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It is generally agreed that the alarming increase in the rate of autism cannot be attributed solely to better awareness or a geneticepidemic - some form or forms of environmental insults are very likely to be involved. One of the many likely causes is the preponderance of toxic chemicals in our environment. On April 15, 2010 Frank Lautenberg, a senator from New Jersey, introduced the Safe Chemicals Act, which would significantly alter the evaluation process for new chemicals. Under the proposed new law, chemicals would be essentially "guilty until proven innocent": the burden of proof-of-safety would rest on the manufacturers. This is in contrast to the present situation, in which the beleaguered EPA must demonstrate that a chemical is dangerous to humans or to the environment, before it can even be regulated - something that rarely happens. As Lautenberg states in a press release on his website, "America's system for regulating industrial chemicals is broken. Parents are afraid because hundreds of untested chemicals are found in their children's bodies. My 'Safe Chemicals Act' will breathe new life into a long-dead statute by empowering EPA to get tough on toxic chemicals." Nevertheless, Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, a coalition representing over 11 million parents and professionals, and a supporter of the new Safe Chemicals Act, is continuing to fight to make the proposed bill even stronger. While the changes as proposed in the Safe Chemicals Act are a vast improvement, Safer Chemicals Healthy Families is concerned about loopholes that would still allow some new chemicals to come to market immediately, and be tested later. As they state on their website, "The Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition supports the goals of the bill. However, we plan to work closely with Congress to fine-tune the legislation to make sure it reflects the concerns of the health care providers, scientists, advocates for the learning and developmentally disabled, and all the millions of individuals we represent." To learn more about the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010, see: Discussion draft of legislation to revise TSCA Strengths and weaknesses of the proposed bill CommentsLeave a Reply |
