<img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a01157055c190970c017c36e539f5970b" style="width: 250px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" title="Alba Lautenberg" alt="Alba Lautenberg" src="https://saferchemicals.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/typepad/6a01157055c1909By Tony Iallonardo, Communications Director
People who thought New Jersey Senator Frank
Lautenberg would quietly ease into retirement as he approaches the final two
years of his tenure in the U.S. Senate got a big surprise this week. And for backers of long overdue reforms to the
nation’s outdated chemical laws, we got a big boost from the Senator, our long-time champion.
People who have followed the
career of Sen. Lautenberg know he doesn’t make empty pledges. Just ask tobacco lobbyists,
who’ve tried to get in his way and took their lumps over the
years.(He was the Senator who led the charge to ban smoking on airplanes, for example.)
In announcing he will not run for reelection, the Senator is quoted in the Newark
Star Ledger saying he’s embarking on a 2-year mission to pass
his “Safe Chemicals Act” before he leaves the U.S. Senate.
“I am not announcing the end of
anything,” he said. “I am announcing the beginning of a two-year
mission to pass new gun safety laws, protect children from toxic chemicals and
create more opportunities for working families in New Jersey.”
The Safe Chemicals Act
cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in the last
Congress. The bill would modernize the much maligned “Toxic Substances Control Act” (TSCA) and protect Americans from exposure to dangerous toxic chemicals.
Sen. Lautenberg’s Safe Chemicals Act seeks to require – for the first time – that chemical
manufacturers demonstrate the safety of industrial chemicals used in everyday
household products.
Show your support and take ACTION NOW!
To follow Tony on Twitter: @tonyiallonardo