The Toxic-Free Kids Act
Healthy kids can’t be taken for granted. A recipe for a healthy kid used to be: eat healthy, see a doctor regularly, get enough sleep, and exercise daily. But now that might not be enough.
URGENT: Click here to take action to support the Toxic-Free Kids Act!
UPDATE: Get the latest status of the Toxic-Free Kids Act.
Children’s health is precious.
Laurie Valeriano
lvaleriano@watoxics.org
Ivy Sager-Rosenthal
isager-rosenthal@watoxics.org
A few years ago Washington state told manufacturers to stop using PBDEs, a group of harmful toxic flame retardants. The industry’s response? Instead of using safer chemicals, they blindly switched to cancer-‐causing Tris flame retardants without considering health and environmental impacts. Now our children are exposed to these cancer-‐causing flame retardants in nursing pillows, car seats, changing pads, and other items.
The Toxic-‐Free Kids Act will get Toxic Tris Flame Retardants out of our homes and stop the toxic treadmill problem of manufacturers switching from one harmful chemical to another. It’s a bill that will protect kids and encourage manufacturers to switch to safer chemicals that won't harm health, the environment, or their bottom line!
The Toxic-free Kids Act:
- Bans the use of two cancer‐causing Tris flame retardants (TCDPP and TCEP) in children’s products beginning July 1, 2014. TDCPP was used in children’s pajamas in the 1970s and quickly removed when it was found to cause adverse health effects. But now it’s back in children’s products along with TCEP, another cancer‐causing flame retardant.
- Requires makers of children’s products that contain bisphenol A (BPA), formaldehyde, antimony, or Tris flame retardants to identify safer chemicals or materials for their products. By requiring manufacturers to evaluate ways to make their products safer, we can end the toxic treadmill of substituting one bad chemical for another, begin protecting children and the environment, and help businesses avoid costly substitution problems.
It’s an approach that makes sense.
- It makes sound economic sense. Prevention is the most cost-effective way to deal with toxic chemicals that threaten our health and environment.
- It’s an efficient use of state agency resources. The most efficient way to get toxic chemicals out of products, kids, and the environment is to provide the Department of Ecology with clear authority and a streamlined process that will result in action.
- We shouldn’t stop now! Thanks to innovative solutions, mercury, toxic flame retardants, lead, and other persistent toxic chemicals all are being phased out in the state. And Washington is already the first state in the nation to require toy manufacturers to say what chemicals are in their products.
Resources
Toxic-Free Kids Campaign Fact Sheet (PDF)
List of organizations endorsing the Toxic-Free Kids Act
