A new Senate draft bill could dismantle core safeguards of the nation’s primary chemical safety law, making it easier for toxic substances to infiltrate homes, schools, and workplaces, according to the Alliance for Health and Safe Chemicals, a national coalition of organizations.
The warning comes after the release of draft legislation to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the bipartisan law Congress overhauled in 2016. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has scheduled a hearing on the draft for March 4.
“This is not just a policy debate—it’s a public health alarm,” the Alliance said, highlighting that a House proposal surfaced in January that would similarly gut TSCA, signaling a coordinated effort to weaken protections against toxic chemicals and limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to safeguard Americans.
The proposed changes would: Allow more dangerous chemicals onto the market without meaningful EPA review; Give the chemical industry more power to override independent science and protections for families, workers, and communities; Create loopholes for toxic chemicals; Undermine states’ ability to protect residents, drinking water, and food.
“Children’s health must come first, yet the chemical industry is now lobbying to weaken the chemical law that protects our families,” the Alliance said in a joint statement.
“Rolling back chemical safety protections will make it harder to keep out of our lives toxic chemicals linked to cancer, learning disabilities and infertility. Americans should be able to trust that any chemicals in their homes, schools, workplaces and communities won't make them sick,’’ the statement added.
Public support for chemical safety protections remains strong across party lines, with widespread backing for the EPA’s authority to review and restrict dangerous chemicals. Experts warn that weakening TSCA would not only raise health risks but also create uncertainty for businesses that have already adapted to the law.
Since the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act passed in 2016 with overwhelming bipartisan support, TSCA has ensured that new chemicals are reviewed for safety before entering the market and that the EPA can act against harmful substances. The law has allowed the agency to ban deadly asbestos and methylene chloride, restrict cancer-causing chemicals like trichloroethylene, and block certain PFAS chemicals from entering commerce.
Alliance members underscored the stakes:
“Northern and Arctic Indigenous Peoples suffer some of the highest exposures to persistent toxic chemicals and disease burdens of any population on earth. Weakening TSCA will strip the law of its provisions to prevent harmful and cumulative exposures to persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals,’’ said Pamela Miller, executive director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics.
“With breast cancer rates unacceptably high in the U.S. and rising among younger women, we cannot weaken federal safeguards against cancer-causing and hormone-disrupting chemicals in our products and environment,” said Nancy Buermeyer, director of program and policy at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners. “Preventing toxic exposures is essential to protecting women’s health and reducing breast cancer risk.”
“Reopening TSCA will lead to the increased proliferation of chemical recycling, which has an abysmal track record, does nothing to solve the plastic crisis, and in fact puts even more toxic chemicals into our environment,” said Judith Enck, former EPA regional administrator and president of Beyond Plastics.
