28 states to consider toxic chemicals legislation in 2012
By Sarah Doll, National Director for Safer States. With no action yet from Congress, state legislatures continue to work to protect citizens. The past couple years have seen unprecedented changes in the toxic chemicals landscape across the United States. In...Read More...
Report round-up: Toxic chemicals in hidden places
Recent reports show that toxic chemicals are found in every corner of our lives. They are being found in everything from foam in children's products to household cleaners and canned foods. This month, we rounded up some of the most...Read More...
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...
States join together to get rid of the worst-of-the-worst chemicals
Persistent, bioaccumulative toxics, commonly known as PBTs, are a group of toxic chemicals that are joined together by some common features. Common PBTs in our lives include mercury, DDT, cadmium, lead, and several groups of chemicals including PCBs, toxic flame...Read More...
30 states working together to change a nation
In January, legislators and environmental health advocates in thirty states and Washington, DC announced that they will be introducing bills during their states' 2011 legislative sessions that will protect children and families from harmful toxic chemicals. The proposed policies run...Read More...
30 States to announce toxic chemicals legislation January 19
In response to continued public concern over the presence of dangerous chemicals in common household products, coupled with Congressional inaction on the matter, on Wednesday, January 19, legislators and advocates in thirty states across the country and the District of...Read More...
Safe toy buying tips for the season
The holiday season upon us, and it's time to buy presents for families and friends. While we do that, we should take a few extra steps to be sure that the toys that we're giving to our children are as...Read More...
145 scientists speak out against flame retardants
For the first time ever, 145 scientists have joined together to publish a consensus statement about the harm of flame retardants. The scientists published a 20-point statement which declares that they are concerned about the presence of flame retardants in...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...
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...
Focus on New York State
Guest post by Bobbi Chase Wilding, organizing director of Clean New York. The New York State legislative session opened in January, and our coalition members are working hard to make sure that environmental health is a top priority. Child-Safe Products...Read More...
Action alert: Ask congress to ban PBTs
We've been talking about TSCA a lot around here -- it's the reform of Toxic Substances Control Act that will soon begin wending its way through the congressional process in Washington DC. It's important because it will update a 1976...Read More...
EPA Establishes a Chemicals of Concern List
Late last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an intention to create a "Chemicals of Concern" list which would give priority to some chemicals which are of particular danger to Americans. Immediately, phthalates and PBDE chemicals are being added...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...
EPA needs to look to states for reform
by Laurie Valeriano, Policy Director for the Washington Toxics Coalition. It was a moment I had been waiting for, for over a decade as an environmental health advocate -- the day that the federal government would finally acknowledge there is...Read More...
PSR report: Toxic chemicals in health care workers
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) released an important study last week. They studied the toxic chemicals found in 20 health professionals for a first-ever look into chemicals in their bodies. The sample study tested major chemical types in ten Safer...Read More...
Are household products making kids fat?
A fascinating article at Grist.com takes at look at how endocrine-disrupting chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA), flame retardants (PBDEs), PVC and phthalates are correlated to the obesity epidemic. Can chemicals make us fat? Many scientists are starting to connect the...Read More...
Experts signal seriousness of hormone disruptors
You know something must be going on when a medical specialty organization for endocrinology publishes a scientific paper on chemicals in plastics and pesticides and personal care products. Endocrinology is the study of the endocrine glands, like the thyroid, pituitary,...Read More...
Rise in chemicals leads to 'reproductive roulette'
Reproductive health has declined as the number of chemicals families are exposed to rises, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress. Chemical production in the United States has increased 30 percent since 1979. Problems with reproduction...Read More...
California bills roll on
Two key pieces of legislation in California's fight against flame retardants and bisphenol A moved forward yesterday. The state's proposed BPA ban (Senate Bill 779) and legislation that would help remove flame retardants from children's products (Senate Bill 772) passed...Read More...
Doctor explores link between toxic chemicals and autism
One of America’s leading pediatricians is asking whether hormone-disrupting chemicals like bisphenol A, phthalates and flame retardants are to blame for the rising tide of autism. Harvey Karp, M.D., best-selling author of The Happiest Baby on the Block and an...Read More...
The Story of Stuff
The Story of Stuff is an educational 20 minute viral video experience that has been seen many millions of times by people around the world. The video, which lays out the effects on the world from human consumption, “has become...Read More...
Vermont passes flame retardant ban
The Vermont legislature passed a ban on toxic flame retardants Friday, just before the legislature adjourned for the year. The bill bans brominated flame retardants including a controversial and dangerous subclass called PBDEs. Although there was a powerful chemical industry...Read More...
Flame retardants damage wildlife, just like DDT
One recent report about the effects of flame retardants prompted a flashback to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and stories from over 40 years ago about the damage from DDT to peregrine falcons and bald eagles. DDT, the notorious insecticide, weakened...Read More...
Toxic flame retardants - and their defenders - in the news
Two new studies released this week raise concerns about the widespread contamination of the environment and human health from brominated flame retardants. Flame retardants are found in every day items from sofas to televisions and computers to mattresses. Yet the...Read More...
Handwashing prevents exposure to flame retardants
Children who wash their hands before eating can greatly reduce their exposure to toxic flame retardant chemicals, according to a new study published by Environmental Health News. The study found that a major source of flame retardant exposure for kids...Read More...
Online videos offer latest science on toxic chemicals
If you want to get up to speed on the latest science about the link between toxic chemicals and human health, two short videos available online provide excellent tutorials on the issues. The first is an 8-minute interview with John...Read More...
Connecticut: Public sends legislators a message in a bottle
Advocates and public officials gathered at Connecticut’s Legislative Office Building Jan. 27 to send legislators a message in a bottle: toxic bisphenol A does not belong in food and beverage containers, and Connecticut needs to lead the way toward safer...Read More...
Washington bans toxic flame retardants
Washington state is taking the lead in protecting residents from exposure to toxic flame retardants, enacting a ban on a class of flame retardants that have been found harmful to human health. A new scientific study shows that the chemicals...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...
Californian asks: Did the state kill my cat?
In an Op-Ed piece in the LA Times, executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute Arlene Blum asks whether the state of California could be responsible for her cat’s death. Blum’s cat died after two years of suffering with...Read More...
California legislator asks Gov to ban fire retardants by executive order
San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno (D) has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to ban the use of a controversial group of fire retardant chemicals in furniture, according to a story in Capitol Weekly. This request follows a scientific study released last...Read More...
Californians have twice national average of flame retardants in their blood
A new study has found that Californians are exposed to much higher level of toxic fire retardant chemicals than people living in the other 49 states and beyond. The study, which was published by Environmental Science & Technology and conducted...Read More...
Substitute It Now: Environmental group releases list of 300 toxic chemicals
A Swedish-based environmental group, ChemSec, has created a list of more than 300 chemicals of very high concern present in consumer products that may cause cancer or persist in the environment for a long period of time. ChemSec released the...Read More...
Michigan: Lend your support to bill banning toxic chemical
Fighting fires shouldn't have toxic consequences. Unfortunately, some of the flame-retardants added to products from furniture to TVs to mattresses may do just that. One of the worst and most common of these chemicals is deca-BDE, which is similar to...Read More...
About Flame Retardants (PBDEs)
last updated: March 19, 2010 "They're in your car. They’re in your couch, your office chair, your TV, your drapes, the padding beneath your carpet, your hair dryer, your cell phone. The problem is, they don’t stay put. They leach...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...
Young children in U.S. among world’s most polluted with fire retardants
Environmental Working Group (EWG), a national non-profit organization, released a shocking investigative report that found the levels of toxic flame retardants in U.S. children 1 to 4 years of age bear the heaviest burden of flame retardant pollution in the...Read More...
Michigan: State report supports ban on flame retardants
A new report out from Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality supports a ban on a family of flame retardant chemicals that were designed to protect families from fire. Research has shown that the chemicals leach out of household products like...Read More...
Toxics in People
What would it feel like to learn you are contaminated with toxic chemicals that permanently damage laboratory animals? What would it feel like to learn those chemicals come from the shampoo, soda cans, baby bottles and thousands of other products...Read More...
"Is It in Us?"
A story in Newsweek recently highlighted the work of the SAFER coalition. The story featured the results of SAFER's study of toxic chemicals in our bodies called "Is It in Us?" All 35 people who were studied had three classes...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...
