MASSACHUSETTS PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP
Sun, Apr 1 2007 01:58
| Toxicology
| Permalink
More than one third of the U.S. population suffers from chronic diseases including cancers, asthma, learning and developmental disabilities, birth defects, diabetes, ALS and Parkinson’s disease. Scientific evidence increasingly uncovers links between toxic chemicals and higher rates of these diseases and disorders. Children are especially vulnerable. Cases of asthma, cancer and learning disabilities are on the rise, especially in Massachusetts.
How you can help?
Urge your Legislator to support the Safer Cleaning Products bill to protect the health of cleaning workers and schoolchildren exposed to harmful toxins on a daily basis in public schools, daycare centers, hospitals and public housing. The health of citizens of the commonwealth must be a government priority.
Toxics are prevalent in our lives; they are in the products we use, the water we drink and the air we breathe. We have a right to live in a healthy environment, which sustains life and protects us from unnecessary harms. We must correct flaws in current practice and policy that allow toxic chemicals to pervade our environment causing serious harm to our health and environment. The protection of our health and the health of our environment must be the first priority of government policy and regulation.
To better protect our health, we are calling for:
1. No new chemicals 2. Suspending existing chemical use: 3. Adopting a preventative approach to toxic chemical exposure rather than a wait and see approach. 4. Promoting safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. 5. Informing the public about toxic chemical use and the availability of safer alternatives. 6. Requiring manufacturers of toxic products to be responsible for the collection and recycling of those products to ensure proper disposal and minimize risks.
The Safer Alternatives campaign focuses on substitution, highlighting what can be done to make our lives safer, instead of what cannot. The reduction and replacement of chemicals with known safer alternatives should occur alongside risk, needs and alternative assessments of chemicals currently without known alternatives. We are pushing four bills to solve our current toxics problem and issuing an executive order to put pressure on the administration –
1. SAFER Massachusetts
MASSPIRG, in conjunction with the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow has issued an Executive Order. This Executive Order:
• Mandates that state agency decision-making surrounding toxic chemicals analyze the potential impacts on consumers, employees and economy and that the most impacted constituencies have a seat at the table in leading these programs. • Calls for substitution policies to be implemented in the following areas: • Consumer products, such as cosmetics, pesticide products, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products, through DPH regulations • Industry through full implementation and enforcement of the TURA to reduce or eliminate the use of five high hazard chemicals - hexavalent chromium, formaldehyde, lead, trichloroethylene (TCE) and Perchloroethylene (Perc). • State agency purchasing standards for healthier cleaning products and pesticides • Adoption of integrated pest management to eliminate the use of pesticides by state agencies.
2. An Act for a Healthy Massachusetts Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals Representative Jay Kaufman and Senator Steven Tolman (HB1286 & SB553)
An Act for a Healthy Massachusetts: Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals This bill:
• Highlights ten priority toxic chemicals used in common goods and services, are potential contributors to the incidence of cancer, asthma, birth defects, reproductive disorders, or learning disabilities, and that have reasonable and safer alternatives that in some cases are already used by industry. • Requires Massachusetts industries to replace ten priority toxic chemicals with readily available, proven alternatives. • Establishes the first step of eliminating toxic chemicals by outlining a process through which chemicals can be evaluated and enforceable plans created to reduce or eliminate their use through substitution. Status: Was heard before the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on June 27, 2005 and is pending a vote by the committee.
3. An Act to Reduce Asthma by Using Safer Alternatives to Cleaning Products Representative Frank Smizik and Senator Diane Wilkerson (HB 5018)
An Act to Reduce Asthma by Using Safer Alternatives to Cleaning Products. This bill would: • Require that all cleaning products used in schools, day care centers, public buildings, and common areas of public housing must be included on the “Safer Cleaning Products” list established by DPH. • Establish a training program to train cleaning personnel in the use of healthy cleaning products. • Establish a fee on manufacturers of cleaning products to cover the costs of this program.
Status: Has gotten a favorable report from the Public Health Committee, was referred to the Health Care Financing Committee, got a favorable report from Health Care Financing and is now pending in House Ways and Means as of June 1, 2006.
4. An Act Relative to Mercury Reduction and Education Representative Doug Petersen and Senator Susan Tucker (HB4319)
An Act Relative to Mercury Reduction and Education. This bill would: • Replace certain high priority mercury-added products. These products account for about 67% of the mercury in products and all have safer available alternatives. • Prohibit the sale of certain mercury-containing products such as toys/novelties. • Prohibit the sale of mercury to schools. • Require manufacturers of mercury-added products to take responsibility for the collection and recycling of those products. • Require labeling of mercury-containing products.
Status: Victory! Signed into law by Governor Romney on Friday July 28, 2006.
5. An Act to Prevent Use of the Most Dangerous Pesticides Representative Jay Kaufman (HB1287)
An Act to Prevent Use of the Most Dangerous Pesticides This bill would: • Require DPH to compile a list of pesticides known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to development or reproduction. • Limit the use of these pesticides by the state, municipal government, schools, daycare centers, hospitals, health care facilities, public housing or grounds and by licensed pesticide applicators. • Require retailers of pesticides to post the health effects of the pesticides they sell. • Require the DAR to collect data on pesticide use to develop better information on pesticide use. • Create a hotline for question and violation reporting.
Status: Won passage from the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on December 12, 2005.
6. An Act to Promote Sustainable Agriculture and the Use of Integrated Pest Management Senator Pam Resor (SB 2309, formerly SB 778)
An Act to Promote Sustainable Agriculture and the Use of Integrated Pest Management This bill would: • Close a loophole in the Massachusetts tax code, which exempts pesticides from the state sales tax and devote the revenue to promoting integrated pest management.
Status: Won passage from the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on December 12, 2005.
Brief Summary Toxic chemicals are everywhere. They are in products we buy and use in our homes and in our yards; they contaminate our air, our water, our food and our bodies. The good news is that safer alternatives to many toxic chemicals already exist and that innovation to implement safer alternatives can make our workplaces and communities safer, can create savings in health care and special education costs, and strengthen the competitiveness of our economy all at the same time. As a result of widespread use, toxic chemicals end up in our bodies without our knowledge or consent and have grave effects on human health. Exposure to toxic chemicals has been linked to asthma; cancers and learning, developmental and behavioral disorders – all of which, are affecting citizens of the Commonwealth.
Asthma. In Massachusetts 12.3% of children have been diagnosed as asthmatic. About 9.5% of all adults in Massachusetts suffer from asthma, the highest percentage in New England and above the national average.
Learning, developmental and behavioral disorders. Approximately 17% of children in the US suffer from one or more learning, developmental or behavioral disorder. ADHD now affects about 3-5% of schoolchildren. The number of children in special education has increased by 191% between 1977 and 1994.
Mercury, a powerful neurotoxin, has been linked to the development of learning disabilities in children. When Mercury-containing products like car switches, thermostats and fluorescent bulbs are disposed of they emit mercury into the air, which later lands in our waters. It is now unsafe to eat many types of freshwater and ocean fish due to mercury contamination. Women of childbearing age and small children have been warned to avoid eating tuna steaks, shark, swordfish or any fish from Massachusetts ponds and rivers due to the risk of permanent harm to a developing fetus or young child. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 1 out of 10 women of childbearing age have mercury levels higher than the advised safe limit putting future children at risk of serious health issues.
Cancer. In Massachusetts, childhood cancer rates have increased. The overall rate of childhood cancer in Massachusetts is slightly higher than the national average—16.7 new cases versus 16.1 per 100,000 per year.
An expert panel convened by Mt. Sinai Hospital recently concluded that genetic predisposition accounts for no more than 20% of all childhood cancers and that the environmental attributable fraction of childhood cancer could be between 5% and 90%, depending on the type of cancer. This means that a potentially large percentage of childhood cancers is preventable. One study of pesticide exposures testifies to the detrimental effects of toxic chemicals on children’s health, specifically in relation to cancers. In this study, children with leukemia were 4 to 7 times as likely to have been exposed to pesticides used in the yard or garden compared to children without the disease. Another study found that children with leukemia were 11 times as likely to have mothers who were exposed to pesticide sprays or foggers during pregnancy compared to healthy children. A report released by the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production concluded that instituting measures to reduce parental and childhood exposures to these and other substances suspected of causing cancer, including development of safer substitutes, should play an important role in a cancer prevention strategy.
While there is more than ample evidence to suggest links between toxic chemicals and many disorders and diseases, there is inevitably a lot we don’t know. There are many unknowns surrounding uses of many toxic chemicals and the effect of a combination of chemicals at the same time.
We must protect our health, the health our children and our environment from toxic chemicals, especially those with safer alternatives. There is absolutely no reason for industry to continue using toxic chemicals if safer substitutes exist. Through the passage of the four “Safer Alternatives” bills, we will ensure that certain toxic chemicals with viable alternatives are removed from the market, disposed of and recycled properly and replaced with safer alternatives. For those without safer alternatives, we should establish a process to study alternatives for future substitutions. We must take this important step toward protecting public health and the environment in Massachusetts.
Resources:
Statement of Jen Baker, MASSPIRG Environmental Advocate, on the CAI, Inc. Chemical Explosion in Danvers 11/22/06 Unnecessary Harms: The Availability of Safer Alternatives to the “Toxic Ten” Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow SAFER Massachusetts Fact Sheet An Act for a Healthy Massachusetts Fact Sheet An Act to Reduce Asthma by Using Safer Alternatives to Cleaning Products Fact Sheet An Act Relative to Mercury Reduction and Education Fact Sheet Report: Unnecessary Harms: The Availability of Safer Alternatives to the “Toxic Ten”
How you can help?
Urge your Legislator to support the Safer Cleaning Products bill to protect the health of cleaning workers and schoolchildren exposed to harmful toxins on a daily basis in public schools, daycare centers, hospitals and public housing. The health of citizens of the commonwealth must be a government priority.
Toxics are prevalent in our lives; they are in the products we use, the water we drink and the air we breathe. We have a right to live in a healthy environment, which sustains life and protects us from unnecessary harms. We must correct flaws in current practice and policy that allow toxic chemicals to pervade our environment causing serious harm to our health and environment. The protection of our health and the health of our environment must be the first priority of government policy and regulation.
To better protect our health, we are calling for:
1. No new chemicals 2. Suspending existing chemical use: 3. Adopting a preventative approach to toxic chemical exposure rather than a wait and see approach. 4. Promoting safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. 5. Informing the public about toxic chemical use and the availability of safer alternatives. 6. Requiring manufacturers of toxic products to be responsible for the collection and recycling of those products to ensure proper disposal and minimize risks.
The Safer Alternatives campaign focuses on substitution, highlighting what can be done to make our lives safer, instead of what cannot. The reduction and replacement of chemicals with known safer alternatives should occur alongside risk, needs and alternative assessments of chemicals currently without known alternatives. We are pushing four bills to solve our current toxics problem and issuing an executive order to put pressure on the administration –
1. SAFER Massachusetts
MASSPIRG, in conjunction with the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow has issued an Executive Order. This Executive Order:
• Mandates that state agency decision-making surrounding toxic chemicals analyze the potential impacts on consumers, employees and economy and that the most impacted constituencies have a seat at the table in leading these programs. • Calls for substitution policies to be implemented in the following areas: • Consumer products, such as cosmetics, pesticide products, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products, through DPH regulations • Industry through full implementation and enforcement of the TURA to reduce or eliminate the use of five high hazard chemicals - hexavalent chromium, formaldehyde, lead, trichloroethylene (TCE) and Perchloroethylene (Perc). • State agency purchasing standards for healthier cleaning products and pesticides • Adoption of integrated pest management to eliminate the use of pesticides by state agencies.
2. An Act for a Healthy Massachusetts Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals Representative Jay Kaufman and Senator Steven Tolman (HB1286 & SB553)
An Act for a Healthy Massachusetts: Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals This bill:
• Highlights ten priority toxic chemicals used in common goods and services, are potential contributors to the incidence of cancer, asthma, birth defects, reproductive disorders, or learning disabilities, and that have reasonable and safer alternatives that in some cases are already used by industry. • Requires Massachusetts industries to replace ten priority toxic chemicals with readily available, proven alternatives. • Establishes the first step of eliminating toxic chemicals by outlining a process through which chemicals can be evaluated and enforceable plans created to reduce or eliminate their use through substitution. Status: Was heard before the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on June 27, 2005 and is pending a vote by the committee.
3. An Act to Reduce Asthma by Using Safer Alternatives to Cleaning Products Representative Frank Smizik and Senator Diane Wilkerson (HB 5018)
An Act to Reduce Asthma by Using Safer Alternatives to Cleaning Products. This bill would: • Require that all cleaning products used in schools, day care centers, public buildings, and common areas of public housing must be included on the “Safer Cleaning Products” list established by DPH. • Establish a training program to train cleaning personnel in the use of healthy cleaning products. • Establish a fee on manufacturers of cleaning products to cover the costs of this program.
Status: Has gotten a favorable report from the Public Health Committee, was referred to the Health Care Financing Committee, got a favorable report from Health Care Financing and is now pending in House Ways and Means as of June 1, 2006.
4. An Act Relative to Mercury Reduction and Education Representative Doug Petersen and Senator Susan Tucker (HB4319)
An Act Relative to Mercury Reduction and Education. This bill would: • Replace certain high priority mercury-added products. These products account for about 67% of the mercury in products and all have safer available alternatives. • Prohibit the sale of certain mercury-containing products such as toys/novelties. • Prohibit the sale of mercury to schools. • Require manufacturers of mercury-added products to take responsibility for the collection and recycling of those products. • Require labeling of mercury-containing products.
Status: Victory! Signed into law by Governor Romney on Friday July 28, 2006.
5. An Act to Prevent Use of the Most Dangerous Pesticides Representative Jay Kaufman (HB1287)
An Act to Prevent Use of the Most Dangerous Pesticides This bill would: • Require DPH to compile a list of pesticides known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to development or reproduction. • Limit the use of these pesticides by the state, municipal government, schools, daycare centers, hospitals, health care facilities, public housing or grounds and by licensed pesticide applicators. • Require retailers of pesticides to post the health effects of the pesticides they sell. • Require the DAR to collect data on pesticide use to develop better information on pesticide use. • Create a hotline for question and violation reporting.
Status: Won passage from the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on December 12, 2005.
6. An Act to Promote Sustainable Agriculture and the Use of Integrated Pest Management Senator Pam Resor (SB 2309, formerly SB 778)
An Act to Promote Sustainable Agriculture and the Use of Integrated Pest Management This bill would: • Close a loophole in the Massachusetts tax code, which exempts pesticides from the state sales tax and devote the revenue to promoting integrated pest management.
Status: Won passage from the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on December 12, 2005.
Brief Summary Toxic chemicals are everywhere. They are in products we buy and use in our homes and in our yards; they contaminate our air, our water, our food and our bodies. The good news is that safer alternatives to many toxic chemicals already exist and that innovation to implement safer alternatives can make our workplaces and communities safer, can create savings in health care and special education costs, and strengthen the competitiveness of our economy all at the same time. As a result of widespread use, toxic chemicals end up in our bodies without our knowledge or consent and have grave effects on human health. Exposure to toxic chemicals has been linked to asthma; cancers and learning, developmental and behavioral disorders – all of which, are affecting citizens of the Commonwealth.
Asthma. In Massachusetts 12.3% of children have been diagnosed as asthmatic. About 9.5% of all adults in Massachusetts suffer from asthma, the highest percentage in New England and above the national average.
Learning, developmental and behavioral disorders. Approximately 17% of children in the US suffer from one or more learning, developmental or behavioral disorder. ADHD now affects about 3-5% of schoolchildren. The number of children in special education has increased by 191% between 1977 and 1994.
Mercury, a powerful neurotoxin, has been linked to the development of learning disabilities in children. When Mercury-containing products like car switches, thermostats and fluorescent bulbs are disposed of they emit mercury into the air, which later lands in our waters. It is now unsafe to eat many types of freshwater and ocean fish due to mercury contamination. Women of childbearing age and small children have been warned to avoid eating tuna steaks, shark, swordfish or any fish from Massachusetts ponds and rivers due to the risk of permanent harm to a developing fetus or young child. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 1 out of 10 women of childbearing age have mercury levels higher than the advised safe limit putting future children at risk of serious health issues.
Cancer. In Massachusetts, childhood cancer rates have increased. The overall rate of childhood cancer in Massachusetts is slightly higher than the national average—16.7 new cases versus 16.1 per 100,000 per year.
An expert panel convened by Mt. Sinai Hospital recently concluded that genetic predisposition accounts for no more than 20% of all childhood cancers and that the environmental attributable fraction of childhood cancer could be between 5% and 90%, depending on the type of cancer. This means that a potentially large percentage of childhood cancers is preventable. One study of pesticide exposures testifies to the detrimental effects of toxic chemicals on children’s health, specifically in relation to cancers. In this study, children with leukemia were 4 to 7 times as likely to have been exposed to pesticides used in the yard or garden compared to children without the disease. Another study found that children with leukemia were 11 times as likely to have mothers who were exposed to pesticide sprays or foggers during pregnancy compared to healthy children. A report released by the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production concluded that instituting measures to reduce parental and childhood exposures to these and other substances suspected of causing cancer, including development of safer substitutes, should play an important role in a cancer prevention strategy.
While there is more than ample evidence to suggest links between toxic chemicals and many disorders and diseases, there is inevitably a lot we don’t know. There are many unknowns surrounding uses of many toxic chemicals and the effect of a combination of chemicals at the same time.
We must protect our health, the health our children and our environment from toxic chemicals, especially those with safer alternatives. There is absolutely no reason for industry to continue using toxic chemicals if safer substitutes exist. Through the passage of the four “Safer Alternatives” bills, we will ensure that certain toxic chemicals with viable alternatives are removed from the market, disposed of and recycled properly and replaced with safer alternatives. For those without safer alternatives, we should establish a process to study alternatives for future substitutions. We must take this important step toward protecting public health and the environment in Massachusetts.
Resources:
Statement of Jen Baker, MASSPIRG Environmental Advocate, on the CAI, Inc. Chemical Explosion in Danvers 11/22/06 Unnecessary Harms: The Availability of Safer Alternatives to the “Toxic Ten” Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow SAFER Massachusetts Fact Sheet An Act for a Healthy Massachusetts Fact Sheet An Act to Reduce Asthma by Using Safer Alternatives to Cleaning Products Fact Sheet An Act Relative to Mercury Reduction and Education Fact Sheet Report: Unnecessary Harms: The Availability of Safer Alternatives to the “Toxic Ten”
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