Surprisingly, this column is NOT about health system reform; rather it addresses another needed policy change affecting the health of this country – chemical policy reform. Since the inception of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), aimed at regulating the chemicals present in our everyday lives, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has only been able to require testing on 200 of the more than 80,000 new chemicals produced and used in the U.S., and just five chemicals have been regulated under this law. Under the current law, chemicals enter our homes, workplaces, and communities with little or no testing for human toxicity. We have garnered substantial scientific evidence linking commonly used chemicals to some of our country’s most serious health problems, such as childhood cancers, asthma, impaired fertility, birth defects, and learning disabilities. ANA has been actively engaged in influencing needed changes at both the federal and state levels since 2006. In partnership with the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families Coalition, Congress will again be asked to overhaul TSCA. States act when Congress doesn’t.

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The American Nurses Association (ANA) applauds the introduction of legislation to bring much needed reform to our nation’s chemical policy. The Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 (H.R. 5820), introduced by Congressmen Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Henry Waxman (D-CA), would make much needed changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), such as requiring publicly available safety and health data on chemicals, and putting the burden on the industry to prove that chemicals are safe in order stay on the market.

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