S. 696, Introduced in Senate by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Full Text Below is a simple rendition of Congress' official bill text here:
1.Short title
This Act may be cited as the Safe Chemicals Act of 2013.
2.Purposes
The purpose of this Act is to ensure that risks from chemicals are adequately understood and managed.
3.Findings,
policy, and goalSection 2 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2601) is amended—
(1)in the heading, by striking Intent and inserting Goal; and
(2)by striking subsections (a) through (c) and inserting the following:
(a)FindingsCongress finds that—
(1)each year human beings and the environment are exposed to a large number of chemical substances;
(2)the chemical industry, an important part of the United States economy, provides valuable products that are used in diverse manufacturing industries and other commercial, institutional, and consumer applications;
(3)more than 3 decades after the enactment of this Act, people and the environment in the United States are still exposed to thousands of chemicals whose safety has not been adequately reviewed and may harm health and the environment;
(4)the incidence of some diseases and disorders linked to chemical substance exposures is on the rise;
(5)biomonitoring of chemical substances in humans reveals that people in the United States carry hundreds of hazardous chemicals in their bodies;
(6)the concentrations of certain chemical substances that persist and accumulate are increasing in the environment and in human bodies and are found across the world, including in the remote Arctic in which Native Americans face increasing contamination of traditional foods;
(7)differences in metabolism and physiology at certain stages of development can make infants and children more vulnerable than adults to the effects of chemical exposure, especially exposure that occurs in utero, during infancy, and during other critical periods of development;
(8)manufacturers and processors of chemicals should supply sufficient health and environmental information before distributing products in commerce;
(9)the Administrator must have and exercise the authority to develop sufficient information to assess chemical safety, and to act effectively when the Administrator obtains information that indicates there are risks of harmful exposure to chemical substances;
(10)there is significant global trade in the chemical sector and many of the companies that conduct business in the United States must also comply with chemical safety regulatory programs in other countries, and the data that is generated to comply with those other regulatory programs may be useful in understanding hazards and exposures of chemical substances presented in the United States; and
(11)a revised policy on the safety of chemical substances will assist in renewing the manufacturing sector of the United States, create new and safer jobs, spur innovations in green chemistry, restore confidence domestically and internationally in the safety of products of the United States, and ensure that products of the United States remain competitive in the global market.
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