From Environment Maine:

Reflecting a bipartisan consensus, Maine legislative leaders introduced a joint resolution today calling on Congress to modernize the federal Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. Maine moms, dads, businesses, and health care providers have heightened their call for reform of the chemical safety law that they say is obsolete and fails to assure parents that the products they use and purchase are free from dangerous chemicals that threaten the health of their families.

“We’re thrilled that Maine leaders have united to send this life-saving message to Congress,” said Mike Belliveau, President of the Environmental Health Strategy Center. “They chose to stand with Maine moms and doctors working to pass the Safe Chemicals Act, not the chemical industry that’s opposed. We need Senators Snowe and Collins to forge a bipartisan fix to our broken chemical safety system.”

President Kevin Raye sponsored the joint resolution (SP 679) with bipartisan support from legislative leadership, including Senate Minority Leader Barry Hobbins, Speaker Robert Nutting, House Minority Leader Emily Cain, and top members of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. The joint resolution follows editorial support from five state newspapers calling on Senators Snowe and Collins to co-sponsor the Safe Chemicals Act (S. 847). The federal bill will be voted on in Committee at the end of April, and on the floor of the U.S. Senate soon thereafter.

A new poll released today sought to discover what likely Maine voters want in a U.S. Senate candidate when it comes to the environment and public health. Ninety two percent said it was important for the U.S. government to require safer chemicals in consumer products. The NRDC Action Fund and Environment Maine sponsored the poll of 841 likely Maine voters, which was conducted March 27-28 by Public Policy Polling, a research firm based in North Carolina.

Emily Figdor, Director of Environment Maine, remarked: “There’s overwhelming public and political support in Maine for safer products. The consumer product companies want federal reform too; the only ones standing in the way are corporations like Dow Chemical and ExxonMobil Chemical. We need Senators Snowe and Collins to stand up to the chemical companies and be heroes in the U.S. Senate.”

The Safe Chemicals Act would require chemical companies to demonstrate the safety of their products, while filling gaps in health and safety information provided to the public. The Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use the best available science to protect pregnant women and children from all sources of exposure to a toxic chemical. The legislation also rewards businesses that innovate to develop safer chemicals and products, which supporters say would be good for Maine’s economy.

Additional details can be found here.

From The Free Press:

Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) released a set of principles last week to try to ensure that the debate in the U.S. Congress over reforming the nation’s chemical policy stays focused on protecting public health and the environment. The principles were developed through a collaboration of 13 states – California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

According to [David Littell, commissioner of the Maine DEP], the 33-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) does not contain powerful enough tools to safely monitor and control the tens of thousands of chemicals used every day in the United States, so, as Congress debates TSCA’s future, environmental officials in 13 states are seeking reform of one of the nation’s signature environmental laws.

For more information or to see the State’s Principles click on the link above.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: CPSC compliance, OSHA MSDS authoring, MSDS authoring

USA Today discusses TSCA regulations as well as environmental, health and safety regulations at the state and local level, such as:

California’s air-pollution agency last month set limits on formaldehyde fumes wafting from particle board and other wood products. Formaldehyde acts as a glue, but the EPA believes its fumes can cause cancer. No federal law allows the EPA to regulate fumes from finished products, agency spokesman John Millet says.

In January, state officials decided to ban the chemical perchloroethylene, which most dry cleaners use to launder clothes and other items. The EPA in July restricted use of the chemical but did not ban it.

“Our responsibility is to the citizens of California,” said Dimitri Stanich, spokesman for the California Air Resources Board.

Maine’s Legislature held a hearing last week on a bill to bar the sale of children’s plastic products, such as baby bottles, containing a chemical called bisphenol A or others called phthalates. These widely used chemicals help give items their texture, but both have been linked to developmental problems in lab animals. The EPA is studying these chemicals and has not taken a stance on them yet.

See States and cities move to curb toxic substances the EPA hasn’t for the full article.