So very sad. The bill doesn't even begin testing chemicals for three years and then there is 20 chemicals on their agenda--ones we already know a bit about. What about the 30,000 untested high production volume chemicals we are all exposed to?
From: Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Wed, Jun 22, 2016 3:53 pm
Subject: [DCHAS-L] President Obama Signs Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act
Please visit https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/frank-r-lautenberg-chemical-safety-21st-century-act for a copy of the Act, a summary of key provisions, and a Q&A. Additional material, including an Implementation Plan on activities that are required in the first year, will be posted in the coming days.
Next Thursday, June 30, 2016, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST, EPA will host a webinar to provide an overview of the new Act. This initial webinar will be informational only to help inform those unfamiliar with the new law. We will alert you about additional opportunities for engagement in the coming weeks and post them on our website. To log in to the webinar next week, go to http://epawebconferencing.acms.com/overviewreform/
and sign in as a guest.. For audio, please call 866-299-3188, and enter code 2025648098#.
Read Administrator McCarthy's blog - TSCA Reform: A Bipartisan Milestone to Protect Our Health from Dangerous Chemicals
TSCA Reform: A Bipartisan Milestone to Protect Our Health from Dangerous Chemicals
It became clear that without major changes to the law, EPA couldn't take the actions necessary to protect people from toxic chemicals. Diverse stakeholders, including industry, retailers, and public health and environmental experts, recognized these deficiencies and began to demand major reforms to the law.
Forty years after TSCA was enacted, there are still tens of thousands of chemicals on the market that have never been evaluated for safety, because TSCA didn't require it. And the original law set analytical requirements that were nearly impossible to meet, leaving EPA's hands tied - even when the science demanded action on certain chemicals.
The dangers of inaction were never more stark than in the case of asbestos, a chemical known to cause cancer through decades of research.
During the first Bush Administration, EPA tried to ban asbestos under TSCA, but the rule was overturned in court. In the law's 40-year history, only a handful of chemicals have ever been reviewed for health impacts, and only 5 have ever been banned.
Because EPA was not empowered to act on dangerous chemicals, American families were left vulnerable to serious health impacts. At the same time, some states tried to fill the gap to protect their citizens' health-but state-by-state rules are no substitute for a strong national program that protects all Americans. Chemical manufacturers, consumer retailers, and others in industry agreed: reform was sorely needed.
As with any major policy reform, this one includes compromises. But the new bipartisan bill is a win for the American people=E2=80"because it's a victory for EPA's mission to protect public health and the environment.
Under the new law, EPA will evaluate chemicals purely on the basis of the health risks they pose. The old law was so burdensome that it prevented EPA from taking action to protect public health and the environment--even when a chemical posed a known health threat. Now, EPA will have evaluate a chemical's safety purely based on the health risks it poses-including to vulnerable groups like children and the elderly, and to workers who use chemicals daily as part of their jobs-and then take steps to eliminate any unreasonable risks we find.
The new law provides a consistent source of funding for EPA to carry out its new responsibilities. EPA will now be able to collect up to $25 million a year in user fees from chemical manufacturers and processers, supplemented by Congressional budgeting, to pay for these improvements.
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