Chemicals and Products of Concern
Posted on Oct 31, 2007
The chemicals are listed in alphabetical order. Some of these resources lead to other web sites and will open in a new window.
2,4-D:
Arsenic:
- Stop Playing With Poison Get Arsenic-Treated Wood Out of our Yards and Playgrounds (2001)
- Protect Our Children: Buy Safer Alternatives to Arsenic-Treated Wood (2001)
Toxic Chemical in School Supplies
Posted on Aug 3, 2009 As September approaches, parents are preparing their children for school, yet most parents are unaware of the toxic plastic, PVC or vinyl, in their child’s backpack, lunchbox, binders, art supplies, and the list does not stop there. The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) released a new Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies today. This new guide gives parents recommendations for safer, PVC-free school supplies in over 20 product categories.
“This guide gives parents and teachers the guidance they need in a format that is easy to use and understand,” said Ellie Goldberg, Newton, Vice President of Legislation for the Massachusetts Parent Teacher Association (PTA).
Read more...
Bad Grades Given to Food Companies
Posted on Apr 21, 2009
Fourteen of the largest public packaged food companies still use Bisphenol A (BPA) in their packaging despite studies linking BPA to developmental problems, cancer, heart disease and diabetes, according to a scorecard (PDF) released on April 21st, 2009 by shareholder groups.
Seven companies got a grade of “F”, including Campbell, Coca-Cola, Kraft, Hershey and Del Monte because they are not taking any action to protect consumers from BPA in their can linings or other packaging.
In fact, no food or beverage company got better than a “C”.
Read more...Alternatives to BPA
Posted on Jan 13, 2009
Are Safer Alternatives Available?
Glass and food grade stainless steel are the only known SAFE alternatives available at this time. We recommend avoiding plastics with the "7" recycling symbol or PC on the bottom of the container.
Many companies have already responded to consumer demand by replacing BPA in their polycarbonate plastics with an alternate plastic.
It is important to note that many new plastics have not been tested for safety - another reason we need more regulation over consumer products.
Read more...BPA Animal Studies
Posted on Jan 12, 2009
Hundreds of rodent studies performed in government-funded, independent laboratories have found that exposure to BPA causes damage to our body systems that can cause serious health problems. In scientific studies, BPA-exposed animals have altered development of the male and female reproductive tracts, mammary tissues, the immune system, the fat tissue, and the thyroid.
These animals are also at heightened risk of mammary and prostate cancers. Finally, BPA-exposed animals have altered brain development, increased aggression in adulthood, abnormal play and sexual behaviors, and decreased maternal behaviors (Richter et al, 2007).
Read more...BPA: The Bottle Toxin
Posted on Jan 9, 2009
Why all the recent press on BPA (Bisphenol A)?
#1. Health Canada has announced that BPA is a dangerous substance.
#2. The U.S. National Toxicology Program has stated in their report on BPA that there is "some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposure."
Where do you find BPA?
BPA is found in polycarbonate plastic, which is widely used for a number of consumer products.
Read more...Young Children in U.S. Polluted with Flame Retardants
Posted on Sep 4, 2008
In the first nationwide investigation of chemical fire retardants (PBDEs) in parents and their children, researchers found that toddlers and pre-schoolers typically had 3 times more of the neurotoxic compounds in their blood as their mothers.
The study suggests that U.S. children 1 to 4 years of age bear the heaviest burden of flame retardant pollution in the industrialized world.
Laboratory tests – conducted in collaboration with Dr. Åke Bergman, a preeminent environmental chemist – found that in 19 of 20 U.S. families, concentrations of the toxic chemicals known as PBDEs were significantly higher in 1- to 4-year-old children than in their mothers.
Read more...Milk contaminated with rGBH
Posted on Jun 23, 2008
An open letter from Judy Norsigian (Our Bodies Ourselves); Deborah Shields (Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition); Rita Arditti and Margo Simon Golden (Women's Community Cancer Project); Amy Agigian (Center for Women's Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University); and Ellie Goldberg (Healthy Kids: The Key to Basics) April, 2008
Dear Friends and Colleagues.
As health and food safety advocates, we are concerned about the use of rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) in dairy products in Massachusetts.
Read more...Lead and Mercury
Posted on Mar 26, 2008
Late Lessons from Early Warnings
Ignoring early warning signs can result in serious illness. The tragic histories of lead and mercury, for example, demonstrate the harm caused when government and industry do not take action to protect public health.
The dangers of lead poisoning to workers and children were recognized in the 19th century. By the 1930s, most medical and scientific experts agreed that lead was harmful to both child and adult health. Despite this broad scientific consensus, manufacturers added lead to paint, and later to gasoline, blocking attempts by public health officials to stop them.
Read more...Thalidomide
Posted on Mar 25, 2008
Acting On Early Warnings. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) usually takes a precautionary approach to approving new medicines that includes testing for health impacts and efficacy before marketing. For example, from 1957 to 1961, the drug thalidomide was marketed in many other countries as a sleeping pill and as a treatment for morning sickness in pregnant women.
When taken by pregnant women, thalidomide turned out to cause devastating birth defects, including phocomelia, a deformity in which a baby is born without arms or legs. The drug is estimated to have produced deformities in over 10,000 children in 46 countries before it was taken off the market.
Read more...New Product Tests Find Lead in Lipstick
Posted on Oct 11, 2007
The phrase “beauty is pain” has now become “beauty is poison,” according to a report released today by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. The study found that 61 percent of the brand-name red lipsticks tested contained detectable levels of lead, a proven neurotoxin that can cause a variety of learning, language, development and behavioral problems.
Again demonstrating an alarming deficiency when it comes to regulating toxic chemicals, the Food and Drug Administration has not taken any action to protect consumers from lead in lipstick. As lipstick products are directly ingested into the body, the standard set for the amount of lead permissible in candy is comparable; one third of the lipsticks tested exceeded this limit.
Read more...Cancer-causing 1,4-Dioxane Found in Children’s Bath Products
Posted on Feb 8, 2007
Women’s Shampoos and Body Wash also Contaminated
A hidden cancer-causing petrochemical has been found in dozens of children’s bath products and adults’ personal care products, in some cases at levels that are more than twice the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s lenient recommended maximum.
Laboratory tests released today by the National Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow revealed the presence of 1,4-Dioxane in products such as Hello Kitty Bubble Bath, Huggies Baby Wash, Johnson’s Baby Wash, Scooby-Doo Bubble Bath and Sesame Street Bubble Bath.
Read more...