Environment
New Video Reveals Toxic Chemical Exposure
By news release
Apr 17, 2008 - 10:41:43 AM

Contact: Margie Kelly 541 344-2282 margiek@efn.org, Stephenie Hendricks 415 258-9151 stephdh@earthlink.net

April 15, 2008
 
New Video Reveals Toxic Chemical Exposure
Local groups working nationwide to combat chemical risks
 
Just in time for Earth Day, a new 16 minute video called “Contaminated Without Consent” has been released to help inform the public about the risks of toxic chemical exposures in our every day lives. Science and public health based community groups across the country are using the new video as a tool to raise awareness that our consumer choices can also be choices about our family’s health.
 
 “It is so important for parents especially to know that toxic chemicals in the everyday products in their homes like kids’ toys, clothing, and even furniture can impact their family’s health, ” said Cindy Luppi, Program Director for Clean Water Action, a member of the Chemical Safety Working Group that came together to make this video.  The video shows how toxic chemicals are present at much higher rates in children’s bodies than adults. Luppi adds, “With so much new science coming to light about the role safer alternatives can play in protecting our health, we hope our officials act now to update and modernize our laws. ” Luppi, one of several people who helped produce the video, will be hosting community meetings where the video will be shown to help raise awareness about state legislation that would replace toxic chemicals with safer alternatives that is currently before the Massachusetts House of Representatives, having passed the Senate earlier this session. Hundreds of other meetings will be taking place nationwide with local groups working on chemical exposure issues in their communities.
 
Due to the failure of the EPA to come up with regulation that protects us, several states, including Washington, Maine, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, and New York, have been creating their own state regulations to ban chemicals such a phthalates and bisphenol A from children’s products. “It’s sad commentary on our federal government, but encouraging that so many legislators on a state level are coming together to enact public health protections here in Washington, “ says Laurie Valeriano of the Washington Toxics Coalition, which helped bring people together to support a new bill banning phthalates in children’s toys in that state.
 
“I was shocked by the amount of harmful chemicals in my son’s blood,” says Michele Hammond, whose Bay Area family was tested for chemicals. “My infant son had higher levels than anyone else in the family. It is frightening that our regulatory authorities have failed to protect us from chemicals linked to illness.”
 
Cynthia Loesch, a 22 year old Community Organizer from Boston, Massachusetts, was surprised at the chemicals found in her home in a dust study. “I wish we could trust the government and industry to make sure our products are safe, but we can’t, and so we as consumers have to watch out and protect ourselves from chemicals in everyday products like cosmetics and household cleaners.”
  
“We are all contaminated without our consent by the production and use of everyday consumer products,” said Sandra Steingraber, a biologist, author, and cancer survivor, who appears in the video to provide her expert opinion on the hidden risks from chemical contaminants found in our homes, workplaces, products we buy and even our bodies. Other leading experts in the video include Mt. Sinai hospital pediatrician Phil Landrigan, and Dr. John Warner, director of the Center for Green Chemistry at University of Massachusetts Lowell, are among the experts in the video. Viewers will also meet a young teenager concerned about toxics and a mother who was stunned to learn about the chemicals in her toddler son’s body.
 
To download a free copy of the video, with ideas for sharing with communities, go to www.contaminatedwithoutconsent .org

Available for Interviews
 
Cindy Luppi, Clean Water Action, Boston, MA 617/640-2779 cluppi@cleanwater.org

Sandra Steingraber, biologist author, and cancer survivor, an internationally recognized expert on the environmental links to cancer and reproductive health. Ithaca, NY Please contact Margie Kelly to schedule an interview with Sandra. Margie Kelly 541 344-2282 margiek@efn.org

Michele Hammond, mother whose family was tested for chemicals. Berkeley, CA Please contact Stephenie Hendricks to schedule an interview with Michelle Hammond 415 258-9151 stephdh@earthlink.net

Cynthia Loesch, Boston Massachusetts. Please contact Stephenie Hendricks to schedule an interview with Cynthia 415 258-9151 stephdh@earthlink.net

Laurie Valeriano,  WA. Washington Toxics Coalition. Please contact Margie Kelly to schedule an interview with Sandra, 541 344-2282 margiek@efn.org