I signed the petition for the improved Toxic Substances Control Act, have you?

I have a one year old daughter. I am worried Senator.

sign up here:

http://action.momsrising.org/letter/NewTSCA1/?akid=2691.90096.XW2hLp&rd=1&t=3

Dear Senator,

As one of a million members of MomsRising.org, I urge you to please move quickly to update the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) by supporting and co-sponsoring the Safe Chemicals Act.

A growing body of science has documented widespread human exposures to toxic chemicals in everyday products, and has linked those exposures to the rising incidence of a number of serious chronic diseases and disorders, including reduced fertility, learning disabilities, breast and prostate cancer, and certain childhood cancers.

This is unacceptable. The time has come to give the EPA enough authority to require that chemicals be tested for safety before they are put into the products we use every day. Updating the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) is critical. The current TSCA law is widely acknowledged to be ineffective. TSCA ‘grandfathered in’ 62,000 chemicals at the time it passed without requiring any testing or demonstration of safety. In the ensuing three decades under TSCA, EPA has required testing for only a few hundred of those chemicals, and has only partially restricted five. This long-awaited, landmark legislation to update TSCA is necessary to protect the public from toxic chemicals.

The Safe Chemicals Act includes a number of essential reforms that would substantially improve public health protections:

*Require EPA to identify and restrict the “worst of the worst” chemicals, those that persist and build up in the food chain;

*Require basic health and safety information for all chemicals as a condition for entering or remaining on the market;

*Reduce the burden of toxic chemical exposures on people of color and low-income and indigenous communities;

*Upgrade scientific methods for testing and evaluating chemicals to reflect best practices called for by the National Academy of Sciences; and

*Generally provide EPA with the tools and resources it needs to identify and address chemicals posing health and environmental concerns.

Please take action now to update the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) by co-sponsoring the Safe Chemicals Act in order to provide vigorous oversight of chemical use and to ensure all products, including children’s products, are safer. I urge you to support this effort to lead us into a new era of safer chemicals and healthy families.

Thank you for your leadership.

Kevin Stoda