US Chemical Companies to Write Their Own “Safety Standards” for the Proposed “Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act” (Bill S.697)

By Christina Sarich
Global Research, June 02, 2015
Natural Society 1 June 2015
Region:
Theme: ,

With bill S.697, the chemical industry is about to be given free reign to write their own safety standards. Unless, they are willing to drink their own glyphosate to prove it is “completely safe” as one Patrick Moore recently refused to do, then it hardly makes sense for them to decide if their own products meet safety requirements for the public.

Congress hasn’t passed a chemical control bill since 1976, with the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). But this was even ‘broken from the start,” according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

The TSCA grandfathered in thousands of chemicals that were already on the market at the time, even though most of them were extremely hazardous to human health. That act didn’t even allow the EPA to ban asbestos, which is a known cause of cancer.

This new bill would essentially give companies like Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and Syngenta the authority to call their own toxic chemicals ‘safe’ when regulatory bodies elsewhere have called them carcinogenic, and even deadly.

Since the 1970’s, tens of thousands of chemicals have been created and are sold on the market with little or no real regulation. More than 80,000 of them are in our food, our clothing, and even in new building materials used to build homes.

If anything, it is time for reform of the original bill, but instead, congress is looking to give chemical giants like Dow and Monsanto more ammunition to poison the planet.

S.697 is the brainchild of a chemical industry that has spent $190 million lobbying for its passage. Here are examples of just some of the money trail supporting this bill:

  • Democratic Sponsor Tom Udall’s (D-N.M.) campaign received $49,050 from the Chemical industry in the 2014 cycle, plus $23,500 from lobbyists employed by the American Chemistry Council.
  • Republican sponsor David Vitter’s (R-La.) campaign received $20,600 in the 2014 cycle, and $14,300 from American Chemistry Council lobbyists.
  • American Chemistry Council has other ‘donations.’

If you want Congress to veto this bill, act quickly. It’s up for a vote very soon. It’s being called the ‘Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act,’ but it does absolutely nothing to keep us safe from chemicals used by this enormous industry.

Follow us: @naturalsociety on Twitter | NaturalSociety on Facebook
Articles by: Christina Sarich

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]