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For 34 years, manufactured chemicals used in consumer products have been considered innocent until proven guilty in terms of how they affect human beings and the environment. That could change if legislation filed last Thursday by New Jersey Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg is passed. The bill would require chemical manufacturers to prove that chemicals were safe before they could enter the market—a far cry from current law. This would bring American chemical health policy closer to the European model of exposing people to substances that are considered guilty of toxicity until proven innocent. The legislation also mandates that manufacturers must submit to the Environmental Protection Agency, the health and safety data for the 84,000 chemicals currently on the market. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, the government has little information about risks posed by most chemicals in use, and the EPA cannot compel companies to provide the data that demonstrates health risks. The new bill would give the EPA more power to ban or restrict the use of known chemical hazards. Senator Lautenberg has twice before tried to reform the law, but this time around he has support from the White House, environmental groups, and even the chemical industry. The Toxic Substances Control Act is the only environmental statute that has not been amended since it was enacted over 3 decades ago.

GUEST: Gina Solomon, Senior Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California San Francisco

Find out more at www.saferchemicals.org.