Here's an unfortunate fact of modern life: People today are exposed to chemicals as never before. Here is another: Many chemicals in consumer products -- even those linked to cancer and a host of other ills -- are not subject to government regulation.

It's the Wild West when it comes to chemical exposure, but where's the sheriff? Truth to tell, the sheriff in this scenario -- the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 -- is long in the tooth and ineffective. That's why U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Bobby L. Rush, D-Ill., have a plan to update and improve the old law.

Last year, the Government Accountability Office named the 1976 law a high-risk area warranting attention by Congress and the executive branch. According to Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, a national coalition of environmental and health organizations, some 62,000 chemicals were on the market when the law went into effect, and the Environmental Protection Agency has required testing on only about 200 and has regulated only five.

Rep. Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Rush, chairman of the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, last week introduced their bill after meetings with stakeholders and hearings in Congress.

The Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 -- HR 5820 -- will empower the EPA to ensure that the public and the environment are protected from the risks from chemical exposure. The old sheriff will be replaced by a more effective marshal with the resources needed to do a better job.

As outlined in an Energy and Commerce Committee summary, the bill includes some important provisions.

It establishes a framework to ensure that all chemical substances to which Americans are exposed will be reviewed for safety and restricted where necessary; it requires the chemical industry to develop and provide to the EPA essential data and improves the EPA's authority to compel testing where necessary; it establishes an expedited process for the EPA to reduce exposure to chemical substances that are known to be persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. And -- animal lovers, please note -- it encourages the reduction of the use of animals in chemical tests.

Two local representatives, Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, and Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, can and should help this legislation. Both have interests in areas impacted by the bill; both are members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Additionally, Mr. Murphy is a member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, which is scheduled to hold a hearing on the bill today.

This is an issue involving the public welfare that confounds the usual anti-regulation rhetoric. HR 5820 is a serious response to a serious problem and it deserves support.

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