Children's Environmental Protection Act

Summary

Children's Environmental Protection Act - Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) ensure that each environmental and public health standard for an environmental pollutant protects children and other vulnerable subpopulations with an adequate margin of safety; (2) evaluate data concerning the special susceptibility and exposure of children to any pollutant for which such a standard is established; and (3) adopt an additional margin of safety of at least ten-fold in the establishment of such a standard in the absence of reliable data on toxicity and exposure or susceptibility of children to a pollutant for which such a standard is being established. Directs the Administrator, in establishing, modifying, or reevaluating any such standard for a pollutant under any law administered by the Administrator, to take into consideration information concerning all routes of children's exposure and the special susceptibility of children to such pollutant. Provides that the Administrator, if any such data are unavailable, shall, in completing a risk assessment or characterization or other assessment of risk underlying an environmental or public health standard, adopt an additional margin of safety of at least ten-fold to take into account potential pre- and post-natal toxicity of a pollutant and the completeness of data concerning its exposure and toxicity to children. Requires the Administrator, on an annual basis and based on the recommendations of the Children's Environmental Health Protection Advisory Committee established under this Act, to: (1) repromulgate at least three of the environmental and public health standards identified by the Committee as posing a special risk to children; or (2) publish a finding in the Federal Register that provides the Administrator's basis for declining to repromulgate such standards. Directs, the Administrator, if such finding is made, to repromulgate at least three of such standards determined to pose a greater risk to children's health than those identified by the Committee. Requires each school and day care center that receives Federal funding to: (1) take steps to reduce the exposure of children to pesticides on school grounds; and (2) provide parents with advance notification of any pesticide application on school grounds in accordance with this Act. Directs the Administrator to: (1) distribute to schools and day care centers the current EPA manual that guides schools and day care centers in the establishment of a least toxic pest control strategy; and (2) provide them with an annual list of pesticides that contain a substance identified as a carcinogen, a developmental or reproductive toxin, a category I or II acute nerve toxin, or a known or suspected endocrine disrupter. Bars schools or day care centers that receive Federal funding, beginning two years after this Act's enactment date, from applying any pesticide described above. Provides for limited emergency suspensions of such prohibition based on an imminent threat to health or safety. Requires parental notice prior to pesticide applications on school or day care grounds as well as the posting of warning signs where pesticides are to be applied. Directs the Administrator to: (1) identify pollutants commonly used or found in areas accessible to children; (2) create and review at least annually a list of substances with known or likely health risks to children and a list of safer-for-children substances and products for use in such areas; (3) establish guidelines to reduce and eliminate children's exposure in such areas; (4) create a family right-to-know information kit; and (4) make all such information publicly available. (Sec. 3) Amends the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 to: (1) require the EPA Administrator to identify each toxic chemical that may present a significant risk to children's health or the environment; and (2) establish a threshold for each such chemical at a level that ensures reporting for at least 80 percent of the aggregate of all releases of the chemical from facilities that have ten or more full-time employees and are in Standard Industrial Classification Codes 20 through 39. Provides for reporting by facilities other than those described above if such a facility contributes substantially to total releases of such chemicals. (Sec. 4) Amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to direct the EPA Administrator and the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to: (1) coordinate and support the development and implementation of basic and applied research initiatives to examine the health effects and toxicity of pesticides and other environmental pollutants on children and vulnerable subpopulations; and (2) report to Congress. (Sec. 5) Requires the Administrator to establish a Children's Environmental Health Protection Advisory Committee to establish an annual list of standards that merit evaluation by the Administrator in order to better protect children's health. Terminates the Committee 15 years after establishment. Authorizes appropriations.

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3 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 24 May 1999

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• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 24 May 1999

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 24 May 1999

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