Efforts to ban specific toxic chemicals like Deca and BPA make a difference. The reality, however, is that there are  more than 82,000 different chemicals in production.  Dealing with harmful chemicals one by one could take a lifetime. Or more.  A more effective way to protect ourselves from exposure is through policy that takes a precautionary approach.  This framework requires thorough evaluation of chemicals so that unsafe chemicals don’t make it to the market in the first place and promotes the use of the least toxic alternatives.

Last April, Maine took a huge step in this direction last April with the passage of the Kid-Safe Products Law.  This landmark law will reduce children’s exposure to chemicals that based on “credible scientific evidence” may be harmful to our health.  PPNNE worked with Alliance for A Clean and Healthy Maine on the bill and applauds its passage.

Maine's State House

The Kid-Safe Products Law applies to children’s products, but don’t just think of sippy cups and toys. ‘Children’s products’ are defined broadly to include products to which kids are exposed. While exceptions are written in for some everyday products it is clear the bill was written with children’s safety in mind.  For example, while food  is generally exempt from the law, the law does apply to baby food and infant formula. Furthermore, the bill specifically  targets chemicals that are known or likely reproductive or developmental toxicants. It also singles out endocrine disrupters, which are frequently linked to reproductive health problems.

Roughly one year later implementation is underway in Maine, and the law has become a national role model of sorts.

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Do you want in depth information on the links between human health & the environment? Are you  just looking for a good book to read on the beach?  Do you doubt the existence of one book that fits both of these criteria? Please, allow Dr. Sandra Steingraber to prove you wrong!

Steingraber is a scientist and a storyteller. She weaves biographical information, history, and scientific data into a coherent picture of how “Lifestyle and environment are not independent categories that can be untwisted from each other: to talk about one is to talk about the other” (Steingraber, 1997).

Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment examines the link between chemicals and cancer, challenging the heavy emphasis we place on genetics and lifestyle as causes for cancer.  Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood discusses the ecology of pregnancy. Both books are a strong argument for the precautionary principle: that chemicals should not be released into the environment until we know they are “almost certainly not going to hurt anyone” and that least toxic alternatives should always be used (Steingraber, 1997).

Dr. Steingraber is the key note speaker at PPNNE’s upcoming Critical Link conference. She is as compelling a speaker as she is a writer. We hope you will come see her in person.

Read any good environmental health books lately? Let me know. I am looking for more summer reading.

This session, PPNNE worked on bills to reduce our exposure to environmental contaminants  at the state level in the Maine & Vermont . Now state legislatures are wrapping up for the summer,  and we're watching the US Congress.

Remember Bishpenol-A (aka BPA)? Yes, that BPA-- the ubiquitous chemical linked to reproductive health problems including breast cancer, low sperm counts and early puberty.

Is Bisphenol-A lurking in this can?

It's time to make BPA a thing of the past! Senator Feinstein (D-CA) and Representative Markey (D-MA)  introduced the Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2009, a bill that bans BPA from food and beverage containers.  Over 90% of us harbor detectable levels of BPA in our bodies and food contamination is the primary culprit, so this is a common sense way to reduce exposure.

You can help speed up BPA's departure from our beverages and our bodies by  asking your elected officials to support this bill. Take action now!

Thanks to the Breast Cancer Fund and VPIRG for their work on this important issue.

The bill to ban Deca passed the House Thursday as part of the health care bill.  Keeping a toxic chemical linked to developmental and reproductive problems out of our mattresses sounds like  a no-brainer, but the bill was not without controversy.  Citizens for Fire Safety (CFS), a faux grassroots group, bombarded Vermonters with robo-calls falsely implying the end of Deca would be the end of flame retardants.  Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the bill is on it's way to the Governor's desk.

What does this mean for your mattress? Not much.  As for your future mattresses, it means plenty:  you'll know they don't contain Deca.  After July 1st, 2010 it will be illegal to manufacture or sell mattresses & upholstered furniture containing Deca in Vermont.  After July 1st, 2012 the same will hold true for computers and televisions, though retailers will be able to sell inventory purchased before July 1st 2009.  The bill also includes safeguards against Deca being replaced with equally toxic alternatives.

Kudos to all the legislators who made this possible, including Representative Weston who spoke in favor of the ban.

Thank you also to VPIRG, the Professional Firefighters of Vermont, and the rest of the Alliance For A Clean & Healthy VT for your work on this important effort.

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England is working with The Alliance For a Clean and Healthy Vermont on a bill to keep Deca, a toxic flame retardant, out of mattresses, electronics and upholstered furniture. The bill passed the Vermont Senate and is now being considered in the House.  

Help by calling your representative to urge them to support the Deca ban bill.

Deca, Penta & Octa are PBDE type chemicals currently used as flame retardants in furniture and electronics.  They are known reproductive and developmental toxicants and make their way from products  into the environment and into our bodies.  PBDE levels in breast milk, blood and tissues have increased by a factor of 100 in the past 30 years, doubling about every five years. This is alarming--studies link PBDEs to reproductive and developmental problems, including delayed puberty. Fire fighting does not have to have toxic consequences: safer alternative flame retardants exist. 

Please call your representatives to ask them to support the Deca ban bill.  Not sure who to call or what to say? More info after the jump.

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