Chemical industry spending staggering amounts to continue to use toxic chemicals in food and consumer products

After
posting an article yesterday about the Breast Cancer Foundation’s
recommendations for reducing toxic chemical use to prevent cancer, it was
discouraging to read a Common Cause report that says chemical interests are
spending massive amounts to block efforts to strengthen the 36-year-old Toxic
Substances Control Act.

More than
$375 million has been spent since 2005 to elect and influence industry friendly
political leaders to fight updating the act, according to the report.

“The dimensions of chemical industry spending documented in this study, 'Toxic Spending,' are
staggering,” James Browning, Common Cause’s regional director for state
operations and author of the report, said in a statement. “By following the
money, we see how and why the industry has been so successful in blocking
attempts to strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act.”

In the current campaign, the industry has put $23 million into Super PACs,
supporting its favored candidates or opposing its adversaries, according to the
study. Chemical interests have spent an additional $2.8 million on their own political
advertising.

Browning
said the report probably understates the industry’s spending totals on
political advertising due to weak federal disclosure requirements. It
recommends strengthening disclosure requirements on industry political spending.

Andy Igrejas,
campaign director for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, said in a statement that the report shows
how the chemical industry continues to fight common sense
limits on toxic chemicals:

Companies like Dow, DuPont, and ExxonMobil have constructed
an elaborate political machine to shield their products from independent
scrutiny, whether it's by the public or government scientists.

They are to
blame for the lack of an effective chemical safety system in the country. They
are also therefore to blame for that harm that chemicals have done to the
millions of American families suffering any of the chronic diseases or
conditions that have been linked to chemical exposure.

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families is a coalition of organizations
and individuals that is concerned about toxic chemicals in the home, workplace,
and consumer products.

I recommend consumers join with the Breast Cancer Fund, Safer
Chemicals, Healthier Families, the Washington Toxics Coalition, and other
organizations to fight the efforts by the chemical industry to continue to use
toxic chemicals in our food and consumer products.