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# Urgent action: Defeat the More Toxic Chemicals in Commerce Act
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/the_more_toxic_chemicals_in_commerce_act_0519140528/
- Published: 2014-05-19T18:27:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T14:09:50.000Z
- Description: An Environmental Working Group alert urges readers to tell their representatives to oppose the House Chemicals in Commerce Act, arguing it would let new chemicals reach the market before EPA review, limit EPA action to 'unreasonable' risks and let industry hide safety data as trade secrets.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Miscellaneous, Health News, #vivvo-import

Dear Readers,

Last month, an Environmental Protection Agency official in charge of reviewing the safety of chemicals was asked how many chemicals currently being used in everyday products ought to have their risks reviewed by the EPA.

Can you guess the answer?

1,000.

That’s no typo – **that’s one thousand chemicals currently on the market that are hazardous enough that EPA should take a close look at them.**

You’d think this would be a wake-up call to the U.S. House of Representatives, but **instead of working on legislation to get dangerous chemicals off the market and requiring safety testing of new ones, the House could be moving forward as soon as next week with the Chemicals in Commerce Act – aka the “More Toxic Chemicals in Commerce Act.”**

EWG needs you to take action right now to stop this bill – a House subcommittee could be voting on the More Toxic Chemicals in Commerce Act as soon as next week. **Tell your representative you want real chemical law reform – not legislation that protects chemical companies at the expense of our health and safety.**

[**Click here to tell your representative to oppose the More Toxic Chemicals in Commerce Act today!**](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=8PmD3uGTWfVoR55PY3Uwuv%2Fek2PEekI%2B&ref=foodconsumer.org)

Under the House bill, children and consumers would be left largely unprotected. The EPA would only have to ensure that chemicals pose no “significant” risk to public health. And the EPA could only act to restrict a chemical if it poses an “unreasonable” risk and if the steps are cost-effective for industry.

**The bill would also allow new chemicals to go on the market before the EPA even determines whether they pose an “unreasonable risk” to people and the environment.**

And the bill would allow industry to claim “trade secret” to hide important health and safety data from the public – such as the names of chemicals that tests show can cause cancer.

On top of all that, the More Toxic Chemicals in Commerce Act would block states from taking action on their own to regulate dangerous chemicals – even if EPA hasn’t determined if they’re safe and even though state governments are the only ones that have so far taken meaningful action to protect consumers.

**A House subcommittee could be voting to move this anti-consumer bill forward as soon as next week. Your representative must hear from you right now!**

[**Click here to take action right now. We have to stop the More Toxic Chemicals in Commerce Act!**](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=tK7e0DtKdT0uEY%2FgmwJljv%2Fek2PEekI%2B&ref=foodconsumer.org)

Thank you for taking action,  
  
Heather White  
Executive Director, Environmental Working Group

[Contribute](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=tbiyr5jJwJABjDBgbcfuDv%2Fek2PEekI%2B&ref=foodconsumer.org)