Draft House Bill Would Gut Toxic Substances Control Act, Despite Overwhelming Public Support for Chemical Protections

(WASHINGTON - January 15, 2026) A new Republican proposal released today in the U.S. House of Representatives would put Americans' health at risk. The discussion draft would significantly undermine the ability of the Toxic Substances Control Act to protect Americans from dangerous chemicals.

The Toxic Substances Control Act - the primary U.S. chemical safety law - gives EPA the authority to review chemicals for safety and protect people most at risk from exposure to toxic chemicals. The law is overwhelmingly popular across party lines, with more than four-in-five (82%) favoring it, according to new polling from Environmental Defense Fund.

"American families should be able to trust that the chemicals in their everyday products have been tested for safety and won't cause them serious health problems," said Joanna Slaney, Vice President for Political and Government Affairs at EDF. "The Toxic Substances Control Act is the country's bedrock chemical safety law, and it keeps dangerous chemicals out of our homes, workplaces and communities. Tearing down these protections would allow more chemicals, like PFAS, to come to market without a proper safety review. Americans don't want potentially toxic chemicals fast-tracked into their lives.

"This proposal includes a number of harmful provisions that would limit EPA's ability to assess the safety of new chemicals before they come to market. It also severely undermines EPA's ability to protect Americans from the worst toxic chemicals already in use, like cancer-causing formaldehyde and vinyl chloride. These chemicals have long devastated the health of workers and communities on the fenceline of industrial facilities."

The draft bill comes on the heels of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's announcement to prioritize review of new chemicals used in data center projects, with Administrator Lee Zeldin pledging his agency will "get out of the way" of the review of these potentially dangerous chemicals. The Trump EPA has also made moves to roll back other essential Toxic Substances Control Act protections against toxic chemicals, including altering the way the agency evaluates chemical risk and lowballing the risks from cancer-causing formaldehyde.