April 10, 2013
Washington, D.C. – Today, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced the 2013 Safe Chemicals Act in the U.S. Senate. The Safe Chemicals Act would provide necessary reform to America’s woefully outdated Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) by establishing stronger laws to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous chemicals.
A CIEL report released in February of 2013 found that stronger laws governing hazardous chemicals can not only create a safer marketplace, but also spur innovation. Driving Innovation: How stronger laws help bring safer chemicals to market shows that tougher rules to manage chemicals at the global, regional and national levels have sparked the invention of safer chemicals, accelerating the pace at which safer alternatives are developed, and pulled them into the market.
Unlike Europe, the United States has not taken steps to place the burden of proving a chemical’s safety on industry, and continues to presume the safety of tens of thousands of chemicals in everyday use. By blocking reform in Congress, the chemical industry not only delays overdue health protections but also puts American firms at a disadvantage to compete in a world market that increasingly demands safer products.
“The Safe Chemicals Act can accelerate product innovation in the United States, enabling businesses with safer alternatives to compete on a level playing field, both at home and abroad,” says Baskut Tuncak, Staff Attorney at the CIEL and author of the report. “By passing the Safe Chemicals Act, policymakers will not only protect the health of future generations, but also enable American innovation and economic growth.”
The 2013 Safe Chemicals Act would also place the U.S. in a position to ratify the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), and other treaties for chemicals management. At the end of April, the Parties to the Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam Conventions – the three existing international chemicals treaties – will meet back-to-back, as part of an ongoing effort to foster synergies between the three treaties. For the sixth consecutive time, the United States will be unable to participate as a Party to these negotiations because it has not made necessary changes to U.S. TSCA.
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