Under the new legislation pending in Congress to reform the nation’s ineffectual chemicals regulation law, it would be easy to paralyze the Environmental Protection Agency under mountains of data — if it’s not done right. The discussion draft circulated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee,...

Is it possible that Congress would pass a bill allowing new chemicals on the market that might be even less safe than the ones we have now, to be used in products we buy and use everyday – even in children’s products? Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the newly released House discussion draft...

Every time there’s a debate over efforts to protect people from environmental health dangers, the folks facing new regulatory demands point out in great detail what it will cost in lost profits, higher prices to consumers and reduced productivity. Those arguments deserve to be weighed in the balance,...

After nearly 35 years with basically no information on just about any chemical, is it possible to have too much “minimal” information?  Sounds hard to imagine, but some apparently think so. Here’s the issue. Under the newly-released House draft of a chemical regulation reform bill, EPA would...

Before you buy a car, you check its safety, reliability and performance ratings. Before you buy a house, you hire an experienced inspector to look for hidden problems.  Before you expose your children to toxic chemicals?  Not so much. Most used car dealers have more reliable information on...

The effort to protect Americans from chemical dangers took a historic step forward today as Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Environmental Health, introduced legislation to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976.  The current law is riddled...

The campaign for Kid-Safe Chemicals shifted into high gear this week (April 14) on a glorious spring day in Washington D.C. as the Environmental Working Group (EWG) presented petitions signed by more than 85,000 Americans to key Senate backers of chemicals regulation reform. On the day before Sen. Frank...

Would you take an airline that screened baggage for high explosives? Sure. But what if the airline stopped there and didn’t check for firearms, knives, grenades, combustible liquids, ignition devices, caustics and other dangerous devices?  You’d find another way to get there, fast, and you’d...

CNN’s Sanjay Gupta reported this week that Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ,  intends to reintroduce the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act as the major vehicle for toxic chemicals policy reform “within the next month or so.” In a segment called Chemicals, innocent or guilty, Gupta, a physician and CNN’s...

From bisphenol A (BPA) to flame retardants and beyond, industrial chemicals that have troubling connections to a host of human health problems and are widely used in consumer products came under tough scrutiny before a U.S. Senate hearing this week (Feb. 4). New Jersey Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D) called...