{"id":1318,"date":"2011-04-14T13:29:15","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T18:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/nanotechnology\/?p=1318"},"modified":"2024-02-12T11:01:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:01:14","slug":"tsca-reform-2-0-aka-safe-chemicals-act-of-2011-tastes-great-less-filling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2011\/04\/14\/tsca-reform-2-0-aka-safe-chemicals-act-of-2011-tastes-great-less-filling\/","title":{"rendered":"TSCA reform 2.0, aka, Safe Chemicals Act of 2011: Tastes great, less filling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Denison, Ph.D.<\/em>, is a Senior Scientist.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011<\/a> was introduced in the U.S. Senate today by Senator Frank Lautenberg and is co-sponsored by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Charles Schumer, and Barbara Boxer.<\/p>\n

In the TSCA reform debate, some things haven\u2019t changed from last year:\u00a0 TSCA is just as badly in need of an overhaul, and consumers and the chemical industry\u2019s customers have no more confidence in the safety of chemicals in use today than they did a year ago.\u00a0 States<\/a>, other countries<\/a> and the marketplace<\/a> all continue to act to advance modern chemical safety policies and practices.\u00a0 We in the advocacy community are still waiting for the chemical industry to offer some of its own proposals for reform \u2013 though some individual companies and product associations have been more forthcoming.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the 2011 version of the Safe Chemicals Act has changed in some important ways \u2013 and for the better.\u00a0 It includes a number of improvements over last year\u2019s version that would both boost health protections and ease implementation and workability.<\/p>\n

[Updated 5-9-11:\u00a0 Here’s a side-by-side<\/a> comparing the\u00a02011 version to the 2010 version of the Act.]<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t go into a lot of detail here; for that, you can follow these links to Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families<\/em>\u2019 news release<\/a>\u00a0and my side-by-side<\/a>\u00a0comparison of the 2011 vs. 2010 versions of the bill.\u00a0 (A factsheet on the new bill will be posted here and on the coalition\u2019s website later today.)<\/p>\n

But here are a few highlights of the changes made in the new bill:<\/p>\n