Advocates see ‘glimmer of hope’ for chemical law reform
Health and safety advocates joined a green chemical manufacturer on Thursday to press Congress to reform the country’s decades-old chemical safety law.
The growing movement to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which people across the political spectrum have derided for being out of date and ineffective, has created “a glimmer of hope,” said John Replogle, the head of the cleaning and paper company Seventh Generation, at a panel discussion his company sponsored.
Earlier this year, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) spearheaded bipartisan legislation to reform the chemical safety law.
Some environmentalists and public health advocates have expressed concern abut the details of the bill but note that it represents the best starting place for a reform effort.
“We’re reasonably optimistic they can turn the political breakthrough into a policy breakthrough,” said Andy Igrejas, the national campaign director for the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families coalition.
To Replogle, the effort is an indication that TSCA reform is on the way.
“The bipartisan nature of the bill in front of the Senate right now does say that people on both sides of the aisle are thinking about the issue,” he said. “That’s the good news.”
Left-leaning critics of the Senate bill worry that it wears down some of the protections in the current law that allow states like California to write their own, more stringent, chemical safety rules. They have also said that it does not fix flaws that have made it too difficult for the Environmental Protection Agency to crack down on dangerous substances.
