WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Tom Udall welcomed passage in the U.S. House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote of 403-12 of landmark reform of our nation's broken chemical safety law, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA). Udall authored the reform bill, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, with Senator David Vitter (R-La.) to finally enable the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the thousands of chemicals manufactured each year and used in common household items -- including known carcinogens and highly toxic substances, like formaldehyde, asbestos, lead, flame retardants and BPA.
The Senate is expected to vote later this week, and the White House has indicated that the president will sign the bill. Udall issued the following statement:
"TSCA was intended to protect Americans from dangerous chemicals, but it has been broken from the very beginning. We're exposed to hundreds of chemicals in our daily lives in countless ways -- from flame retardants in the dust from your sofas to formaldehyde in non-iron shirts, and from the non-stick coating on your frying pans to volatile organic compounds given off from laser printers. Some of these chemicals are known to cause cancer or serious health problems, yet there has never been a cop on the beat keeping us safe.
"The House vote today is a major milestone that has taken years of negotiation and collaboration across both parties and both houses of Congress. We aren't done yet -- the Senate still needs to pass this bill. But we are steps away from finally having a working chemical safety law that protects our children and our communities from dangerous chemicals."
