Letter to Congressional Leaders about Safer Chemicals Act

I sent this letter tonight to my area Congressional leaders, as well as to the Senate majority leader, asking them to make sure that the Safer Chemicals Act gets a fair hearing in Congress. Toxic chemicals are pervasive in our environment, our products, our food, our homes... our bodies. The most recent regulatory legislation was from the 1970s. It has been too long, and the controls are too loose. Chemical companies have little accountability for contributing to health and environmental problems. Please learn more and consider how to get involved.



Dear Senator _______,
Our family is very concerned about the proliferation of toxic chemicals in our products, homes, and even food. As you must be aware, the thousands of new chemicals that are added to the marketplace every year are not required to be safety-tested before we and our children are all exposed. Too often, problematic chemicals--like poly-brominated fire retardants, BPA in food and baby products, and parabens in personal care products--are only found out to be toxic to us after 20 or more years of exposure when we can recognize all the damage already done. That is not an acceptable method of testing for us as people or for our environment.
Please help to remedy this problem by making sure that the Safe Chemicals Act reaches the Senate floor and is able to receive a fair and unbiased hearing. I know that the chemical lobbies have money to try to convince everyone that too many restrictions will damage business. But families who are enduring unnecessary illnesses and even deaths need you to represent us: too many unsafe chemicals will damage our lives. Our safety ought to be more important than a chemical company's bottom line.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Respectfully and with concern,
Susan and James Benton
parents of 2 young children
East Palo Alto, CA


For more information about the Act and how to get involved yourself, see http://blog.saferchemicals.org/2012/08/we-did-it-so-now-what-.html

Is there a chemical that you've recently learned about that concerns you? I'd love to learn from you...