Chemicals Focus of EPW Subcommittee Hearing
The Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health held a hearing entitled, "Current Science on Public Exposures to Toxic Chemicals” on February 4. Senator Lautenberg (D- N.J.), the Subcommittee Chairman, began the hearing by highlighting flaws with the existing Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), saying it “fails to give EPA the tools it need to protect against unsafe chemicals.” He told Subcommittee members that he will be reaching out to them as he begins to write a safer chemicals bill.
Senator Boxer, Chairwoman of the full Committee, appeared during the hearing to share her views saying, “Fixing the nation’s flawed system for regulating toxic chemicals must be a top priority and is in this Committee. She voiced her support for Senator Lautenberg’s effort to rewrite TSCA and said he has her full support.
Senator Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the full Committee, voiced his skepticism about the need to fully rewrite TSCA. Any revisions, he said, “must be based on the best available science, including risk assessment; must include cost-benefit considerations; must protect proprietary information; and must prioritize reviews for existing chemicals.”
Senator Inhofe noted the high cost of removing arsenic and other contaminants from drinking water in rural areas and indicated any changes to existing laws should focus on helping small communities.
During the hearing, Senator Boxer once again mentioned perchlorate. She indicated that she continues to push EPA to set a drinking water standard by June. “The CDC found that 100% of the people they sampled -- every single one -- had detectable levels of perchlorate,” she noted.
There were two panels of panelists testifying. The first panel consisted of Administration Officials: Steven Owns, EPA’s Assistant Administrator, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances; Henry Falk, Acting Director for National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; John Stephenson, GAO’s Director of Natural Resources; and Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Director of the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences.
The second panel consisted of Molly Jones Gray, Participant in a Biomonitoring Study; Ken Cook, President, Environmental Working Group; Dr. Charles McKay, Director of the Division of Toxicology, Department of Emergency Medicine, Hartford Hospital; and Dr. Tracey J. Woodruff, Associate Professor and Director Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco.
