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

Our top focus this year is legislation to get toxic chemicals out of children's products. Maine has passed a Kids-Safe Products Act which requires manufacturer disclosure of chemicals and a move toward safer alternatives, and New York hopes to pass a similar law.

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 law that oversees what chemicals can legally be used by manufacturers -- and what chemicals we encounter in our everyday lives.

One family of chemicals under consideration is PBTs -- Persistent, Bioaccumulative Toxins. These chemicals include lead, mercury, the compound used to make Teflon and some flame retardants.

PBTs are uniquely dangerous because they pose a triple threat. They persist in the environment for long periods of time and can be transported long distances; they accumulate in living organisms and increase in concentration as they move up the food chain; and, they are highly toxic, often at very low levels of exposure.

We are deeply concerned about PBTs, and believe strongly that the phaseout of nonessential PBTs must be a critical piece of TSCA reform.

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 to the concern list -- phthalates are used in flexible plastics like soft toys for children, household products and medical equipment. The EPA targeted these chemicals because they raise “serious health or environmental concerns.”

Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced the news stating,

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 an agreement with three large manufacturers who have agreed to phase out decaBDE (deca) in the United States.

Additionally, Representative Chellie Pingree (D - ME) introduced a bill into Congress to ban deca to ensure the phase out takes place and that safe alternatives are used for flame retardants.

Deca is a flame retardant that is used in insulation, electronics and home furnishings and there is concern about its health effects in wildlife and humans. 

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 something wrong when lead winds up in toys, baby bottles are made from toxic plastic, and harmful flame retardants get into breast milk.

And that day finally came in September when the head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, admitted that there are serious problems with the federal toxics law that prevents her agency from being able to protect kids and their families from harmful chemicals in consumer products. Jackson said the Obama Administration supported changing the law governing toxic chemicals.

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 States: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Main, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, New York and Washington.

Health care professionals are exposed to different, and more, chemicals due to their work environment, and the study confirmed this:

• Eighteen of the same chemicals were detected in every single participant,
• All twenty participants had at least five of the six major types of chemicals tested,

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 dots that chemicals that mess with the delicate hormonal balance in the human body are indeed to blame for exploding rates of obesity, particularly in children and even babies.

Making the connection between the increased use of these chemicals and obesity is difficult since there are so many factors that contribute to obesity, including individuals’ diet and exercise. But one control group may be babies.

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, prostate and ovary, and the hormones they make that regulate our bodies’ functions and allow us to reproduce. The Endocrine Society is “the world’s oldest, largest and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology.”

So why is this organization that published clinical guidelines with titles like, Case Detection, Diagnosis and Treatment of Patients with Primary Aldosteronism concerning itself with toxic chemicals?

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 such as infertility, pre-term births and birth defects have risen in that time period.   

Phthalates, bisphenol A, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers were called out as specific dangers to reproductive health: "Other chemicals also threaten reproductive health, but these three are among the most prevalent in the daily lives of all Americans and are just starting to receive serious attention from the U.S. Congress and federal regulators."

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 out of July 7 committee hearings.

 “The chemical industry put on a full court press and Assembly Health Committee members got an earful from industry lobbyists," said Gretchen Lee Salter of the Breast Cancer Fund. "Ultimately, legislators saw that the science against BPA is just too strong, and that kids had to come before high-priced lobbyists."