This year, the state of Minnesota has an opportunity to protect our children from toxic chemicals, encourage manufacturers to make safer products and lead the nation toward reform of our outdated chemical regulations. This opportunity, the Toxic Free Kids Act (TFKA), would benefit both consumers and businesses.
Unlike food and personal care products like soaps and shampoos, children's products are not sold with a list of ingredients. Conscientious retailers and parents have no way of knowing whether or not toxic plasticizers or flame retardants have been added to a set of pajamas, toy or crib mattress.
For example, mounting evidence has made it clear that chemicals like phthalate and bisphenol A (BPA) cause chronic health problems by disrupting the endocrine system. And, even though safer alternatives to these plastic additives are available, many children's products still contain these harmful chemicals. Manufacturers are almost universally loath to disclose whether their products contain these toxins, often claiming that these ingredients are trade secrets. This lack of transparency creates confusion and causes consumer distrust.
The TFKA would require manufacturers of children's products to inform the state if their products contain any of nine toxic chemicals of concern identified by the state department of health. These include several classes of fire retardants, lead, cadmium and endocrine disrupters like BPA and several classes of phthalates.
Reporting is all that the Toxic Free Kids Act would require — it's not a ban or a labeling mandate. But it would provide parents and conscientious retailers with critical information to help them choose safer products.
Last year, in the closing days of the session, the TFKA met a quiet death in the Legislature. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce claimed credit for its defeat.
In its state Senate committee testimony, the Chamber argued that TFKA would duplicate existing federal laws. And, while it's true that some uses of these chemicals of concern are regulated in some cases, there are no comprehensive state or federal regulations of these chemicals in children's products. The Minnesota ban on BPA, for example, only covers children's food packaging and feeding products. The federal ban on phthalates and lead only covers toys and certain child-care articles. Cadmium is regulated only in children jewelry and toys.
The Chamber also argued that the cost of compliance would be too high by assuming a worst-case scenario in which manufacturers would have to conduct expensive testing for all chemicals of concern. In fact, TFKA would not mandate testing — it only requires manufacturers to know which chemicals they use as ingredients in their products and to report to the state if they are using any chemicals of concern. Simply modernizing their products to remove these harmful toxins would avoid any reporting requirement altogether.
