After A Tough Slog, Sen. Boxer Gets To Celebrate Toxic Chemical Law Passage
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) worked for years on the legislation in order to protect California’s stricter chemical standards. Last week, she was able to stand with President Barack Obama as he signed the regulations into law.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Update Of Law On Toxic Chemicals, Years In The Making, A Victory
Last week, in a White House auditorium dotted with cancer survivors and widows and chemical industry lobbyists, President Obama signed into law the first update of the Toxic Substances Control Act, first signed by President Gerald Ford in 1976. The rare bipartisan achievement marks the first strengthening of a major federal environmental statute in two decades. Under the new version of the act, the government will slowly begin to require federal testing of industrial chemicals and could lead to a ban on asbestos, a known lethal carcinogen still in public commerce. (Lochhead, 6/24)
In other public health news —
Orange County Register:
Health Care Agency Closes Part Of Dana Point Harbor To Swimmers Due To Sewage
The Orange County Health Care Agency issued a statement Thursday advising the public that there is to be no swimming in Dana Point Harbor between docks A through O due to a sewage spill. Bacteria levels in the ocean are also high in West Newport Bay’s Rhine Channel, Upper Newport Bay’s Pearson’s Port and in the area of Abalone Avenue Beach on the south side of Balboa Island. The agency is maintaining its longterm warning for Harbor Tower Marina at Pacific Coast Highway and Newport Boulevard, due to possible urban runoff. (Sudock, 6/24)
Orange County Register:
Marijuana: Is It Safe? Is It Addictive? Answering Common Pot Questions
Is marijuana an addictive gateway drug that lowers IQs, triggers psychotic episodes and makes roads less safe?
Or is it a miracle plant that can ease pain or provide a pleasant buzz with health risks on par with forgetting to floss? Clashing portrayals of cannabis have endured through decades of research and a gradual easing of public resistance to the drug’s use. (Edwards Staggs, 6/27)