In the last few weeks, congressional leaders in the House and Senate have announced their intent to rewrite the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a law written to protect the public from toxic chemicals. The chemical lobby wants to make changes to the TSCA for three main reasons:
- To remove health-based reviews and limits on new chemicals—limits Congress overwhelmingly adopted only eight years ago to increase public health protection and to stop the flow of cancer-causing chemicals like PFAS into our environment and our bodies.
- To weaken protections from dangerous chemicals already on the market—including asbestos and the cancer-causing and acutely toxic solvent methylene chloride. The law was strengthened only eight years ago to better protect the public from these and other dangerous chemicals.
- To take away the public’s right to know about the chemicals that are in everyday products like carpets, furniture, toys, clothing, and cleaning products—and to prevent states from passing laws to provide information to the public. Again, Congress protected the rights of states to enact these laws only eight years ago.
The chemical lobby has other plans in addition to weakening TSCA. These include:
- Removing federal controls on air pollution from plastic incinerators and hazardous waste generated by those same incinerators, as well as other kinds of plastic disposal.
- Allowing major sources of toxic air pollution—including facilities near schools—to remove controls and monitoring equipment, leaving the public unprotected and in the dark about what they are breathing.
- Overturning a recent phase out of the cancer-causing and toxic solvent TCE—which has poisoned many communities and homes throughout the country, including infamously the Camp LeJeune Marine base in North Carolina.
America can do better. Nobody, wherever they live, wants more PFAS in the water they drink or burning plastic and chemicals in the air they breathe. People of all stripes and persuasions want to see a healthier America, with fewer toxic chemicals in their food, water, air, and household products. There isn’t anyone who wants microplastics in their brains, lungs, or anywhere else in their bodies (and they are everywhere in our bodies).
The chemical lobby is very powerful in Washington. It’s one—big—reason why we have dangerous chemicals all around us and a population less healthy than it could be. Just about everyone I know or have met, wherever they are from, feels frustrated that politicians in Washington, in both parties, are captured by industry lobbyists and out of touch with the public. This, is that.
It will take a lot of effort and organizing and work, but the public can use its voice effectively to overcome the chemical lobby and stop politicians from weakening the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Clean Air Act, and other laws that are intended to protect our health and our families.
It’s now or never.
