Dangerous chemicals are widely used and all around us. There are currently 80,000 to 100,000 toxic chemicals on the market in the United States. Fewer than 10 percent of those chemicals have been tested for their impacts on our health and the environment. We are exposed through our air, water, food and everyday products, like household cleaners, cosmetics, plastic, dry cleaning and even children’s toys.

It doesn’t need to be like this. There are safer alternatives to most toxic chemicals. We don’t use them because we don’t have the political will to make it happen.

Weak regulations leave us vulnerable
Unfortunately, weak regulations fail to protect us from exposure to these harmful chemicals, and the chemicals end up all around us and in our bodies, without our knowledge and without our consent. Mothers unknowingly pass on a toxic legacy to their children in the womb, and women’s breast milk routinely contains PCBs and other dangerous substances.

There is increasing evidence that chemical exposure in the homes and workplaces of Massachusetts’ citizens may play an important role in contributing to an epidemic of chronic diseases and disorders, including asthma, birth defects, cancers, developmental disabilities, diabetes, infertility, Parkinson’s disease and others. Chemicals released from dry-cleaned clothes, computer cables, household pesticides, everyday plastics and even children’s toys create a toxic soup in our homes, our environments and in our bodies.

Despite mounting evidence and the availability of safer alternatives, government and industry have continued to allow dangerous chemicals into the products in our homes and workplaces. Environment Massachusetts has made it a priority to correct inadequacies in the laws and regulations that permit the continued use of toxic chemicals.

We’re working with The Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, a coalition of citizens, scientists, health professionals, workers, educators, and parents seeking preventative action on toxic hazards, to protect our health and environment from toxic chemicals.

Safe alternatives exist
Our Safer Alternatives campaign focuses on replacing toxic chemicals with safer alternatives. Of course, it’s just as important to assess the risk of known chemicals, clean up hazardous waste and prevent chemical accidents. But the first step to relieving the public health issues related to toxic chemicals is to replace dangerous ones with safer alternatives.

Replacing toxics with safer alternatives has been a priority in Massachusetts for over a decade. In 1989, Massachusetts took its first step toward addressing the problem of toxics use and waste in the Commonwealth with the Toxic Use Reduction Act (TURA). A model for other states, this benchmark legislation has had many successes, including greater citizen and government awareness about the large quantities of toxics that are used in Massachusetts.

To date, toxics use in manufacturing has been significantly reduced due to this awareness, but TURA data indicates that toxic chemical use continues at high levels today.

While progress has been made in addressing toxics use, TURA only addresses in-state manufacturing, not the toxic chemicals in consumer products that find their way to the state. Our next step is to take the lessons of TURA and apply them in a way that will reduce toxic chemical use in all products.

Strong regulations on the table
This summer, legislators will consider the Environment Massachusetts-backed Act for a Healthy Massachusetts: Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jay Kaufman (Lexington) and Sen. Steven Tolman (Brighton) and expands the successful TURA program, which has demonstrated that reducing the use of toxic chemicals protects health and even saves businesses money.

The Safer Alternatives bill initially targets 10 of the worst chemicals in wide use in Massachusetts and requires the replacement of harmful, toxic chemicals with safer alternatives. The Safer Alternatives bill is based on the common-sense principle that companies that can use a safer alternative for the same purpose as a toxic chemical should be required to do so.

“There is simply no excuse, rationalization or justification adequate to allow our neighborhoods and bodies to become polluted by toxic chemicals,” said Environment Massachusetts Advocate Jen Baker. “That’s why we’re fighting to make sure our environment is safe, healthy and secure.”