Someone from Clean Water Action came to my house last night asking for signatures and donations. I am aware that you have now given your support to this bill and I gave them my support. I did wonder, though, if you have any reservations about it.
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It’s an area I haven’t gone into deeply. It’s a concept that makes sense and deserves continued advocacy: Most agree that we should be eliminating as many unnecessarily hazardous chemicals as possible from consumer products — the legislation has broad sponsorship. On the other hand, the question of which chemicals are unnecessary — i.e., for which chemicals there really are safe alternatives — is a question which people do sometimes disagree on in good faith. The chemical companies seem to fear that the judgments made by government lawyers and scientists will not always be correct.
I come down in favor based on the hope and belief (based on examples offered by the advocates) that additional scientific attention to chemical safety can often lead to process reengineering that actually saves money and improves products while preserving safety.
But industry opposition is strong and the legislature is therefore uncertain on the issue. Collective uncertainty explains the lack of action on the bill so far.