WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama today ended 10 years of debate by signing an updated Toxic Substances Control Act. The measure is the first major change to the cornerstone of US environmental law in over 20 years.

“Here in America, folks should have the confidence to know that the laundry detergent we buy isn’t going to make us sick, that the mattresses our babies sleep on aren’t going to harm them,” Obama said upon signing the bill.

The US EPA hailed the bill as a much-needed reform to America's chemical safety laws. The TSCA of 2016 permits the EPA to take aggressive action to investigate chemicals for human safety. Under the previous law, the bar for mandatory elimination was so high, even known carcinogens such as asbestos could not be banned.

Indeed, in the four decades since the landmark legislation was first passed, the EPA has banned just five of the more than 80,000 chemicals used domestically, while just 7% of the roughly 3,000 high-volume chemicals have been tested for safety.

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