It might come as a shock to EU voters to learn exactly how weak US laws are when it comes to toxic chemicals, especially when the US’s chief negotiator for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has been claiming otherwise.  This unprecedented “trade” agreement is primarily about regulation, and threatens to create new and additional avenues for industry and government to use their influence to stall necessary action on toxic chemicals, climate change, and other critical issues that must be addressed by the EU and global community to protect human health and the environment.  How weak are US laws for toxic chemicals?  Only eleven ingredients are restricted from cosmetics in the US, versus over 1300 in the EU...In a recent op-ed about TTIP, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) reductively asked whether “NGOs really believe better regulation is a bad thing?”  Of course not.  However, to CIEL and ClientEarth, “better regulation” requires putting protection of public health and the environment at the center of the debate...TTIP is not about better regulation...