California Healthline Highlights Recent Senate Action, Pending Anti-Toxics Legislation

The Senate last week approved measures addressing a cervical cancer campaign and the regulation of some chemicals. Summaries appear below.

SB 615, by Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont), would require the Department of Health Services and the Cervical Cancer Community Awareness Campaign to partner on a campaign to address the link between the human papillomavirus and cervical cancer, the Oakland Tribune reports. In addition, the bill would allow nongovermental entities, such as foundations and private corporations, to contribute to the cervical cancer campaign. A similar campaign was created in 2000 but was never implemented because of budget cuts (Oakland Tribune, 5/31).
SB 490, by Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), would require that all chemicals identified as hazardous by the Netherlands to be added to California's list of dangerous substances, the Los Angeles Times reports. The bill is designed to take a precautionary approach to banning potentially dangerous chemicals (Rau, Los Angeles Times, 5/30).

Anti-Toxics Legislation

The Legislature also is considering several other bills that would regulate the use of chemicals. Summaries appear below.

AB 319, by Assembly Health Committee Chair Wilma Chan (D-Oakland), would ban any product for children under three years of age that contains bisphenol A and some types of phthalates.
SB 484, by Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), would require cosmetics and perfume manufacturers to report to the state potentially dangerous ingredients in their products.
SB 600, by Senate Health Committee Chair Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), would create a registry for "bio-monitoring" -- a system that tracks levels of various chemicals in the human body rather than monitoring the chemicals' presence in the general environment. Under the $4 million program, state health officials would regularly collect samples of breast milk, urine, blood and tissue from volunteers, who would be advised to seek medical treatment if high levels of chemicals are found in their bodies. Health officials would monitor the data to determine which chemicals need to be studied or regulated (Los Angeles Times, 5/30).

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