Every family deserves protection from toxic chemicals in the products we buy, the water we drink, and the food we eat. We should not have to worry that the water coming out of our tap or the food on our table is contaminated by PFAS “forever chemicals.” We should not fear that the carpet our children play on or the raincoats they wear have been treated with toxic chemicals.
In 2016, amid mounting evidence that Americans’ health was increasingly threatened by chemicals we are exposed to in the products in our homes, communities, and workplaces, and growing public mistrust of everyday products, Congress enacted bi-partisan reforms that finally strengthened the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
Although the updated law did not accomplish all we wanted, it has resulted in important health protections. For example, the U.S. EPA has been able to act on long-known chemical dangers like cancer-causing asbestos, trichloroethylene (TCE), and methylene chloride. The updated law has also required more safety data and EPA must evaluate chemicals before they’re on the market or used in our workplaces. At the same time, it recognized the role of states to enact policies that protect the health of their residents from dangerous chemicals.
Chemical corporations are pushing to turn back the clock
Last week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Environment Subcommittee Chair Gary Palmer (R-AL) introduced draft legislation that reads like a chemical industry wish list. We are calling it The TOXIC Act—because it would lead to more toxic chemicals, more cancer, and more industry profit.
The proposal would roll back core public health protections won in 2016. In fact, in some cases it would make the law even weaker than the original 1976 law, which was so flawed that the EPA could not even ban deadly substances like asbestos.
The legislation makes sweeping changes to the law that would slow EPA’s ability to protect people from known toxic chemicals like those that persist in the environment and our bodies, like PFAS, speed up approvals of more dangerous chemicals, and keep information about those dangers secret from the public. These changes would benefit polluters, while leaving families, workers, and communities to shoulder the health and economic costs.
The Committee majority is moving quickly. The Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the draft bill Thursday, January 22, 2026.
The TOXIC Act would roll back public health protections
The proposed bill dismantles the core principle of the 2016 reforms: that chemical safety decisions should prioritize public health over industry convenience and profit.
If passed, The TOXIC Act would:
Make it easier for chemical corporations to put new dangerous chemicals on the market.
By fast-tracking reviews for new chemicals, the bill would make it easier for harmful chemicals like PFAS to enter the market without full safety evaluations. This includes limiting testing, approving chemicals simply because they have been approved in another country, and giving a “fast pass” to chemicals it considers “equivalent” to chemicals already on the market, including complex chemical mixtures that come from burning plastic waste.
In short, the bill prioritizes speed and industry convenience over safety and public health.
Weaken EPA’s ability to remove dangerous chemicals from the market.
The TOXIC Act lowers the bar for chemical evaluations, making it almost entirely impossible for EPA to stop cancer-causing chemicals like methylene chloride and trichloroethylene (TCE) from being used in products.
While the 2016 TSCA reforms required EPA to regulate chemicals until they no longer present unreasonable risk, the bill would make EPA prioritize costs to industry rather than the health of the public.
Moreover, the bill sets such a high standard for action on a chemical that the EPA will likely never be able to reach it. The bill would even prevent EPA from protecting workers exposed to dangerous chemicals on the job.
Changing this standard would take us back to the days when EPA couldn’t even ban asbestos.
If passed, the TOXIC Act will repeat the same mistakes of the past that have driven increasing rates of chronic diseases like cancer.
Increase corporate control over chemical safety.
Most people expect independent scientists to evaluate a chemical’s potential to harm human health. Currently the burden is on the chemical industry to provide data so that a safety determination can be made by EPA.
But the TOXIC Act would roll back the 2016 law and put the burden back on EPA to produce a mountain of data proving a chemical is dangerous before regulating it. The bill also gives industry an even bigger seat at the table when making these determinations by proactively inviting them into the process.
Essentially, the TOXIC Act hands EPA’s role in protecting the health of Americans to the chemical industry.
Undermine states’ rights to protect residents from toxic chemicals.
The bill dismantles key safeguards in federal law, making it far more likely that the EPA would declare that some dangerous chemicals pose “no risk.” Once that happens, states like New York, California, and Washington would be barred from acting—even when real harm is occurring.
This is especially troubling because states are already on the front lines of toxic contamination from chemicals like PFAS, paying hundreds of millions of dollars for cleanup, health care, and drinking water treatment. Historically, states have not been able to rely on strong federal protections and have led the way with innovative, commonsense solutions to protect public health.
The TOXIC Act would undermine states’ rights to protect their residents and shift even greater costs onto families, taxpayers, and state budgets—while chemical companies continue to profit.
The bottom line
This is just the tip of the toxic iceberg. The TOXIC Act makes sweeping changes to nine sections of the law that will fundamentally weaken federal chemical safety protections.
We need stronger protections from toxic chemicals—not weaker ones.
Please urge Congress to preserve our public health protections.
Polls repeatedly show overwhelming bipartisan support for protection from chemicals in our food, air, and water. We must do more to protect the health of our families, especially our children, from chemicals linked to cancer, infertility, miscarriage, and developmental challenges.
In December, Toxic-Free Future organized a letter signed by more than 250 public health, consumer, and environmental organizations to urge Congress to reject efforts to further erode chemical safety protections.
Take Action: Tell Congress to reject The TOXIC Act and stand up for kids, families, and health – not polluter profits.
Director of Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, Toxic-Free Future's federal policy program
Liz Hitchcock is director of Toxic-Free Future’s federal policy program. She leads advocacy efforts with Congress, EPA and other federal agencies.
