Senators Blumenthal, Udall, Impacted Families And Health And Safety Advocates To Speak Out Against Trump’s Dangerous Nominee For CPSC Chair

So, Anna Marie everyone is here. She's not okay. I'm here are we ready to go live. We are to go live so just so everyone knows I'm going to do a brief introduction logistics and then I will turn it over to Senator Blumenthal. you're each introducing the next person. One scratch doctor Goldman Gretchen is done we will do questions. We're going to use the chat. I will read the questions or if someone wants to ask a question and Marie will un-mute them. Alright, I think we're ready to go. Good afternoon everyone welcome to this virtual press event opposing the nomination of Nancy Beck to chair the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Thank you so much for joining us today and I hope you and your families are doing well during this difficult time. I'm Rachel Weintraub, legislative director and general Counsel with Consumer Federation of America, First, a few logistics we are going to use the chat function for questions. We are taking questions from the media only. please identify yourself. You type in your questions. I will see the questions that you type in and I will ask them to the speakers. If you would like to ask your question verbally. please indicate that in the chat and we will ummute to you. We will take questions after all of the speakers conclude their presentations. You are currently in Speaker View, which shows the person speaking in a large in a larger screen than the rest of the panelists. You can switch to gallery view at the top right hand portion of your screen, but it may be better for you to use the Speaker view for this presentation for this event rather than the. But of course, that's up to you Our speakers today include Senator Blumenthal, Senator Udall Emily Donovan co-founder of Clean Cape Fear and resident of Brunswick County, North Carolina. Pamela Miller, executive director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics and Co-chair of the International Pollutants Elimination Network. Gerry Ander, retired Marine Corp, Master sergeant and long time resident of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Brian. In chairman of the foundation, who's older brother, the older brother of Drew, who passed away from exposure to methyl chloride in 2017, Janet Mcghee founding member of parents against Tip overs, Crystal Ellis, founding member parents against tip overs and Doctor Gretchen Goldman Research Director Center for Science and Democracy Union of Concerned Scientists is now my honor to introduce Senator Blumenthal Senator from. Who throughout his entire career has been a leader in consumer protection and who the member of the manufacturing trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, Senator Blumenthal is my honor to turn it over to you. Thank you. It's my honor to be with you all and thank you to Rachel and a special. Thank you to all of the activists. If you're on this call you're an activist and the advocates who have taken the time and who bring to this. And experience a firsthand knowledge about the issues that every the consumer Product Safety Commission tackles, and tries to solve this agency is about public health and safety in such a fundamental way, you know, I'm on a number of committees armed services, which deals with the Department of Defense Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Administration Judiciary dealing with. Injustice and the Commerce Committee also an array of agencies, but none is closer to my heart than the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I'm gonna tell you why for decades literally as attorney General of the state of Connecticut I work in partnership with this agency and I saw firsthand how it can protect kids on a playground from the bad kind. Of material on which I may fall how it protects children from dressers that may fall on them if does its job, how it can protect against chemicals and toys and other dangerous things that children may play and protect families against dangerous products generally, if it does, it's job if it is supported by Congress and if it has affected people in its leadership. I think Republicans kind of that they could slip through this nominee that Nancy be would somehow get there under the radar without anybody, raising a voice or calling attention to her, But I'm so grateful for this opportunity to sound the alarm because she is exactly and I mean exactly what this agency does not need and I just say that she fits very well the pattern of the Trump administration, which is to. People who have opposed the very mission of the agency that they are being to lead and you go down the list. I'm not gonna do it now, but in this instance, her record is antithetical to the core mission of this agency. She is anti-environment she is. Antiscience she is anti-consumer. She is a perfect storm for this agency and leadership. she showed how she was anti environment in the EPA, having served at the American Chemistry Council as it's senior director when she opposed regulations that would protect people from harmful chemicals, she showed in the White House that she was anti science when she delayed and stalled. Kinds of directives would have helped save people from 19 and she has proved again and again that she is and consumer and she's like Pfas, which, as you know, is a very dangerous chemical with neurological defects. It's commonly accepted now, but it should be banned in firefighting materials. We're working on the defense industry to try to persuade our military to do better and the. Himself has said that should do better, But Nancy back has proved she is anti environment. There are many other areas where her record the lies any claim to protect consumers or protect our environment or the health and safety of the American people and we're gonna be asking tough questions of tomorrow and the Commerce Committee when you're hearing begins at 230 because the Deserves to know how important her appointment would be, and this is a an appointee who ought to be no holds barred opposed because it is going to be bad for really the American public who may be unaware of this disappointment, but who will feel the brunt of her. Leadership wanna thank again really all of the folks who are on this call. I have thought about naming them individually and the reasons why they are being chosen to speak. I think they're gonna speak so eloquently and powerfully for themselves, but they are the ones who can testify First-hand to how critical the mission of this agency is and I look forward hopefully to. A message to the administration that this kind of nominee has no business even before the Senate as a suggested appointment that we will rally bipartisan support for opposing her and there's nobody who's gonna be more eloquent and powerful in their remarks than my colleague from the Great State of New Mexico, who is a long time colleague of mine and go back. I won't embarrass him to say how long but we. we began together as attorneys general of our state. I served for attorney general for 20 years. He left that job to become a congressman very wisely. so he's now senior to me in the United States Senate. He's seen in a lot of ways, but he's a great friend and a staunch and steadfast advocate for consumers. There's no finer member of the United States, Senate and Tomy, and I'm proud to yield to him now. You know that Richard Thank you so much that. and for that, very generous introduction. He's such a good friend and we work all those years and as state attorneys, general and consumer protection where he was there a lot longer than I was and so he had many more accomplishments and he was the one that really mentored all the new attorneys general that came and I was more new and at eight years when he had a couple of decades and so anyway, great to see you. And thank you, I wanna give shout out just as Richard has done to the all the activists on the call and thank you for everybody for joining us, he nomination of Doctor Nancy Beek lead US Consumer Protection Safety Commission is deeply concerning. It's yet another example of President Trump putting the Fox in charge of guarding the hen House, Perhaps the most concerning example, Yeah, let's put Someone who has spent her career endangering the safety of Americans consumers to not be the top you should not be the top consumer watchdog. the chair of the consumer. It's the CPSC is responsible for ensuring that over 15000 consumer products from by helmets to children's toys are safe, including make sure, including making sure there is safe from toxic. But doctor has a long track record record of putting the interests of the chemical industry first and putting the health and safety of millions of Americans at risk in her position at EPA overseen, the Office of Chemical Safety Doctor back with health scientific data ignored calls to prioritize talk substances like Pss, which increase the risk for cancer, birth defects and immune. System disorders right now, Millions of Americans are still being exposed to Pss, including in my home state of New Mexico, where we are facing serious Pfas contamination of ground water and despite calls from state and federal officials doctor Beck ignored requests to prioritize Bess risk evaluation and management under the toxic substances control that I was the. Lead senator on the tosca reform legislation, so I know the is to protect Americans from dangerous chemicals like asbestos in the insulation and the land and water and pipes and Doctor Beck has clearly run a foul of the congressional intent by continually underestimating risk of chemicals like ECE the risk that TCE poses to the American public. A doctor should know better, she should follow the science. instead, she has gone against Peer-reviewed science time and time again favoring the industry at every turn that is not data driven science that is not rigorous assessment. We need to protect Americans in fact, nearly a hundred scientists and health professionals have joined a letter opposing Doctor Beck's nomination in it, they write. Bess approaches consistently disregard scientific best practices favor chemical manufacturers and put vulnerable population in vulnerable populations in harm's way. Doctor Beck's entire career has been less as a toxicologist conducting rigorous unas science and more like a defense attorney zealously defending Lti chemical clients. We have high. For this bipartisan bill, when we did tosca, we thought it was going to be a good bill. It was the environmentalist back to the chemical industry reform. We put it in place, it represented some of the most significant environmental reform in two decades, but with Nancy back at the EPA, we've seen tosca reform undermine time and time again in the four years since it passed Nancy back in the EPA, a blocked weakened and Protections from Pss from lead from TCE and so many other dangerous chemicals in these four years, the only ones who have been protected by her leadership have been the chemical companies up workers not consumers. She is there for the chemical companies, the American consumers entitled to leadership at the Consumer Product Safety Commission and will protect their health safety and Thank you and I will now hand over our next Speaker, A great advocate and has worked very hard. Emily Donovan, who is the Co founder of Clean Cape Fear Emily You're up at bat. Thank you so much Senator Thank you so much Senator Blumenthal. My name is Emily Donovan I live in Brunswick County, North Carolina, where we have some of the highest levels of Pfas detected in our tap water based on a recent nationwide study done by the Environmental Working Group, Pfas, or a class of synthetic chemicals linked to serious health effects like thyroid disease Immune system disorders, high cholesterol, obesity infertility and several cancers. In fact, I live in one of the largest thyroid cancer clusters in the state of North Carolina. We call P. Forever they don't degrade and there's no proven safe disposal method for these toxins after their intended use yet the chemical industry thought it was a brilliant idea to put this forever chemicals in thousands of consumer products. keys are so toxic. We talk about them at trace amounts they build up in our bodies. We can't flush them out easily and just about every American has some level of Pfas in their blood, like 99 percent of us and sadly. Learning firefighters are getting the hardest with occupational exposures to Pfas three years ago. I learned I've been giving my children toxic levels of Pfas since their birth. I know way too many people in my community who are my age battling cancer. My own husband survived a brain tumor shortly after we moved to this area, he nearly lost his eyesight and I worry constantly for his health. Nancy Beck was in charge of the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety three years ago when. I needed her the most she did nothing. She ignored multiple bipartisan requests from our governor and our Senator. Richard Burr, the Pfas contamination crisis that I live in impacts over a quarter of a million, North Carolina residents And she ignored please from our highest levels of elected leadership if she refuses to listen to our well respected elected officials. How can we trust she'll listen to the public and independent scientists, all of which? Part of her new job leading the Consumer Product Safety Commission. She refused to close a loophole in a critical EPA consent order regarding DuPont kimm the chemical companies responsible for my community suffering she ignored requests from North Carolina leadership to quickly finalize EPA health assessments for Gen X one of the newer Pfas found in our drinking water. She refused to prioritize GenX and other Pfas for risk evaluations under tosca, she failed to protect. All of us from toxic chemicals coming to the marketplace she actively worked against Congress to weaken how the EPA response to the most recent bipartisan Pfa legislation, And she even blocked the release of a critical CDC report detailing the EPA's existing Pfas health advisories were too weak to actually protect the public. These are the advisories water utilities use all across the nation to tell communities like mine. This glass of water is either safe to drink or not. I just don't understand why we would allow someone who comes to work and does nothing and get nominated for a promotion. Nancy Beck refuses to do her job and I can't do my job as a wife and a mother. I can't protect my family from further exposures to keep us chemicals. I can't prevent avoidable harms my area can't afford one more drop of pss chemicals in our air. Our water, our food supply or the products we purchase. I still have no idea what my friend Sarah's can't came back so quickly and neither does her doctor who cried when he told her the news. I have no idea how long my friend Tom has to live and I have no idea why my friends are all developing thyroid disease and neither did the doctors in our area, but we all know something's wrong and I have no idea of my children will develop any of the health effects We know are Associated with Pss and I wonder about. Effects we still don't about because Nancy back refused to do her job. This is not just irresponsible. It's deadly. There are lives on the line and we deserve so much better and I urge every senator to oppose Nancy Bess nomination and thank you so much for your time and it is actually my honor to introduce the next Speaker. Pamela Miller, executive director of the Alaska Community Action on toxic and Co-chair of the International Pollutants Elimination Network. Thank you so much Emily. I'm I'm not sure I speak after Thank Thank you so much good afternoon and thank you everyone for being here as Emily said, My name is Pamela Miller, I serve as the executive director of the Alaska Community Action on Toxics. We're a nonprofit public health in public interest, Environmental research and advocacy Organization dedicated to protecting public health. I also serve as principal investigator for Community-based research in the Arctic concerning. Environmental and health effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in collaboration with Alaska Indigenous communities. Our Organization is strongly opposed to the nomination of Nancy Beck as chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. We we have no confidence that she would act in the interest of protecting public health and safety. She has a clear record of protecting chemical corporations over those of public health, her record of ignoring threats to vulnerable populations, including children women workers. Indigenous populations is deeply concerning as an example under Beck's leadership at EPA. The agency proposed that the dangerous flame retardant H B C D, poses no unreasonable risk. We know that H B C D, is persistent it''s bio cumulative and highly toxic, and it's subject to long range atmospheric transport in accumulates in remote regions, including the Art Pick here in Alaska, The Arctic contains some of the most highly contaminated animals. the world, Arctic Indigenous peoples of Alaska are particularly at risk to elevated levels of H B C D because of their reliance on fish and Marine mammals and birds as the basis of their traditional subsistence diets, Fish and Marine mammals are vital as the basis for the physical spiritual and cultural sustenance of Arctic communities. Pers. Cumulative chemicals such as H B C, D, or past through successive generations from mother to child and harm the ability of children to learn their languages, their songs, their traditional Lifeway and knowledge. These neurotoxic chemicals are harming the brains and health of future generations in 2013 a hundred and 80 Nations agreed to Institute a global ban on H B C D under the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants because. A particular threat to Arctic Indigenous communities Beck's EPA decision flies in the face of global consensus on the harm Associated with this flame return of chemical, although EPA acknowledged that there's potential for higher risk among subpopulations with consistently higher fish consumption rates, the agency ignored higher risks in its calculations and therefore the risk assessment under Beck's EPA for HB C D does not protect. Populations and this is just one example, the issued a warning to manufacturers and reporters and retailers in 2017 to stop using or selling products containing dozens of related flame retardant chemicals known as Orono Hagens because of the evidence reproductive impairment adverse neurological effects, endocrine disruption, Geno toxicity, cancer and immuno effects. The CPSC voted. With a rule making to the use of the entire class of halogen flame retardants from children's toys and child-care articles mattresses and mattress pads, upholstered furniture and the outer plastic casings for electronics, the CPC stated at the time these chemicals have a disproportionately negative health effect on vulnerable populations, including children if she is confirmed as the CPC's lead. Progress toward eliminating this class frame retardant chemicals in consumer products is very much a threat. Many of these chemicals are persistent bio cumulative toss like H B C, D and cause particular harm to children in the North, who are more highly exposed to breast milk through traditional foods and indoor home environments in 2019, The municipality Anchorage passed a law protecting the health of children and firefighters ordinance that bans the use of halogen. Other classes of flame retardant chemicals in children's products, furniture and mattresses firefighters were in strong support of this measure because of the occupational hazards, and the fact that these chemicals make fires more toxic and indoor environments more toxic if nominated as head of CPSC, it is likely that would weaken regulation a flame retardant chemicals and potentially preempt the Anchorage Bann. Emily so eloquently has also demonstrated a very poor addressing the public health crisis caused by Pfas contamination. Our investigative report threats to drinking water and public health in Alaska documented Pfas contamination at over a hundred individual sites throughout Alaska at unsafe levels in drinking water in communities from the very far North to Southeast Alaska at EPA and in their position in the White House, Beck has repeatedly. Disclosure and regulation concerning Pfas and as Senator, you'll noted, as stated in the letter signed by over 90 scientists, including myself, Beck's approaches consistently disregarded scientific best practices, favor chemical manufacturers and put vulnerable populations in harm's way. The Senate must reject her nomination in the interest of protecting public health. Thank you and now it's my honor to introduce our next Speaker. Jerry Msmi. Marine Core master and long time resident of Camp Lejeune and my hero. Thank you. Thank you good afternoon. My name is Jerry Unser. I'm a retired Marine Master Sergeant. I currently live in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. I served in the United States Marine Corps for and a half years, and I lived with my family at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for 11 of those years. What I didn't know was that while we were living at kaun, we were being exposed to every day to try Chlo methylene or TCE a solvent that causes cancer. Eisen was in our drinking water in the water we use bathing the water we use for our laundry and the water we use for cooking. it was in our ice cubes and in our coffee all were contaminated. I had four daughters and my daughter, Jeanie got sick when she was just six, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Died when she was In my heart and in our families. I can never be fully healed. Many other people who lived and worked to camp was over years have gotten sick from the water laced with TCE far too many people, those were acts of God. They were the act of our government. Those deaths and illnesses were caused by the people who polluted the water the Marines, who didn't warn their own military family and the government authorities whose job it was to keep its citizens safe. They failed. I've worked for the past 23 years to gain some degree of compensation and Justice for Jamie Other families who are needlessly harmed at Camp Lejeune, like other speaking today, I'm sorry, we can't all be together in person. I'm personally I'm living with the cost of the Government's failing to hold polluters and itself accountable. Brings us to Nancy Beck and her nomination to chair the Consumer Products Safety Commission, as others have said he has a long record of working to block weaken and delay health protections from toxic chemicals. TCE is just one example looking back at B's record on TCE over the past three years should itself be enough evidence that she is unfit to chair in an agency that is supposed to protect us. EPA had studied certain uses of TCE for years and found that it poses an unreasonable risk to consumers and workers, but within weeks of arriving at the agency, Beckel the proposed ban on it, Congress recognized the EPA had done enough work to assess these risks and specifically authorized EPA to act quickly to address these uses of TCE. But. Not to shelve the proposed bans ensuring that consumers and workers will continue to be exposed for years to come. That is strike one. Nancy be directed her at EPA when they evaluate whether TCE poses and reasonable risk to people to ignore the exposures to K C E. from contaminated drinking water. Air pollution contaminated soils, I'm going to say that again, Nancy Beck directed her staff at EPA when they evaluated whether TCE poses an unreasonable risk of people. To ignore the exposure to TCE from contaminated, drinking water, air pollution and contaminated soil. So in deciding how dangerous TCE is and figuring out how to protect people, especially the most vulnerable or heavily exposed Nancy Beck chose to ignore some of the most important sources of exposure. People all over the country sources that made up so many people sick at camp was young and across the country. You can do a Google search and find stories of people with drinking water contamination by TCE all over this country in Tucson, Arizona in Franklin, Indiana in Dixon, Tennessee, Just to name a few Nancy Beck decided that those. Don't matter. They didn't matter to be three years ago and they don't matter to her now that is strike two Nancy Beck wasn't done defending this toxic chemical TCE, not even close. She got a job at the White House last year, but she still had time apparently to overrule EPA's own scientists and direct them through unsigned emails to down. The scientific evidence that they're exposure to TCE in the womb can cause birth defects to the heart of a fetus. EPA scientists wanted to protect people from that risk, But Nancy Beck refused she ordered EPA scientists to use a less protective approach for evaluating the risk of exposure to TCE. That is strike three. Bye Angelo has said when people show you they believe them, Nancy Beck has shown us exactly who she is over and over again, she is not somebody who is ever going to use her authority or power to protect people from toxic chemicals from dangerous products or from careless companies. That is not who Nancy Beck is. 17 The Senate did not confirm the chemical industry consultant Michaelson because his record of advocating to weaken health standards for toxic chemicals rendered him unfit for the position to lead the EPA's Chemical Safety Office. I was proud of my Senators, Richard Burr and Tom Tillis for publicly voicing their opposition to Michael Doss nomination. Nancy Beck is a close colleague of they've even written a paper that concludes health standards for more than a dozen chemicals should be weakened. There are two peas in a pot, My North Carolina senators and all senators should be able to see clearly that Nancy Beck is not only a terrible choice to run the Consumer Product Safety Commission. She is a dangerous one. The Senate has the power to reject nominations that are against the interests of the public. They are elected to serve the. One right way to vote on Nancy Beck's nomination, and that is a resounding No. thank you. I now would like to introduce Brian Wynn. Thank you Gerry I'm familiar with the incredible work that done on behalf of Janie and the thousands of Marines that have been affected by toxic chemicals throughout North Carolina and really the entire country. you truly are an inspiration to me Senator we had a chance to meet in 2018. Well, my mother and I love you on behalf of my brother, Drew Wynn and you've been monumental pushing important issues that involve environmental concerns and issues that can have catastrophic and long-term effects on both consumers and workers Senator. We never formally met, although I did into you in the hallway while I was pounding the pavement throughout the streets of DC and I also wanna Thank you for championing these environmental and consumer safety causes. So let me tell you how I ended up here today. In October of 2017, My brother Drew was working on a Saturday refining the floor of his production plan for a small business. Riptide Coffee 24 hour plays found dead on the floor by his business partner. Put his heart and soul into this business. He was really building the American Dream. His Dream was cut short by a product called Goof, which was a methyl chloride based paint stripper the day after Drew's Memorial, My mother read an article in the New York Times titled Why has the EPA shifted on Toxic Chemicals in Industry Insider helps Call the shots. This was our introduction to Doctor Nancy Beck over the course of the next several months, we learned that the EPA was on track to fix their back log of overburdened. Regulations doctor Beck had other ideas fresh out the chemistry Council with a loaded agenda. She started to roll back regulations under the guys of new science, one of the first chemicals that was rolled back methylene chloride. We realized then that doctor be delayed the ban on the chemical that killed Drew Drew was only 31 when he died while using that product methylene chloride from tragedy. My family were tirelessly to get paint strippers containing this chemical off of store shelves We robbed in Washington. Urge retailers to stop selling the product and kept telling Drew's story to draw attention to the problem. We were determined to save other parents and families from the pain that we have felt Nancy Beck has repeatedly proven that she will put the safety of American families at risk if she is confirmed to lead the CPSC in addition to her interference on methyl chloride, she's delayed bands on high-risk uses of other toxic chemicals. Most TCE, she's made systemic changes to weak and how the country's main chemical safety laws carried out and more her record clearly. When making decisions about hazardous chemicals, industry interests outweigh the public's health and safety people like Doctor Beck lurk in the parts of our government that we don't often think about and unfortunately it typically takes a great tragedy to notice their existence. The silver lining here is that she will never be tied to Drew's legacy, but drew will most certainly be tied to hers. I hope that the Committee will take a long look at her performance history and realize that there is no such thing as Phan at risk. When it comes to doctor be, she is very real. Very dangerous and has no future in protecting consumer interests. enclosing I call on Senator Graham and Senator Scott to continue to back their commitment to my family together. We achieved a great legislative accomplishment. so let's finish the job. Thank you. and now I pass the mic to Janet Mcgee, founding member of parents against Tipps. Thank you, I'm Janet Mcghee, founding member of parents against Tip overs, which is a nationwide coalition of parents who have lost their children from furniture and TV tip overs. On average, a tip over happens every 24 minutes and a child in the US dies every two weeks from a tip over for about 20 years, the ASTM subcommittee that sets the voluntary safety standards for clothing storage units has been painstakingly slow to solve the tip over. It unknowingly lurks inside US homes and has for decades. It's a problem that has and continues to kill hundreds of children by 22 month-old son Ted, being one of them and injured thousands more. We parents rely heavily on the agency to use every tool available to them to stop the production and sales and push for recalls of unstable furniture on the market today, And while most manufacturers may tell parents to simply anchor your furniture, the real problem. Face as a nation is poorly designed and unstable a risk that cannot be mitigated solely by anchoring just this week. We watched nanny cam footage from California of a piece of furniture that fell on two children, a piece of furniture that was anchored to a sudden in the Wall. We've made the Commission to lead their charge of protecting consumers, not defending businesses. We need the to push the voluntary standard process to result in a robust and effective standard that will save lives. The CPSC is currently conducting research on the adequacy of the current Standard has issued an NPR and is expected to issue an NPR this year with Nancy Beck support that would she find that a child dying every two weeks from a tip over is sufficient risk for the CPSC to take action and aggressively. Writing a mandatory Standard Nancy Beck's history of deregulation and protecting businesses and her position at OMB and EPA is deeply concerning as we consider what that might look like for the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. We depend on this agency to protect our families As parents and families who have lost their children to defective products. Parents Against tip overs stands against the nomination of Nancy Beck for the US CPSC. We have significant concerns regarding how well consumers will be protected if she were to lead the agency. Thank you for allowing us to voice our concern today and I'm now honored to turn it over to Crystal Ellis, another founding member of parents against the Boers. Thank you so Janet. I am my name is Krystal Ellis. This is my son, Camden. Six years ago today, I removed my son from life support because of injuries, resulting from a furniture. Tip-over Kamin is a casualty of not only a specific manufacturer that chose to ignore voluntary standards that were already weak and an effective at preventing injuries and deaths. His death is the consequence of an agency tasked with protecting consumers that has their hands tied by a small budget and the six B gag order that prevents them from being able to do their job of protecting consumers. The CPSC is the agency that has. And it's title, but has a history with struggles and being able to represent voices and interests of Americans. This is in great part because of an unbalanced influenced by industry since about 1981 industry will always try and convince all parties tasked with regulation that they can do a great job with self regulation and the answer to all problems is deregulation. self regulation is impossible when it will infect the bottom. Deregulation has consumers in a new ways. Nancy Back has a strong history of deregulation and ignoring risk assessment data. This would be devastating for an agency that is already hurt to buy a balance of power in favor of industry. Americans believe that if a product is in our marketplace, It has been vetted and tested by their government and would not be sold if it wasn't safe. They don't know which agency has this responsibility and they don't know who to report. When they have problems, this lack of visibility favors industry and allows companies like the that killed my child to hide their injuries and deaths for decades without recalls or civil penalties of any significant amount or public awareness. Looking at Nancy Beck's history, consumers would be at an even bigger disadvantage with her at the helm. We need a champion for protecting consumers and standing up to big companies that will fight hard to hide all of their misti. Thank you so much for the opportunity, allowing me to speak today and I am greatly honored to introduce doctor Gretchen Goldman with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Thank you. Thank you as a scientist who studied environmental threats for more a decade. I can say with certainty that Doctor Nancy Beck is a bad choice to share the Consumer Product Safety Commission, her fring scientific views and her alarming record on public health, make her wooley unqualified for the job. While doctor Beck is the scientist, we need only take a brief look at her history to see clearly that her views are anything but mainstream and her actions anything but responsible instead, she has. Extensive record of challenging scientific conclusions at every turn and interfering in science based policy making while at the American chemistry Council that consistently challenged the way to the to the demonstrating the harm of chemicals strain far from the conclusions of the broader scientific community at the White House Office of Management and Budget Becks team made direct substantive edits to scientific research, inflating uncertainty and even directly deleting scientists statements on potential. Harms this is not work of a responsible scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency, Beck has tried to limit EPA's chemical assessments abandoning the agency's obligation to consider the many ways that people can be and are harmed by chemicals in consumer products. In her current role, Beck was likely responsible for rewriting an EPA evaluation on the dangerous chemical TCE to downplay. It's linked to fetal heart defects and just last month. News broke that be herself work to suppress guidance from the Centers for Disease Control X from Centers for Disease Control experts on Covid- 19 from ever reaching the public, but I'm not alone in assessing doctor Beck's views as fringe in 2006, The National Academy of Sciences called Beck's work at the EPA over simplified and fundamentally flawed at a House Oversight Committee and and a House oversight Committee slammed back in a 2009 report outlining her Science while at the White and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shot down her proposed changes to throughout her career, Beck's disregard for scientific independence and it's hard to the public is clear as a scientist. I'm concerned about Beck's actions at the CPSC, but as a mom of two young children, I'm alarmed at the CPSC Beck will oversee science-based decisions that will affect your family and mine you'll have to make judgment. About how safe a child's stroller is how many infant deaths is to recall a crib and how much lead is too much for contamination in a child's lunch box. How can I trust that she'll choose to protect my children with her record of going against the science and failing to protect people time and time again, If for records is any indication of how she will act, We cannot trust her at all. Thank you. I'll now pass it to reach A- One tribe who will lead us through Q and A Thank So much Senator Blumenthal Senator Udall your leadership. we are so depending on you to help us protect consumers tomorrow and every day so thank you so much for your words and we stand ready to work with you every step of the way to make sure that Nancy back is not leading the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Thank you. thank you also to Emily Pam Gerry Brian Janet Crystals and Gretchen for. Courageous words you're turning tragedy into advocacy to ensure that others don't experience what you've experienced and you're working for vulnerable populations. Just thank you so much for your incredible work and for lending your articulate voices to this important fight. the chat option is now open. I do not see any questions if anyone has a question, please identify yourself in the chat and I'm happy to answer your. Or if you'd like to ask the question yourself, please similarly type your and your question and we will un-mute you. I will give it one minute four questions and also if any of the panelists have anything else they would like to add now we can do that as well. I wanted to say thank you to Jerry. I am a huge my Angela fan myself and often in advocacy. I say when we know better, we do better, which is my favorite My Angela quote and in this case, we know what Nancy back is capable of and we can certainly do better. I wanna thank Gary also for his service in the United States Marine Corps as the father of a Marine Corps officer Infantry officer who served in Afghanistan, also a father of a Navy officer and a former, a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserve myself, but the the strength and courage that he and really all of you. all of you. Your stories are so moving. I just say You remind me about why the work all of us do is important. You know why I wake up every morning Angry heartbroken and moved by your courage to step forward. so thank you to every single one of you. Well, Thank you, Senator Blumenthal. We stand with you tomorrow at the hearing and after and we look forward to working with you to protect consumers to protect our children to present protect our brothers and sisters and our future children as well as our parents as we engage in this fight so thank you all very much. this will be available on Facebook at CF A's webpage again. Thank you so much for your tireless work and advocacy and we look forward to. Hand in hand and step by with you to protect our families. Thank you very much.