One of the biggest disappointments of the recently completed Minnesota Legislative session was the failure of the legislature to pass the Toxic Free Kids Act.
The bill was very basic. It would require companies that market products to children under the age of 12 to notify the state annually if any of their children's products contain any of nine highly toxic chemicals that are currently being tracked by the state. The bill would not have outlawed the use of the toxics in children's products. It wouldn't have even required labeling of children's products that contain toxic chemicals. It simply would have required the producers to report their intent to use of toxic chemicals in children's products.
The House passed the bill, and the Governor went to bat for it in the final days of the session, but ultimately, the Senate decided to slam on the brakes on what seemed like a real piece of common sense legislation. Conservation Minnesota was part of a broad coalition of organizations that worked hard on this bill, and we plan to redouble our efforts next year to make sure that parents have the opportunity to find out if there are toxic chemicals in the products we buy for their children.
Another of the organizations that we partnered with on this fight was LDA Minnesota, the state's leading nonprofit educational agency helping children, youth, and adults at risk for learning disabilities and other learning difficulties. Their Executive Director, Martha Moriarty, had a wonderful commentary on the editorial page today. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, you can do so here: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/260844801.html
