Federal Chemical Reform Policies

June 2013 — Health, environmental and business groups are releasing statements and reactions to the Chemical Safety Improvement Act, a compromise bill between a bipartisan group of Senators — led by the late Senator Frank Lautenberg and Senator David Vitter.  As part of the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families campaign, KEF affirms the campaign statement which states clearly that the CSIA, in its current form, cannot be supported; not enough of the health and safety protections that were evident in Senator Lautenberg’s previous bill (the Safe Chemicals Act) are contained in the compromised version.

KEF has joined a collection of other environmental health and justice groups to provide an alternative proposal that both addresses safety concerns covered by Safer Chemicals Healthy Families and articulates our position that the current CSIA should be opposed unless it is significantly strengthened.   That statement can be read here.

Our current system for assessing chemical safety is badly broken. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the nation’s primary chemical safety law, has failed to protect public health, the environment and our communities. While the rates of diseases like asthma, diabetes, childhood cancers, infertility, and learning and behavioral disorders keep going up, the federal system that should protect us from health-harming chemicals hasn’t changed in thirty-seven years. KEF supports strong, decisive, bipartisan action from Congress to stop the exposure to toxic chemicals and implement safer solutions that keep our families and communities safe from harm, and we look forward to working with legislators from all political stripes toward that goal.