Toxic-Free Kids Modernization Act passes Oregon House

The Toxic-Free Modernization Act (HB 3043), a bill that would strengthen and modernize the Toxic-Free Kids Act that was passed in 2015, passed the Oregon House on Wednesday. This bill would give the Oregon Health Authority the ability to regulate chemicals by class and remove the limit on chemicals they can regulate, furthering the goal of limiting the amount of toxic chemicals that children are exposed to, and in turn, limiting the toxic chemicals that make their way into the environment.

There are more than 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, and most of them are put directly into use without testing the long-term consequences for the environment, or their impact on human and animal health.

Protecting Oregon’s children from toxic threats is critically important. Children are more vulnerable to toxic chemicals than adults, and exposure to chemicals as children can have long term health impacts. 

Furthermore, the toxic chemicals that we use in consumer products –Heavy metals in toys and paint kits, Bisphenols in plastics, and PFAS “forever chemicals” in clothing and many others– eventually end up in landfills and our natural environment, especially our waterways, where they can impact wildlife or whole ecosystems, and in some cases, persist for decades.

“We are happy to see the Toxic-Free Kids Modernization Act moving forward through the Oregon legislature,” said Celeste Meiffren-Swango, State Director with Environment Oregon. “This bill is a critical way we can protect Oregon’s kids and environment from toxic threats,”

Now the bill heads to the Oregon Senate.