Chemical Policy (TSCA)
There is widespread agreement that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the principle federal statute governing the use and safety of the thousands of chemicals we are exposed to in our everyday lives, is broken and needs to be reformed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been given responsibility but little authority to enforce TSCA. Enacted in 1976, this current law was broken from the start, grandfathering thousands of chemicals already on the market. This law is so broken and so weak that the EPA could not even ban asbestos, a cancer-causing substance that is still in use and killing thousands of Americans each year.
To date, the EPA has only reviewed a few hundred chemicals for safety. There are nearly 85,000 chemicals currently approved for use that the federal government and consumers know little to nothing about.
We need real toxic chemical reform that ensures protection of public health, especially to our vulnerable populations, and the environment from the hazards these chemicals pose.
Antibacterial cleaning wipes are everywhere, but are they harmless? Unfortunately, for most popular versions, that's not the case.
Read More
Chemical agriculture's defense of pesticides conjures up the image of the chain-smoking industry attorney Nathan Thurm slithering through a minefield of facts and figures about the causes of global warming in this classic skit from Saturday Night Live.
Read More
If you've ever dry cleaned your clothes (you have, right?), you've likely wondered how the "dry" part happens. And it may even have crossed your mind that it's a chemical process. Of course you'd be right.
Read More
Environmental Working Group issued the following statement this afternoon in response to the federal Food and Drug Administration’s warning to Brazilian Blowout that the company’s product containing carcinogenic formaldehyde is “adulterated” and “misbranded.”
Read More
The California State Senate voted today to ban the toxic plastics chemical bisphenol A from baby bottles and sippy cups sold in California.
Read More
The chemical industry has no trouble compiling production and sales information to give to investors on a quarterly basis. When human health or the environment are on the line, however, providing similar information to the Environmental Protection Agency is apparently too much of a burden.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group senior scientist David Andrews issued the following statement in response to today’s announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency of its revised Chemical Data Reporting rule (CDR).
Read MoreIn a letter to the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations, national and state environmental and health organizations called for full funding of the National Children’s Study.
Read MoreLegislation to ban the toxic plastics chemical bisphenol A from baby bottles and sippy cups sold in California is moving to the California Senate floor.
Read MoreToday’s Senate committee vote to provide medical care for veterans and families made ill by contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune marks an important advance in the effort to address health problems of an estimated 750,000 Americans.
Read More
Veterans and their families made ill by contaminated well water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina should not have to fight to get medical care and services.
Read More
The federal Food and Drug Administration’s new sunscreen rules, released today after nearly 33 years of deliberations, fall short.
Read MoreDid you think you were eating a carcinogen along with your favorite chicken sandwich last week? Probably not, but a new Food and Drug Administration study has found arsenic in chickens treated with 3-Nitro® (also known as Roxarsone), a commonly used, arsenic-based animal drug.
Read More
Only a scant number of chemical industry studies documenting Americans’ exposures to industrial chemicals appear on public databases maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and even fewer have focused on children’s exposures, according to an Environmental Working Group investigation.
Read MoreWashington, D.C. -- A new study by the federal Food and Drug Administration has found canned green beans contaminated with as much as 730 parts per billion of bisphenol A, a synthetic hormone and component of epoxy can linings.
Read MoreConsumers can trust a slim 20 percent of the beach and sport sunscreens assessed for the 2011 sun season, according to Environmental Working Group’s survey of over 1,700 sun products.
Read More
Medical experts will never cease searching for cures for the gravest illnesses that afflict people. But a growing consensus is forming in the medical and public health communities that preventing these disorders in the first place is a more urgent - and ultimately less costly - priority.
Read MoreU.S. pediatricians are putting their considerable muscle behind the calls for Congress to overhaul a failed federal law that has exposed millions of children, beginning in the womb, to an untold number of toxic chemicals.
Read MoreSkin Deep boasts a new look today, featuring smoother navigation, easier search functions and additional tips for consumers looking for information on the ingredients in their soap, deodorant, toothpaste and countless other personal care products.
Read MoreIn 2005, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) was the first lawmaker ever to offer a road map for fixing the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, which has allowed tens of thousands of toxic substances onto the marketplace with little or no testing.
Read MorePages
