Photos from the Road - CHEJ's PVC-Free Schools Tour
CHEJ is back from our 10-day New York State PVC-free schools speaking tour! Check out this wonderful slideshow of photos from the tour below, and also be sure to check out some of the videos we shot.
EPA Promises to Protect OH Schoolchildren from Manganese Exposure
Last year, CHEJ worked with USA Today to expose high levels of school air pollution endangering students across the country. The EPA has followed up with air testing at 62 schools across the country; and in October found alarmingly high levels of manganese outside an elementary school in OH. On Thursday, the EPA promised to take measures to reduce levels of this toxic chemical near the school. Read full coverage of this story from USA Today.
New PVC-Free Schools Campaign Fact-Sheets
CHEJ is kicking off a brand new PVC-free schools campaign to encourage schools to ditch the poison plastic in favor of safer alternatives. We need your help to make it a success! We’ve created a series of new PVC-free schools fact-sheets to help educate parents, students and decision-makers on the dangers of PVC plastic.
Click here to download the new fact-sheets!
Without Safe School Siting Laws, Schoolchildren Are Last Priority for Environmental Regulators
The ground under two Manhattan schools is contaminated with gasoline leaving children at risk for vapor intrusion. But what is shocking is that the Department of Environmental Conservation has known about the pollution for a decade, but not about the schools built on top. Read the full story here and Take Action!
Take Action on Safe School Siting Today!
Send a letter to your governor demanding strong and comprehensive safe school siting policies. Today few state and no federals ban the building of schools on or near sources of pollution. This dangerous trend is putting our children and school staff into harms way. Please take action today!
CHEJ releases the Safe School Siting Toolkit
Just Released! Safe School Siting Toolkit. CHEJ created the Safe School Siting Toolkit to provide communities with the tools to protect their children’s health by organizing for the passage of safe school siting policies.
Click here for the toolkit.
CHEJ Releases PVC-Free Back-to-School Guide
Need help keeping poison plastics off of your back to school shopping list? The Center for Health, Environment & Justice has created this Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies to empower you to make smarter, healthier shopping choices for a toxic-free future. To find out about the most common back-to-school supplies made out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl) plastics and learn about safer PVC-free alternatives, download the guide here.
We also created a handy wallet-sized version of the guide for your shopping needs on the go click here.
Support Green Cleaning in California Schools
In California - where 1 of every 8 American students is educated - The Clean and Healthy Schools Act (AB821) was introduced by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D, Santa Monica) in February 2009 to require schools to use green cleaners. Following similar laws adopted in New York and Illinois, California has the opportunity reduce exposures to toxic chemicals among students, teachers and staff. Take Action today to support this important legislation.
Race to the Green Cleaning Finish:
Activists Demonstrate Outside Disney World Annual Shareholder Meeting
Activists demonstrate outside the Walt Disney World Company’s annual shareholder meeting to encourage the theme-park giant to implement a written, comprehensive, and transparent green cleaning policy at all Disney World parks and resorts. Read the full article here
Disney World releases first Corporate Responsibilty Report
Read our recommendations and find out why they still have room for improvement. Click Here!
Share Your Concern and Your Photo With Disney World
CHEJ is going to Oakland, CA on March 10, 2009 and we want you to come with us! On March 10, 2009 Disney World will hold its annual shareholder meeting in downtown Oakland, CA. Even if you are not going to be in there area, you can still tag along. Just download our fun speech bubbles, snap your photo alongside them and email your photo to us. We’ll bring you along to share you concern with Disney World’s lack of a written, comprehensive, and transparent green cleaning policy. So . . . get started taking those photos!
Florida Communities Launch the FACE Justice Tour
The Florida Action for a Clean Environment (FACE) and Justice Tour will begin on March 30 with Lois Gibbs speaking in the community of Wingate. This tour will travel from Miami to Tallahassee throughout 2009 highlighting impacted communities as they fight for a healthier and more just Florida. Find out more
Congress sends Bush bill banning lead in toys
By JIM ABRAMS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday passed and sent to the White House legislation that bans lead from children's toys and seeks to ensure that chemicals posing possible health problems will not end up on toys and articles that kids chew on and play with.
The Senate, stymied by partisan differences over the energy crisis, put aside those differences momentarily to vote 89-3 for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The House passed the bill Wednesday by 424-1, a reflection of the national outcry over a rash of recalls last years of toys and children's products contaminated by lead and other dangerous elements.
"We are going to make a big, big difference in the American marketplace," said Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., a sponsor of the bill.
The administration has objected to parts of the bill, but White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Thursday that President Bush would sign it. "We are ensuring that the products that come into America are safe for consumers and that the regulating agencies have what they need to do their job," she said.
The bill would impose the toughest lead standards in the world, banning lead beyond minute levels in products for children 12 or younger. Lead paint was a major factor in the recall of 45 million toys and children's items last year, including Cookie Monster toys and Tommy the Tank Engines. Many came from China.
It also bans, either permanently or pending further study, children's goods containing six types of a chemical called phthalates that are widely used to make plastic products softer and more flexible. The chemical industry insisted that phthalates have been used for decades and there is no evidence they pose health risks to humans.
But consumer advocacy groups pointed out that the European Union has banned the six phthalates and that tests on rats have revealed possible reproductive problems and cancer. "Toxic chemicals like lead and phthalates have no business in our children's toys," said U.S. PIRG Public Health Advocate Elizabeth Hitchcock.
Some major retailers, including Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us, have already taken steps to phase out phthalates.
The legislation bolsters the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a 400-staffer agency that took the brunt of criticism last year over the massive recalls and the failure of the government to better test and monitor toy imports before they reach store shelves.
The bill would double the agency's budget, to $136 million by 2014, and give it new authority to oversee testing procedures and impose civil penalties on violators.
Another key provision requires pre-market testing by certified third-party laboratories of children's products for lead and for compliance with safety standards.
American Academy of Pediatrics President Renee R. Jenkins lauded the "extraordinary effort" of Congress. "Safety testing and certification for such hazards as powerful magnets before products are sold, a ban on lead and phthalates and more, will helpfully put an end to the recalls of children's products and the horror stories that lead to those recalls."
The bill also:
_Provides whistle-blower protections to employees who report consumer product hazards. The provision was championed by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
_Requires the CPSC to set up a user-friendly database where consumers, government agencies, child care providers or doctors could report incidents of injury, illness, death or risk related to products.
_Makes more products now covered by voluntary industry standards subject to mandatory standards. With that, more toy hazards, including goods containing small magnets that were included in products recalled last year, would be subject to third-party testing requirements.
_Bans three-wheel all-terrain vehicles and strengthens regulation of other ATVs.
The three senators opposing the bill were Republicans Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Jon Kyl of Arizona. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was the lone House member voting against the measure.
The bill is H.R. 4040
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