In a move that will mandate required federal safety assessments of chemicals found in everyday products from laundry detergent to toys, a June 7 U.S. Senate vote sends legislation to President Barack Obama for signature.
The president is expected within days to sign the measure, which marks Congress’s first major overhaul of a federal pollution control statute in a decade. The legislation will fundamentally change U.S. regulation of the products of the chemical industry, from commodity substances that have been in use for decades to novel commercial compounds discovered and developed by research chemists.
“Most Americans believe that when they buy a product at the hardware store or the grocery store, that product has been tested and determined to be safe. But that isn’t the case,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who championed the legislation.
Udall says that residents of the U.S. are exposed to hundreds of commercially produced chemicals. “We carry them around with us in our bodies, even before we’re born. Some are known carcinogens; others are highly toxic. But we don’t know the full extent of how they affect us because they have never been tested.”
The measure mandates that the EPA assess the safety of chemicals in commerce. It also gives EPA new authority to require chemical manufacturers to test their products for possible risks to human health and the environment. Currently, EPA must document that a substance may pose a risk before it can demand that chemical makers conduct toxicity or exposure tests.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/landmark-chemical-safety-legislation-passes-congress?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news