Washington, DC – Today, Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and David Vitter (R-LA) jointly introduced the Chemical Safety Improvement Act. The bill, sponsored by eight Democrats and eight Republicans, aims to reform the outdated federal toxics law currently on the books that both industry and public interest groups say has become unworkable.
Andy Igrejas, executive director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, a coalition of 450 public health, environment, business and labor groups, issued the following statement:
“Cracking down on harmful chemicals has strong public support across the political spectrum and you see that reflected in this group of Senators. We congratulate them on their work together.
“Substantively, we are still evaluating the details. On the one hand, the bill gives EPA new tools to protect the public from toxic chemicals. It also gives state governments, who have made important gains in public health protections, a continued role in chemical regulation. On the other hand the bill omits many of the deadlines in the Lautenberg/Gillibrand legislation, its special focus on heavily impacted communities, and other important provisions.
“We look forward to working with Senators Lautenberg and Vitter, the co-sponsors, and the Environment and Public Works Committee to ensure the strongest possible public health protections.”
