WASHINGTON – In a move that could dramatically increase Americans’ exposure to hazardous chemicals, House Republicans have released the unofficial draft of a bill that would weaken the country’s primary chemical safety law.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) released the draft on Thursday.
The proposal would force the Environmental Protection Agency to speed up the approval of new toxic chemicals and weaken safety requirements for approval, even when companies fail to provide adequate safety data.
It would also hinder EPA efforts to order company safety tests on chemicals of concern and weaken agency assessments of toxic chemicals in the marketplace.
If signed into law as currently written, the proposal would undercut core protections set up to keep hazardous chemicals out of consumer products, workplaces and sources of drinking water.
It would also open the marketplace to inadequately reviewed substances potentially linked to cancer, developmental harm and other serious health risks.
The subcommittee will hold a hearing on the draft on January 22.
The following is a statement from Melanie Benesh, Environmental Working Group vice president for government affairs.
This proposal gives chemical manufacturers a free pass.
Fast-tracking new toxic chemicals into the U.S. marketplace without proper health and environmental review would put families, workers and communities in harm’s way.
And weaker safety protections would promote chemical industry profits at the expense of public health and the environment.
EWG strongly opposes this ill-conceived proposal and urges Congress to reject it.
President Trump promised to “Make America Healthy Again,” but this legislation would do the opposite, flooding the market with chemicals whose risks are unknown and potentially dangerous, and drastically undermining chemical safety in the workplace.
Congress must ensure that chemical safety protections move forward, not backward.
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
