Toxic flame retardants: In our homes, our dust, our lives
Updated October 13, 2011 Toxic flame retardants are one of the most common sources of toxicity in our homes and our lives. They are used on everything from computer casings, to furniture, to carpeting, to children's products. "The problem is,...Read More...
Industry Opposition to Toxics: How the chemical industry undermines state efforts.
In 2010, dozens of laws were passed in statehouses and localities to protect children, families and workers from toxic chemicals. The laws ranged the gamut from bisphenol-A (BPA) restrictions, to laws promoting green chemicals in state buildings, to comprehensive laws...Read More...
Effective federal chemical policy reform? Partner with the states!
This blog was originally published by the Environmental Health Strategy Center. By Mike Belliveau, Executive Director for the Environmental Health Strategy Center. I was pleased to see yet another display of bipartisan state leadership aimed at preventing disease, disability and...Read More...
Maine moving toward a BPA ban, but needs your help!
The state of Maine is looking to ban bisphenol-A (BPA) as the first "priority chemical" in their Kids-Safe Product Act (a law that was passed in 2008). BPA bans are already in place in Vermont, Maryland, Minnesota, Connecticut, Wisconsin and...Read More...
Maine looking to ban BPA in childrens' products
In 2008, Maine passed the "Kids-Safe Products Act," one of the strongest toxic chemical laws in the nation. It requires that the state adopt a list of priority chemicals which are harmful to children and that they be phased out...Read More...
Safer States: News Round-Up
There has been a lot of toxics news coming from the states lately. The Safer States organizations have been doing an amazing job of protecting their state's citizens through legislation restricting toxic chemicals. Moreover, elected officials have been hearing the...Read More...
The States react to the President's Cancer Panel
Earlier this month the President's Cancer Panel, a panel of doctors who serve as a medical advisory committee to the President, released a report recommending that Americans take action in order to reduce cancer risk in their lives. The recommendations...Read More...
Cancer and the Environment: The President's Cancer Panel
Last week, the President's Cancer Panel -- a panel of doctors originally appointed by President Bush -- released a damning report underlining the acute need for stronger toxics laws. The report, which was submitted to President Obama before it was...Read More...
Safety of cosmetic products: Who is protecting us?
Our partner organization in Maine -- The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine -- has released a report which analyzed the safety of chemicals that are found in twelve cosmetic and personal care products. The report outlines specific findings...Read More...
Flame Retardant Report on NPR
This month, The Environment Report ran a series of stories about flame retardants which were broadcast on NPR affiliates throughout the country. The stories clearly summarized the threat that flame retardants—-also known as PBDEs—-play in our everyday lives. PBDEs accumulate...Read More...
Chemical Reform in Maine
As we begin the new year, Safer States organizations in Maine are hard at work trying to keep the most toxic chemicals away from children, babies, and vulnerable populations. Gail Carlson, board member of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, wrote...Read More...
Deca phase-out throughout the United States
We at SAFER states are thrilled with two major developments on the phase out of toxic flame retardants. As a result of action in the SAFER states over the last several years and often mentioned here, the EPA has negotiated...Read More...
13 states dictate principles for toxics reform
Officials from thirteen states joined forces today to dictate a set of eight guiding principles to be used for reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA -- a law from 1976 which provides the EPA with the authority...Read More...
Maine identifies toxic chemicals
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention last week released a list of chemicals of "high concern" for their effects on human health, including phthalates and bisphenol A. Release of the list,...Read More...
Maine moms send message in a bottle
Maine moms are pumping up efforts to push legislators and local businesses toward removing products containing bisphenol A (BPA) from stores. Activists gathered in Portland's Monument Square June 4 to demand stepped-up efforts at protecting consumers from harmful chemicals. Michael...Read More...
A toxic-free mother's day in Maine
On Friday, May 8, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree got an early Mother’s Day gift from her daughter Hannah Pingree on behalf of all the children of Maine. Hannah Pingree is Maine’s Speaker of the House and the sponsor of last year’s...Read More...
Maine: Doctors say law protecting kids is a model
An op-ed in Maine’s Kennebec Journal makes a strong case that the state’s proposed solution to the broken chemical regulation system can be a national model to addressing the health threat toxic chemicals are posing to the entire country. The...Read More...
Congress to consider toxic chemical reform
On the heels of a new report by Congress’s watchdog identifying chemical policy as a “High Risk Area” in need of reform, Congressman Bobby Rush will kick-off the debate on Thursday over whether and how to reform the 33-year-old law...Read More...
Maine: Diseases caused by toxic chemicals are costing state
Safer chemicals save money and lives. It’s no secret that exposure to toxic chemicals can lead to expensive chronic disease and disability. It’s a burden shared by every family, every worker, and every business in Maine. Now we know that...Read More...
Maine video explores how to protect your family from dangerous chemicals
Tired of trying to protect your family from dangerous chemicals on your own? Help may be on the way! Watch this fun flash movie about the need for safer products free of dangerous chemicals, and what YOU can do to...Read More...
Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine
The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine is a diverse coalition of Maine-based organizations engaged in a public health campaign to phase out the long-lived toxic chemicals that build up in the food web and our bodies. Through a...Read More...
Environmental Health Strategy Center
The Environmental Health Strategy Center works to protect human health by reducing exposure to toxic chemicals, expanding the use of safer alternatives, and building partnerships that focus on the environment as a public health priority. We believe that everyone has...Read More...
Maine: State law provides model for protecting children's health
In the first nationwide investigation of chemical fire retardants in parents and their children, Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that toddlers and pre-schoolers typically had three times more of the neurotoxic compounds in their blood as their mothers. Maine has...Read More...
Safer Products, Healthier Kids
Much of the press coverage of toxic chemicals in the past year has been focused on the impact on children. Kids are incredibly sensitive to chemical exposure, and yet, are exposed to a host of chemicals through everyday objects like...Read More...
States consider ban of toxic flame retardant chemicals
A story on CBS News highlighted the dangers of chemicals used to prevent household goods from catching fire. New studies are showing that chemicals in flame retardants are being stored in our bodies and that the chemicals can cause brain...Read More...
