J.R. Pegg reports for Environment News Service "The U.S. chemical regulatory system is failing to protect public health and the environment and is in dire need of reform, experts told a House panel Thursday. The legal hurdles of existing law make it virtually impossible for the federal government to limit or ban the use of toxic chemicals or to even obtain the information needed to devise effective regulations, several witnesses testified before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. The hearing focused on the effectiveness of the Toxic Substances Control Act. Enacted in 1976, the statute gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate chemicals. But the agency has only required testing for some 200 of the more than 82,000 chemicals in commerce and has issued regulations to control only five existing chemicals."