Bill Would Let Feds Ban Some Chemicals

I know this may be a little jarring on a Saturday morning, but I think it's an important step nonetheless and one worth supporting. There are so many of us who wonder if these chemicals are harmful to our health.

A new bill could alter the landscape of chemical regulation in the United States by empowering researchers to take swift action against the most potentially harmful chemicals in use today.
The bill, to be introduced later this month, would give the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and a panel of experts selected by the director, the power to ban up to 10 chemicals from commerce each year by categorizing them as being of high concern.
Those chemicals would become unlawful to use 24 months after receiving that designation.

Reform of U.S. Chemical Law Urged

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Environmental health and autism experts Tuesday called for reform of the outdated U.S. law regulating chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.
They warned that the recent sharp rise in autism is likely due, in part, to the cocktail of toxic chemicals that pregnant women, fetuses, babies and young children encounter.
"Lead, mercury, and other neurotoxic chemicals have a profound effect on the developing brain at levels that were once thought to be safe. With some complex combination of insults, little brains reach a tipping point," warned Donna Ferullo, director of program research at The Autism Society, told reporters on a conference call convened by the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition.

Pediatricians Urge Better Toxin Regulation

The U.S. needs to do a better job protecting children and pregnant women from toxic chemicals, says a policy statement out today from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The group says children's developing brains and bodies are far more vulnerable than adults' to toxins. And while pediatricians typically spend more time in the clinic than on Capitol Hill, the policy's authors say they felt compelled to advocate for patients who can't defend themselves.