From The Denver Post (Mark Jaffe):
The 33-year-old Toxic Substance[s] Control Act has “fallen behind the industry it was supposed to regulate,” [Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson] said in a teleconference with the news media. “Our cars to the cellphones in our pockets are constructed with plastics and chemical additives,” Jackson said. “As more chemicals are found in our bodies and in the environment, concerns grow.”</p
The move for an overhaul of the act drew immediate support from industry groups. The system needs “modernization,” Cal Dooley, chief executive of the major industry trade group, the American Chemistry Council, said in a separate conference call. In August, the council issued its own principles for reworking the act, and Dooley said he was pleased the EPA approach was similar. “We believe more information needs to be brought forward to determine safety,” Dooley said…
Among the EPA principles:
• Chemicals would be reviewed against risk-based safety standards.
• Manufacturers would provide the EPA with information to show that new and existing chemicals are safe and do not endanger public health.
• The EPA would have clear authority to take action to manage risk or ban a chemical.
More water pollution coverage here.