Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) supported passage of a bipartisan measure that establishes much-needed reforms to America's 40-year-old chemical safety laws. The Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act passed the Senate last night. The measure previously passed the House and now awaits the president's signature.
Toomey's statement is below.
"It's terrific news that the Senate rolled up its sleeves and passed a bipartisan bill that is good for the environment, improves our nation's chemical safety regulations, and includes an animal testing provision that is endorsed by the Humane Society.
"I was pleased to support this bipartisan bill, which updates a chemical safety law that dates back to the Bicentennial and amends the previous law's failure to adequately regulate older chemicals-such as asbestos. This loophole prompted individual states to create their own chemical safety programs. The resulting patchwork of regulations fails to grant all Americans the same level of protection and forces manufacturers in different states to play by different rules. The Frank Lautenberg bill fixes this problem by creating a single federal framework to evaluate the safety of all commercial chemicals.
"This bipartisan bill also includes strong language to discourage companies from needlessly testing chemicals on animals. This is a significant improvement from the current law and has the potential to save the lives of countless animals."
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