Is toxic chemicals reform on the horizon?

For more than a decade, EDF senior scientist Richard Denison, Ph.D., has worked to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

This outdated federal law fails to protect Americans from unregulated chemicals, some of which are known to be toxic — but many more of which have never been tested for safety.

Now Denison’s efforts and those of his colleagues are bearing fruit.

Safe Chemicals Act: What it would do

In July, the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee voted to allow the Safe Chemicals Act, a major update of TSCA, to proceed to a full Senate vote.

The legislation would provide strong protections for public health and the environment, while not substantially increasing the burdens on regulated industry. Introduced by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), the Act has 25 co-sponsors (as of August 2012).

Among the bill’s key provisions:

• Industry would bear the legal burden of proving its chemicals are safe. Under the current law, the government must prove harm to health before being able to regulate a chemical.
• Information on the health and environmental impacts of chemicals would be developed by companies and disclosed to the public.
• Industry would have to immediately reduce exposure to chemicals of greatest concern, including those that are toxic, persist in the environment, and build up in people.
• Companies would have to prove that any information kept secret is a legitimate trade secret. Unless resubstantiated, most such confidentiality claims would expire after five years.

Why reform is so desperately needed

TCSA doesn’t regulate even the most dangerous chemicals — such as asbestos, formaldehyde and lead — despite their undeniable linkage to a whole raft of chronic diseases. And — incredibly — the vast majority of the 80,000 chemicals available for use in the United States have never been tested for toxic impacts on humans or the environment.

Over the years, Denison has shined a spotlight on the shortcomings of the law, writing science and policy reports, and testifying before Congressional committees. He also has teamed up with health, environmental justice and parent advocacy groups to create the "Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families" coalition.  In addition, his blog – innocently titled "Chemicals and Nanomaterials" – has become an influential must-read in the industry and government, as well as among reform advocates.

Turning the tide on toxic chemicals

Why has momentum finally shifted from debate of chemical safety toward action? Denison credits a recent exposé in the Chicago Tribune, titled "Playing with Fire." The seven-part series details a flagrantly deceptive campaign by the chemical industry starting in the 1970s to get laws passed that mandate massive use of flame retardant chemicals in furniture and other consumer products. This effort involved collusion between chemical companies and Big Tobacco to blame house fires caused by cigarettes on supposedly flammable furniture.

But recent tests have shown — shockingly — that the flame retardants mandated by the laws don’t actually stop fires.

The retardants do, however, build up in people’s bodies, even in newborn infants, and studies show that they can disrupt normal brain development in ways that lead to learning disabilities and behavioral impairments.

"The contamination of the bodies of every American with these toxic chemicals can be traced directly to the failures of TSCA," Denison said. "For too long, the public has  been the guinea pig for the testing of chemicals in an uncontrolled manner."