Lois Capps: “We all know that our chemical regulatory system is badly broken and that it has been broken for a very long time. When…”

“We all know that our chemical regulatory system is badly broken and that it has been broken for a very long time. When it comes to chemicals, weak statutory authority and limited resources have prevented the EPA from fulfilling its mission of protecting public health and the environment. Current law is so weak that the EPA famously could not even use it to ban the use of asbestos despite overwhelming evidence that asbestos poses serious risks to human health. Even when the EPA can successfully regulate a chemical under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which we know as TSCA--which has happened only five times--they must do so using a flawed cost-benefit analysis that prioritizes profits over health and safety. These are just a few of the many serious flaws of the current system. While the TSCA Modernization Act does not address all of these problems, it does take several important steps forward that will help improve the health and safety of consumers and their families. It finally ensures that health, not cost, is the standard by which the safety of chemicals is evaluated; it maintains critical State chemical safety laws, such as California's landmark Proposition 65; and for the first time, it includes explicit protections for vulnerable populations, such as pregnant mothers, children, and seniors.…”