Bill aims to limit harmful products

Chemicals rules sent to Obama

WASHINGTON -- Congress sent to President Barack Obama a bill that would for the first time regulate tens of thousands of toxic chemicals in everyday products, including household cleaners, clothing and furniture.

The Senate backed the measure on a voice vote Tuesday evening after Republicans and Democrats spoke enthusiastically about the legislation. Backers of the bill said it would clear up a hodgepodge of state rules and update and improve a toxic-chemicals law that has remained unchanged for 40 years.

The Senate vote followed approval in the House last month. Obama is expected to sign the measure.

The wide-ranging bill was more than three years in the making and had support from a broad coalition, including environmental and public health groups, the chemical industry, and the National Association of Manufacturers.

The bill would set new safety standards for asbestos and other dangerous chemicals, including formaldehyde, styrene and Bisphenol A, that have gone unregulated for decades. The rules will affect an $800 billion-a-year industry.

The measure would update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act to require that the Environmental Protection Agency evaluate new and existing chemicals against a new, risk-based safety standard that includes considerations for children and pregnant women. It also establishes written deadlines for the EPA to act and makes it harder for the industry to claim that chemical information is proprietary and therefore secret.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., one of the legislation's chief sponsors, said the bill's passage ensures that "for the first time in 40 years, the United States of America will have a chemical safety program that works ... and protects families from dangerous chemicals in their daily lives."

The bill is named the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, in honor of the New Jersey Democrat who worked for years to fix the toxic-substance law before his death in 2013.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called the bill "historic" and "a great example of the Republican-led Congress working for the American people by enacting meaningful and common-sense legislation."

Some environmental groups opposed the bill, saying it did too little to protect consumers from dangerous chemicals that have been linked to illnesses, including cancer, infertility, diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Under current law, only a small fraction of chemicals used in consumer goods have been reviewed for safety.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also opposed the bill, calling it a "sweeping federal takeover of chemical regulation." Paul said the bill would pre-empt state regulations in favor of "overzealous" federal regulations.

Business groups have been asking Congress to bring clarity to what they say are an assortment of state regulations, with tough rules required by liberal-leaning states such as California, Massachusetts and Vermont, and looser standards in conservative states such as Texas and Louisiana.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents the chemical industry, said the bill would provide greater certainty to the industry while holding the EPA accountable for imposing reasonable requirements.

The legislation would "bring chemical regulation into the 21st century ... and have far-reaching benefits for America's economy and public health," the group said in a statement.

The chemical bill is "not perfect," but it "meets the high goals set by the administration for meaningful reform," the White House said in a statement, adding that the legislation is likely to restore public confidence in the safety of chemicals while improving public health and environmental protections.

The 181-page bill declares that any state law or rule in place before April 22 would not be pre-empted by federal law. The legislation also would allow states to work on some regulations while federal rules are being developed, a process that can take up to seven years.

States that do not regulate chemicals closely would follow the federal standard.

Business on 06/09/2016

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