HB5338 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 18597 RPM 33979 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB5338

Introduced 2/5/2010, by Rep. Karen May

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Toxin-Free Kids Act. Provides that by July 1, 2010, the Department of Public Health shall, after consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, generate a list of chemicals of high concern. Sets forth the conditions under which the Department, after consultation with the Agency, may designate a chemical of high concern as a priority chemical. Sets forth the applicability of the Act. Authorizes the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency to accept donations, grants, and other funds in order to carry out the purposes of the Act. Provides that the State may cooperate with other states in an interstate chemicals clearinghouse regarding chemicals in consumer products. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning health.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Toxin-Free Kids Act.

Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:

"Agency" means the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Alternative" means a substitute process, product, material, chemical, strategy, or combination of these that is technically feasible and serves a functionally equivalent purpose to a chemical in a children's product.

"Chemical" means a substance with a distinct molecular composition or a group of structurally related substances and includes the breakdown products of the substance or substances that form through decomposition, degradation, or metabolism.

"Chemical of high concern" means a chemical identified on the basis of credible scientific evidence by a state, federal, or international agency as being known or suspected with a high degree of probability to:

(1) harm the normal development of a fetus or child or cause other developmental toxicity;

(2) cause cancer, genetic damage, or reproductive harm;

(3) disrupt the endocrine or hormone system;

(4) damage the nervous system, immune system, or organs or cause other systemic toxicity; or

(5) be toxic or have the likelihood of accumulating toxic substances.

"Child" means a person under 12 years of age.

"Children's product" means a consumer product intended for use by children, including, but not limited to, baby products, toys, car seats, personal care products, and clothing.

"Director" means the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Department" means the Department of Public Health.

"Distributor" means a person who sells consumer products to retail establishments on a wholesale basis.

"Green chemistry" means an approach to designing and manufacturing products that minimizes the use and generation of toxic substances.

"Manufacturer" means any person who manufactures a final consumer product sold at retail or whose brand name is affixed to the consumer product. In the case of a consumer product imported into the United States, "manufacturer" includes the importer or domestic distributor of the consumer product if the person who manufactured or assembled the consumer product or whose brand name is affixed to the consumer product does not have a presence in the United States.

"Priority chemical" means a chemical identified by the Department of Public Health as a chemical of high concern that meets the criteria set forth in Section 10 of this Act.

"Safer alternative" means an alternative whose potential to harm human health is less than that of the use of a priority chemical that it could replace.

Section 10. Identification of chemicals of high concern.

(a) By July 1, 2010, the Department shall, after consultation with the Agency, generate a list of chemicals of high concern.

(b) The Department must periodically review and revise the list of chemicals of high concern at least once every 3 years. The Department may add chemicals to the list if the chemicals meet one or more of the criteria listed under the definition of "chemical of high concern" as set forth in Section 5 of this Act.

(c) The Department shall consider chemicals listed as a suspected carcinogen, reproductive or developmental toxicant, or as being persistent and toxic or very persistent by a state, federal, or international agency. These agencies may include, but are not limited to, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Washington Department of Ecology, the United States Department of Health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United Nation's World Health Organization, and European Parliament Annex XIV concerning the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals.

(d) The Department may consider chemicals listed by another state as harmful to human health or the environment for possible inclusion in the list of chemicals of high concern.

Section 15. Identification of priority chemicals.

(a) The Department, after consultation with the Agency, may designate a chemical of high concern as a priority chemical if the Department finds that the chemical:

(1) has been identified as a high-production volume chemical by the United States Environmental Protection Agency; and

(2) meets any of the following criteria:

(A) the chemical has been found through biomonitoring to be present in human blood, including umbilical cord blood, breast milk, urine, or other bodily tissues or fluids;

(B) the chemical has been found through sampling and analysis to be present in household dust, indoor air, drinking water, or elsewhere in the home environment; or

(C) the chemical has been found through monitoring to be present in fish, wildlife, or the natural environment.

(b) By February 1, 2011, the Department shall publish a list of priority chemicals in the Illinois Register and on the Department's Internet Web site and shall update the published list whenever a new priority chemical is designated.

Section 20. Applicability. The requirements of this Act do not apply to:

(1) chemicals not used in children's products;

(2) priority chemicals used in the manufacturing process but that are not present in the final product;

(3) priority chemicals used in agricultural production;

(4) motor vehicles or watercraft or their component parts, except that the use of priority chemicals in detachable car seats is not exempt;

(5) priority chemicals generated solely as combustion by-products or that are present in combustible fuels;

(6) retailers;

(7) pharmaceutical products or biologics;

(8) a medical device as defined in the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, United States Code, title 21, section 321(h);

(9) food and food or beverage packaging, except a container containing baby food or infant formula;

(10) consumer electronics products and electronic components, including, but not limited to, personal computers; audio and video equipment; calculators; digital displays; wireless phones; cameras; game consoles; printers; and handheld electronic and electrical devices used to access interactive software or their associated peripherals or products that comply with the provisions of directive 2002/95/EC of the European Union, adopted by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union as now or hereafter in effect; or

(11) outdoor sport equipment, including snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, personal watercraft, watercraft and off-highway motorcycles, and all attachments and repair parts for such equipment.

Section 25. Donations to the State. The Director may accept donations, grants, and other funds to carry out the purposes of this Act. All donations, grants, and other funds must be accepted without preconditions regarding the outcomes of the regulatory oversight processes set forth in this Act.

Section 30. Participation in interstate chemicals clearinghouse. The State may cooperate with other states in an interstate chemicals clearinghouse regarding chemicals in consumer products, including the classification of priority chemicals in commerce; organizing and managing available data on chemicals, including information on uses, hazards, risks, and environmental and health concerns; and producing and evaluating information on safer alternatives to specific uses of priority chemicals.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.