FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DECEMBER 18, 2015

CONTACT:
Erika Wilhelm, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners

SAN FRANCISCO – After years of debate and negotiations, the United State Senate just passed legislation amending the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the first time since the original bill became law in 1976. Unfortunately, the most recent version of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act does not meet the promise of true TSCA reform and as a result, we at the Breast Cancer Fund oppose the legislation.

While improvements were made to the bill through the process, the resulting incremental changes simply did not get to – good enough. Despite the valiant efforts of a few, the sad truth is that we did not have enough strong champions to hold off the industry lobbying for a weak bill. The legislation just passed by the Senate will fail to significantly reduce exposures to chemicals linked to an increase risk of breast cancer and numerous other adverse health impacts.

During this holiday season, while parents are buying toys for their children, it is unconscionable that the Senate would vote to roll back protections from imported products containing toxic chemicals. ‘Bipartisanship’ is not permission to pass bad policy. We urge the conference committee to take the best of both bills and send the strongest possible legislation back to both the House and Senate and ultimately to President Obama for final approval.

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Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) is the leading national science-based policy and advocacy organization working to prevent breast cancer by eliminating our exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation.