In News Journal - ICYMI: Delaware Delegation Oped in News Journal: "Americans Get Better Protection from Toxic Substances"

Op-Ed

By Tom Carper, Chris Coons & John Carney

These days, most of the news coverage from Washington is focused on our nasty presidential campaign or congressional gridlock, but last week, Congress actually came together to pass legislation that is not only good for the whole country but particularly important to our home state of Delaware, too.

The landmark bill makes major, long-overdue reforms to the Toxic Substances Control Act, a law that sets chemical safety standards, not only for big, industrial manufacturers, but also for families who are exposed to chemicals every day through household items.

TSCA was first enacted all the way back in 1976 to regulate thousands of chemicals used in products Americans rely on every day, ranging from laundry detergents to Tupperware. Forty years later, though, the evidence is clear: This law is no longer getting the job done. In truth, it hasn't worked for more than three decades, and our decades-old chemical safety standards are leaving the public at risk of toxic exposures. Many Americans don't trust that the toys their kids are playing with or the products they clean their house with are safe.

These outdated regulations are also leaving the private sector with a broken regulatory process that has undermined innovation. As the home of some of America's leading chemical manufacturers like DuPont, Croda and Ashland, Delaware communities up and down the state have experienced the consequences of this broken law firsthand.

We have heard repeatedly from companies in Delaware that because of the unpredictability and lack of clarity in our current laws, innovation has been stifled and chemical companies have been discouraged from innovating new, safer products. In the absence of up-to-date federal standards, different states have enacted their own reforms and restrictions, leaving companies even more in the dark about what products they can produce and sell.

Chemical manufacturers and users deserve clarity and a timely review process for both new and existing products, and the general public should be able to trust that the products they are buying and using are safe. This clarity will encourage innovation to develop new, high-performing chemical products and processes that are safer for workers and for the public.

So, under the new law that will be enacted this year, chemicals will need to meet safety standards before they can enter the market and people's homes, and businesses will have a predictable and manageable review process to ensure chemicals are deemed safe for commercial use.

TSCA reform is the product of years of bipartisan communication, collaboration and compromise.

It is named after the late Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., whose career-long passion and dedication for this issue gave these important reforms the spark they needed to move forward after years of inaction.

We have worked closely with our colleagues from both sides of the aisle to ensure this bill included strong protections for public health and the environment before it reached the finish line. In particular, we worked hard to include provisions that will protect children, pregnant women and workers from toxic risks; ensure the EPA has access to information it needs to assess chemical safety; and allow states to enforce federal standards, while also ensuring that innovation in the private sector can continue in Delaware and around the country.

Over the years, all three of us have heard from countless Delawareans, including businesses and industry leaders, researchers, nurses and parents, who all asked for the same thing: TSCA reform. We are proud to have contributed ideas to and helped pass a bill to reform that broken system.

This bill is supported by a range of individuals and groups from across the political spectrum, including the Environmental Defense Fund, the American Chemistry Council, the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This broad support is a sign of how necessary and timely these reforms are.

In today's political climate, it is easy to forget that to get things done, we don't have to agree on every issue, but we do have to work together, across the aisle, to find commonsense solutions to issues that we all face. In this case, we all agreed that continuing to live under chemical safety standards that were written decades ago is not only unacceptable, it's downright dangerous. We could not afford to endanger our public health and the environment any longer.

This bill not only proves that the choice between a clean environment and a strong economy is a false one, but it also shows that Congress can still come together to work for the American people.

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