Chemicals in Everyday Life: Where's the Oversight?

I believe the avoidance of synthetic chemicals—whether they exist in our food, water, personal health care products, furniture, etc.—is essential to healthy living.

In today’s world, though, sidestepping the chemicals is virtually impossible because of their pervasiveness. (What is coming out of my computer as I type this?)

It would be helpful if we had some guidance as to the safety of these chemicals, an issue discussed in yesterday’s Washington Post. But the lack of knowledge and oversight is truly frightening, as there are, according to the Post:

“. . . huge gaps in the government's knowledge about chemicals in everyday consumer products, from furniture to clothing to children's products. Under current laws, the government has little or no information about the health risks posed by most of the 80,000 chemicals on the U.S. market today.”

Click here to read the story. It’ll hopefully scare us enough to send emails to our senators and representatives, since, according to the article:

"Bills pending in Congress would revamp the way the government regulates chemicals, forcing companies to prove that new chemicals are safe before using them and requiring health and safety assessments of existing chemicals . . ."