Email This Article Print This Article Minnesota, Vermont Chemical Policy Bills Pass Legislature May 11, 2009 Minnesota has become the first state to ban the use of the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles and “sippy” cups. Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the bill, SF247, into law last week, and the ban takes effect in 2011. The bill received wide bi-partisan support in the legislature where only 13 legislators out of 179 voted against the bill, according to a press release from Healthy Legacy, a Minnesota advocacy group that supported the bill. The chief sponsor in the Senate, SF247, was National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL) participant Senator Sandy Rummel, and, in the House, the companion bill HF326 was sponsored by NCEL participant Representative Karen Clark. Both bills had many NCEL participants as co-sponsors. BPA was first synthesized as a sex hormone, and it is now used in a variety of hard-plastic products, including some water and baby bottles. It is also used in food can linings to help with preservation. The chemical can leach from the products, especially when exposed to heat, contaminating food and beverages, eventually ending up in humans. Over 200 studies have found that low dose exposures to BPA are linked to heart disease, cancer, neurological impairments and reproductive problems. In 2009, NCEL participants introduced bills to regulate BPA in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, and Washington. Minnesota’s Toxic Free Kids Act, sponsored by NCEL participant Representative Kate Knuth, was also signed into law last week as part of a larger environmental bill, HF2123. With this law, Minnesota joins California, Maine, and Washington in enacting a comprehensive chemical policy framework. The law requires the state to generate a list of chemicals of high concern, requires the state to generate a list of priority chemicals in children’s products, and requires the state to report by January 2010 on progress on the above lists. By December 2010, the state must issue a report to the legislature with recommendations to address priority chemicals in children’s products, how to move to safer alternatives, and identify incentives for product designs that use “green” chemistry. The Toxic Free Kids Act language can be found on pages 59-62 and 70 of the bill, which can be viewed online here. In Vermont last week, the legislature voted to ban the use of a toxic, chemical flame retardant, called deca-bde. The “deca” language was amended into a health care bill, H.444, and, according to advocates working on the bill, the Governor has indicated he will sign it. If and when the Governor signs the “deca” language into law, Vermont will follow Maine and Washington, which enacted bans on “deca” in certain products in 2007. NCEL participant Senator Ginny Lyons sponsored the original bill to regulate “deca”, S.76. The Vermont bill, if signed by the Governor, would ban deca in TV’s, computers, mattresses and mattress pads, and upholstered furniture. In early 2009, Washington’s law to ban “deca” took effect after a fire safety committee and the state environment agency determined that safer, fire resistant alternatives to using “deca” in TV’s, computers and upholstery exist. In 2009, NCEL participants introduced legislation to regulate “deca” in Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Vermont with many of the bills receiving support from firefighters as well as environmental health advocates. “Deca”, which is part of a group of flame retardant chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), has been shown to cause neurological damage in laboratory tests. Studies show it leaches out of products it is placed in, including TV’s and computers, and eventually makes its way into animals and humans. Studies, which found PBDEs in human breast milk, have raised concern in the US and around the world, and they have prompted at least 12 states to introduce legislation since 2005 to regulate the chemical. In 2007, the European Union effectively banned the use of “deca” in electronics. Email This Article Print This Article

Return to the NCEL Home Page
Copyright ©2001-2010, National Caucus of Environmental Legislators. All Rights Reserved.