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# Toxic chemicals are everywhere
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/toxic_chemicals_0524130710/
- Published: 2013-05-24T08:09:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T13:55:35.000Z
- Description: EWG asks readers to press their senators to reject a new chemical safety bill the group says falls far short of real reform. EWG research detected 287 chemicals in newborns' umbilical cord blood, 180 of them known to cause cancer in humans or animals.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Environment, Health News, #vivvo-import

Dear Readers,  
  
I often ask you to help us be your voice in Washington on matters that affect your family's health. Hundreds of thousands of you routinely respond. But my appeal today is especially urgent.  
  
I need you to tell Washington to pass laws that protect our children from toxic industrial chemicals, not laws that protect the companies that make them.  
  
**Toxic chemicals are everywhere.** Not long ago, EWG research detected 287 chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of newborns. Of that total, 180 are known to cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests.  
  
The system that is supposed to protect us against toxic chemicals is profoundly broken. [**We need your help to make sure that policymakers don't cut a bad deal with chemical companies that will compromise our health.**](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=O2u9OYPGr7g8HpgbJ9dE5fCLE5nixwYL&ref=foodconsumer.org)  
  
A new chemical safety bill has been introduced in Congress that falls far short of the reforms that Americans need and have been repeatedly assured were in the works.  
  
**Now is the time to demand real reform: Stand with EWG today and tell your senators to reject legislation that does not have the strong chemical safety measures Americans overwhelmingly want.**  
  
[**Click here to take action! Your senators need to know that you will accept nothing less than real reform of our toxic chemicals policy.**](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=sESr5wzzXHfOHZHWrOo9CfCLE5nixwYL&ref=foodconsumer.org)  
  
Every day, millions of Americans are needlessly exposed to untested and unregulated chemicals. Those toxic chemicals show up in our bodies and the bodies of newborn babies. The fact is that industrial chemical pollution begins in the womb.  
  
**Here's how Washington must stand up to the chemical industry and insist on tough new rules for chemical safety:**

- Toughen federal safeguards specifically to protect infants, children and expectant mothers from the toxic industrial chemicals all around us.
- Add the rigorous safety standard that already applies to pesticides to ensure that chemicals used in consumer goods and manufacturing are safe.
- Make sure that chemicals that show up in umbilical cord blood and our bodies are quickly and rigorously reviewed for safety.
- Demand that chemicals be proven safe for all consumers - especially children, pregnant women and workers - and preserve the ability of states to act when the federal government lacks the courage or capacity to do so.

**Americans deserve nothing less than a robust regulatory system that ensures that chemicals won't endanger children's health before they go on the market. Please stand with EWG and take action right away.**  
  
[**Click here to tell your senators to support stronger protections against toxic chemicals.**](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=AZnPiAtSM5s4CO80B7okUPCLE5nixwYL&ref=foodconsumer.org)  
  
Thank you for taking action. Together, we can fight for real reform.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Ken Cook  
President, Environmental Working Group