HUGE STEP FORWARD! The Senate has just passed the Lautenberg Act, by unanimous consent. We are one step closer to safer products—that aren’t tested on us, or on our babies.
Not even a week after I learned I was going to be a grandmother, I began to get emails from my son: “What’s with all these toxic chemicals in baby stuff? What’s with this off-gassing business? Why does the consumer have to do all the work to figure out what is safe for a baby, and what contains carcinogens and endocrine disrupters? This is crazy!!!”
Ahem. Exactly what I’ve been saying, here at Moms Clean Air Force. But I get it. Often, we don’t pay attention to problems until they affect us directly. Babies have a way of making us super-vigilant.
You, though — and all of Moms’ 600,000 members — have done amazing work on reforming our antiquated, ridiculously ineffective chemicals laws. You’ve marched. You’ve boycotted. You’ve petitioned. You’ve written letters. You’ve stood up for our right to products that do not cause cancer, deformities, or brain problems.
It took years. But the passage of a Senate version of this bill means we are one critical step closer to hammering out the final reform of a law to protect all of us from toxic chemicals.
Enjoy your holidays! It has been an amazing, consequential, year. I’m so grateful for the leadership Administrator McCarthy has shown on climate and clean air issues. I’m so grateful to Senator Tom Udall (New Mexico) for his tireless, moral leadership. And I’m grateful to all of you, and everyone on our Moms Clean Air Force team, who have worked so hard to make our world safer.