Hundreds Push for Safer Alternatives
On Thursday (May 10th), in honor of Mother's Day, hundreds of concerned residents from across Massachusetts descended upon the State House to lobby their state legislators about the need to replace toxic chemicals with safer alternatives.
Scientists are increasingly finding links between chemicals often found in common household products like cleaners, cosmetics and plastic with a variety of diseases and disorders including cancer, asthma and learning disabilities. Among the attendees of the lobby day were parents, ministers, teachers, workers, students, health advocates, doctors and many others.
The lobby day was organized by the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow (AHT), a statewide coalition of over 160 organizations working to prevent harm to our health posed by dangerous chemicals. AHT supports statewide legislation that would require manufacturers to use safer alternatives to toxic chemicals whenever they are available. The bill will have a hearing before the Joint Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Agriculture on June 11th.
As part of the lobby day, attendees delivered to their legislators and to Governor Patrick thousands of Mother's Day cards signed by constituents. The cards read, "Mothers of Massachusetts want to pass our values onto our children...not unnecessary toxic chemicals," and urged legislators to support the Safer Alternatives Bill. Activists delivered over 25,000 cards to state Representatives, Senators and Governor Patrick, who received approximately 8,000.
"We are here to send a strong message to our elected officials that we should not be relying on dangerous chemicals anymore," said Tracy Carlson, spokesperson for Clean Water Action and organizer of the event. "There are safer alternatives available for most of the hazardous chemicals we use and it is time to make a change," Carlson said.
