Why We Need The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act
The Campaign: Pass the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act (KSCA)
This pollution of people is the direct result of a law that does not require chemicals to be proven safe to get on the market, or stay on the market. Under the current toothless law, EPA does not have the authority to demand the information it needs to evaluate a chemical’s risk, and neither manufacturers nor the EPA are required to prove a chemical’s safety as a condition of use.
The Kid-Safe Chemical Act will change all this through a fundamental overhaul of our nation’s chemical regulatory law. Specifically, the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act:
requires that industrial chemicals be safe for infants, kids and other vulnerable groups;
requires that new chemicals be safety tested before they are sold;
requires chemical manufacturers to test and prove that the 62,000 chemicals already on the market that have never been tested are safe in order for them to remain in commerce;
requires EPA to review “priority” chemicals, those which are found in people, on an expedited schedule;
requires regular biomonitoring to determine what chemicals are in people and in what amounts;
requires regular updates of health and safety data and provides EPA with clear authority to request additional information and tests;
provides incentives for manufacturers to further reduce health hazards;
requires EPA to promote safer alternatives and alternatives to animal testing;
protects state and local rights; and
requires that this information be publicly available.
Through the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act we can give our children a safer and healthier future.
http://www.ewg.org/kidsafe
