Toxic-Free Future, Safer States, and more than 250 state, local, and national public health and environmental groups sent a joint letter to Congress this week, urging lawmakers to reject the chemical lobby’s efforts to weaken the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the main federal law governing chemicals made, imported, or used in the U.S.
The letter comes as chemical industry lobbyists push Congress to reopen and roll back key public health protections added to TSCA in 2016, changes designed to fix decades of failure in the nation’s chemical safety system.
What’s happening
Since TSCA was updated in 2016, the chemical lobby has steadily worked to reopen the law and undo key reforms. Now, industry lobbyists see the current political environment as an opportunity to weaken this law.
EPA Administrator Zeldin has publicly stated that he wants EPA “to get out of the way” of industry. At the same time, chemical industry lobbyists have called for changes that would significantly limit EPA’s authority to fully review new chemicals before they enter the market. One industry demand is a return to a so-called “shot clock” approach, imposing rigid deadlines on EPA’s new chemical reviews, even when companies have failed to provide sufficient health and safety data..
These changes would dismantle the protections Congress put in place less than a decade ago and that have prevented harmful chemicals, including new PFAS, from entering the market. .
Why it matters
Reopening TSCA is not about minor technical fixes. The chemical industry has made clear they want to roll back multiple provisions Congress passed in the bipartisan 2016 reforms including safeguards that protect public health, the environment and state authority.
At a January 2025 hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chemical industry lobbyists condemned the TSCA new chemicals program, which requires EPA to find that a chemical is safe before it enters the market. Industry groups claim this safeguard is “too burdensome.”
But Congress passed this safeguard for good reason.
Before the 2016 reforms, EPA routinely allowed chemical companies to introduce new chemicals into commerce with little to no health and safety data. Hundreds of PFAS and other dangerous chemicals entered the market under this broken system, leading to widespread pollution of our drinking water, air, and soil, and long-term exposures for millions of people.
Weakening TSCA now would repeat these same mistakes with serious consequences for public health.
Strong protections, fewer loopholes
The U.S. continues to see rising rates of chronic disease linked to chemical exposures. Thousands of chemicals can be found in our workplaces, homes, schools, and the environment, but only a small fraction have been independently studied or thoroughly assessed for their health and environmental impacts.
The most vulnerable among us—infants, children, pregnant women, workers, the elderly, and fenceline communities—are often the most exposed and the least protected.
We need stronger protections from toxic chemicals, not weaker.
The public supports strong protections from toxic chemicals
Efforts to weaken TSCA are out of step with public opinion. A recent poll found that 82% of voters favor TSCA, with strong bipartisan backing: 78% of Democrats, 81% of Independents, and 86% of Republicans. Protecting people from toxic chemicals is not a partisan issue, it’s a public health imperative.
What advocates are telling Congress
In the joint letter, organizations and groups urge lawmakers to stand firm against chemical lobby pressure:
“At a time when we must do more to protect our communities from chemical threats, we should not go backward. We urge that you stand strong against any weakening of TSCA and fight for an effective national program that delivers strong public health protections to all Americans.”
Take action
In addition to the joint sign-on letter, Toxic-Free Future activists and partners are urging members of Congress to reject chemical lobby efforts and defend TSCA’s public health protections.
Take action: Tell Congress – Protect public health. Do not weaken TSCA.
