risk.

As the news spread through the Safer States Coalition, states began to respond in support of the Panel report, and in favor of the passage of a strong Safe Chemicals Act.

It has only been a few weeks since we have updated you on the fight against Bisphenol-A (BPA) , but we have a lot of news to report. BPA is the ubiquitous chemical that is in hard plastics, can liners, register receipts and baby products and is known to cause health effects including impaired brain and reproductive development in unborn babies, miscarriage in pregnant women, diabetes, obesity and cancer.

Vermont moves toward a ban

Environmental health advocates in the state of Vermont are working to pass a ban against BPA. The proposed bill would ban the manufacture, sale or distribution of canned infant formula, bottled infant formula, plastic baby containers, and reusable food and beverage containers containing BPA.

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.

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:

Great news this morning: Maryland may be the third state in the nation to pass a ban against bisphenol-A (BPA) .

The BPA Free Baby Bottle act is looking to ban BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups and would go into effect in 2012.

The bill has passed in the Maryland Assembly and Senate, and will now go to the Governor's desk for signature. If passed, Maryland will join Minnesota and Connecticut in banning BPA on the state level.

A similar bill has also passed both houses in Wisconsin and is awaiting approval from Governor Doyle. An article in Treehugger talks about the Wisconsin bill, and the remarkable bi-partisan support for the BPA ban.

The evidence is clear: Americans will be healthier if exposure to toxic chemicals is reduced, resulting in lower health care costs across the nation. 

This information is in an analysis released last week titled "The health case for reforming the toxic substances control act." Toxic chemical exposure is linked to cancer, learning and developmental disabilities, asthma and other diseases and conditions, and conservative estimates show that reducing the incidence of these diseases by 0.1% could save $5 billion in health care costs.

Upon hearing the news of the health report, many Safer State organizations chimed in with their concern for the health report's implication for their citizens, and the need for TSCA reform.

We at SAFER states are thrilled with two major developments on the phase out of toxic flame retardants. As a result of action in the SAFER states over the last several years and often mentioned here, the EPA has negotiated an agreement with three large manufacturers who have agreed to phase out decaBDE (deca) in the United States.

Additionally, Representative Chellie Pingree (D - ME) introduced a bill into Congress to ban deca to ensure the phase out takes place and that safe alternatives are used for flame retardants.

Deca is a flame retardant that is used in insulation, electronics and home furnishings and there is concern about its health effects in wildlife and humans. 

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."