Good news: A bipartisan breakthrough on chemical policy reform

Dan Upham

Catherine MacBride/Flickr

EDF scientist Richard Denison and his colleagues have been working for nearly two decades to fix the serious flaws in the Toxic Substances Control Act, the nation’s major law on the safety of chemicals in the products we buy.

Just yesterday, there was a major bipartisan breakthrough when Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and David Vitter (R-LA) introduced new legislation to reform the Act. Lautenberg and Vitter were joined by 7 other Democrats and 7 other Republicans as cosponsors.

In this Chicago Tribune story, Richard says, “While this bill isn’t perfect, it’s a policy and political breakthrough and opens a bipartisan path forward to fix a law that needs a major overhaul.”

Last year we featured Richard in a 2-minute video explaining why this reform is so crucial; view it here. It’s encouraging to know we now have a real window of opportunity to strengthen a major environmental health statute. 

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