Going Green May Be Easier With New Toxic Chemical Legislation

A while back GoingGreen interviewed Erin Brockovich about her alliance with Seventh Generation and the 'Million Baby Crawl' to push for toxic chemical reform.

The good news is there is currently a bill, the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010, in the Senate and the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 has been introduced in the House; both intending to drastically overhaul the EPA's current 1976 Toxic Substance Control Act. Under that old act, Companies currently do not have to prove chemicals are safe before putting them on the market; the government must determine when a chemical is dangerous. Both bills aim to change that.

"Industries would have to demonstrate safety rather than the government have to prove harm. That is a key concept there," said Andy Igrejas, director of the environment and health group coalition Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

There are more than 84,000 chemicals registered in the United States. The government needs to meet a high standard of harm to take action on a chemical, and has been unable to even ban the use of asbestos.

Eliminating toxic chemicals from the home has been a drum beaten by Seventh Generation for over 20 years. Previously refusing to sell products through Walmart, they have recently been working with the consumer giant to make environmentally friendly cleaning products available nationwide and educate customers about healthy product choices. Some of Seventh Generation's non-toxic products will soon be available at more than 1,500 Walmart stores across the U.S., and additional products will be available through on Walmart.com. Best-sellers like laundry detergent, dish soap and cleaning sprays will be in stores while diapers, baby wipes and more will be online.

Going Green in the home will now be easier! Read more here.