I’ll be completely honest – I was never the petition signature gathering type.

There’s something about petitions that remind me of those volunteers walking the streets and stopping people to ask them for a minute of their time.  Outta my way, dreadlocks!  I don’t have time to hear about your Captain Planet bullshit!  Don’t get me wrong…I care about the environment.  I just always thought that all these petitions were pretty meaningless.  As an average person, I was always numb to the idea that gathering signatures was more of a ploy to get my contact info and send me junk mail.

This being said, there is a “bipartisan” effort to reform and strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act (TCSA).  TSCA was enacted in 1976 and badly needs an update.  For example, the Environmental Protection Agency has only been able to require safety testing for 200 of the 84,000 chemicals in use today.  The burden of proof needs to be on companies to show that the chemicals in our products are safe – and that’s not happening right now.  So, today I delivered this letter to one of the Senators who sponsored the legislation, attached with the signatures of 133 cancer patients, survivors, previvors, and family members.

I think of it as a necessary symbolic gesture.  Sigh….