Fwd: Victory - Maine Names Chemicals of High Concern

Ask Senator Snowe to Help Fix our Broken Chemical Safety System Dear Kimberly, On Friday, July 17, Maine officially designated over 1,700 "Chemicals of High Concern" under the state's Kid-Safe Products Act passed in 2008 with your support. These chemicals have already been confirmed as hazardous to children's health by an authoritative government body, based on the best available scientific evidence. But state action alone is not enough to protect our families from dangerous chemicals in everyday products. We need to fix our broken national chemical safety system too. Problem: The federal law that should protect us from dangerous chemicals in consumer products is badly broken. In 1976, the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) "grandfathered" more than 60,000 industrial chemicals for use in everyday products.  In more than 30 years, the U.S. government has ordered chemical manufacturers to test only 200 chemicals for their threat to human health and the environment, so the majority of chemicals remain untested.  Of the thousands of chemicals that science already shows are dangerous, the U.S. has only banned or restricted the use of 5 toxic chemicals under TSCA.  Meanwhile any test of human blood or household dust shows that people are exposed to hundreds of toxic chemicals that escape from everyday products or contaminate our food supply. Solution: Maine is already a strong leader on safer state chemical policy. But state action is not enough to fully protect our families. A new bill to fix our national chemical safety system will be introduced soon in Congress. Senator Olympia Snowe should continue Maine's leadership by supporting this important legislation. Action Needed: Please ask Senator Snowe to become a co-sponsor of the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act using the Act Now button below. Deadline for responding: Please take action by July 31. NOTE: Do not use your email program to forward this message to others as it has been personalized with your account information. Your personal Act Now link will not work for your friends. To spread the word about this issue, please use the "Forward to a friend" link at the top of this message. Privacy Policy Unsubscribe