Policy and Legislation

Keep Toxic Chemicals Out of Our Bodies, Out of Our Kids!

In Brief: Hundreds of chemicals are found in Americans of all ages, yet chemical companies don't have to ensure that these substances are safe. But Congress is working to change that with the Kid Safe Chemicals Act...

Toxic chemicals can cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive problems, hormone disruption, and many other health effects, especially in children or workers that are exposed in large quantities.  Blood and urine tests have found hundreds of chemicals in our bodies from coast to coast. No one is safe, and testing has even found that children and young babies have unsafe chemicals in their bodies.  But despite this obvious danger, chemical producers have no obligation to verify the safety of the more than 80,000 chemicals on the market! 

The Kid Safe Chemicals Act of 2008 requires chemical manufacturers and other industries to certify and prove that their chemicals are safe, with a priority on evaluating the most threatening existing chemicals.  It also requires companies to make information on the health effects of chemicals available to the public, creating programs to develop safer alternatives through the use of "green" chemistry.

The Body Burden of Toxic Chemicals

Chemicals are everywhere. Plastic softeners, pesticides, mercury, arsenic, lead, dioxins, flame retardants, and dozens of other chemicals have been found in the blood and urine of a broad range of Americans.  Dangerous chemicals are even passed on from mother's to their fetuses through the umbilical cord and from mothers to newborns through breast milk.  As mothers pass on important nutrients to their fetuses, they also unwittingly pass on the dangerous chemicals in their own bodies.

we are constantly exposed to chemicals throughout our lives. Many of these chemicals, like benzene, are known to cause cancer.  Others, like phthalates, can disrupt hormone production, causing a range of health problems.  Certain chemicals build up in the body over time, "bioaccumlating" to create a toxic legacy that can stay in our systems for years. 

A Broken System

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) governs toxic chemicals in the U.S.  Unlike laws regulating pharmaceuticals or food additives, TSCA does not require chemical manufactures to prove that their products are safe before selling them to the public.  Instead, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must prove that the chemicals are unreasonably dangerous, that the benefits of regulating the chemical outweigh the cost to industry, and that the regulation proposed is the least burdensome way to avoid the risk from the chemical.  As a result of this extremely high burden, EPA has issued regulations for only five chemicals out of over 80,000 chemicals on the market today.   Courts have even found that EPA did not meet its burden when it proposed to ban asbestos in the 80s, even though the agency found that "asbestos is a human carcinogen and is one of the most hazardous substances to which humans are exposed in both occupational and non-occupational settings."

But TSCA also fails to generate much-needed public information on the health effects of chemicals.  In fact, TSCA creates a perverse incentive for companies to avoid conducting such studies by requiring them to turn over the results only if the company opts to conduct such a study.  Industry has also avoided disclosing the health effects of their products by claiming such information is "confidential business information."  As a result of TSCA's shadowy approach to generating public information, EPA has conducted safety evaluations for only 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals in circulation. 

It's Time for the Law to Protect Us, not Industry!

The Kid Safe Chemicals Act of 2008 (KSCA) requires the chemical industry to certify and prove that their products are safe, with an emphasis on evaluating the most threatening existing chemicals.  The bill also requires the companies to make information on the health effects of chemicals publicly available, and creates programs that give incentives to alternative "green" chemistry.   The CDC is also required to carry out testing to determine the types of chemicals in our bodies. 

Putting the Burden on Chemical Companies to Prove that their Products are Safe

• CEOs of all chemical companies must either certify that their product is safe, or that there is not enough info to determine if the product is safe.
• Within 18 months of the enactment of the Kid Safe Chemicals Act, EPA must publish a list of at least 300 Prioritized Chemical Substances (PCS), the most dangerous chemicals that will be the first to be subject to a safety determination.  EPA must then add at least 200 additional chemicals annually.  The public can petition for additional chemicals to be added and EPA must decide within 180 days.
• In deciding whether a chemical is a PCS, EPA will consider all relevant info, including whether it's found in humans or food, air or water; whether it is high volume—over 1M pounds annually; whether it is persistent or bioaccumulates; and whether it causes health effects.
• Within five years, EPA must publish a list of all the chemicals in commerce and place them into categories, including the Prioritized Chemical Substances. 

Deciding Whether Chemicals Have Been Proven Safe

• Within 3 years of listing a chemical on the PCS list, EPA must determine if the chemical manufacturer has established that the substance meets the safety standard.  If no determination has been made within 5 years after listing, the chemical is automatically banned.   For non-priority chemicals, EPA has 15 years to make the determination.  All new chemicals must meet the safety standard. 
• The safety standard for each chemical must be set at a level that provides a reasonable certainty that no harm will come from combined exposure to the chemical to any sensitive sub-group.  The standard must also protect the public from any known or  anticipated adverse effects from aggregate, or combined, exposure.
• Reasonable certainty of no harm means no more than one-in-a-million risk of adverse effects from aggregate exposure, for chemicals with non-threshold effects (chemicals that have no threshold of safe exposure). EPA must assume chemicals have non-threshold effects unless the manufacturer establishes a threshold.
• For chemicals with threshold effects (chemicals where exposure below a certain threshold is considered "safe"), an additional tenfold margin of safety shall be applied—a one-in-ten-million risk of adverse effects. 
• Companies cannot traffic in chemicals if EPA determines that the company did not meet its certification or information submissions requirements, or if the chemical does not meet the safety standard. 

Collecting Safety Information on Chemicals and Making It Public

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will monitor for the presence of chemicals in cord blood and publish the results.  If a priority is found in cord blood, a rebuttable presumption is created that the substance fails the safety determination.
• Within 6 months of enactment, EPA must establish a minimum data set.  Companies must submit this info upon request. 

• Companies must submit all health-related information on their chemicals and update every three years, or whenever new health info comes out.
• All non-confidential info submitted to a government agency on the safety of chemicals must be made available on the internet.  EPA must conduct audits and inspections to ensure that submitted information is reliable. 
• Confidential business info is limited to situations where it is justified, and EPA must establish criteria within one year.  Governments can access all info submitted.

Green Chemistry

• As the Kid Safe Chemicals Act phases out the use of chemicals that cannot be proven safe, it also encourages the development of a new generation of safer chemicals.  The bill would streamline the approval process for these safer alternatives and require EPA to create a variety of programs to provide market-based incentives for the use of "green chemistry."