Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 - What Does It Mean To You?

Did you know that there are over 80,000 chemicals that are used in consumer products in the United States of which the FDA has required safety testing of only 200? Could this lack of regulation be putting our health at risk? The answer is yes, according to the President's Cancer Panel as stated in a May 2010 report. This panel was established by the National Cancer Act of 1971 under President Richard Nixon. Since this time "there has been a systematic effort to minimize the importance of environmental factors in carcinogenesis," said Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, director of the Children's Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. The report's authors wrote a letter to the president urging his office "to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase healthcare costs, cripple our Nation's productivity, and devastate American lives". This statement bites off a big chunk of the environmental problems associated with the many diseases that are becoming ever-increasingly common, including cancer. The report lends strength to a new bill that has been introduced in congress that all of us should learn more about.

The "Safe Chemicals Act of 2010" was introduced on April 15th by Senator Lautenberg and Representatives Waxman and Rush. This piece of legislation has been presented to give a major overhall to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 which has been an ineffective bill which essentially allows manufacturers to walk all over the EPA. With the thousands of chemicals that are used daily by the American population, this kind of consumer protection is long overdue and will address the range of chemicals that the public is relatively unaware of. BPA is one chemical that has received attention with good reason. As the public becomes increasingly aware of the studies that are raising eyebrows among scientists and doctors the efforts to clean up our environment and our health will not go in vain. As of yet we can't quantify the role that chemicals in our beauty, cleaning products and other consumer goods play in the development of cancer. However, we do know that there is a critical role that these chemicals play in immune and endocrine dysfunction which have known links to the initiation of cancer. This piece of legislation, along with the President's Cancer Panel statement, are making big waves that need to keep coming if we are going to make strides is controlling the epidemic of cancer. Here are some of the key points of the new bill.

-Requiring chemical companies to develop and make publicly available basic health and safety information for all chemicals.

-Requiring chemicals to meet a safety standard that protects vulnerable sub-populations, including pregnant women and children.

-A new program to identify communities that are “hot spots” for toxic chemicals and to take action to reduce exposures.

-Expediting safety determinations and actions to restrict some of the most notorious chemicals, like formaldehyde, vinyl chloride, and flame retardants.

This bill could even go further to protect the American public from the carelessness of chemical manufacturers, but it makes a great shift from the lack of effective action of our government up til now. To read more about it, visit http://www.saferchemicals.org/2010/04/landmark-chemical-legislation-introduced-to-protect-the-health-of-american-families.html for more details.

Join Healthlinks Clinic for their May 20 seminar on "Detoxifying Your Beauty Products" for an indepth look at the dangerous chemicals we apply to our skin every day.

If you would like to follow the progress of this bill and related information, please e-mail us at wellness@healthlinksclinic.com.