CANARY
CORNER
A
CANARY BILL OF RIGHTS
Excerpted from August 23 Special Forum Testimony of
Paul Klinkman
I believe that certain chemicals
continue to turn formerly healthy people into canaries for life. Statistical evidence links the prevalence of
these chemicals to an erosion of the human immune system’s capabilities. Often these same cholinesterase inhibitor
chemicals are also linked to asthma, to cancer and to multiple sclerosis. I believe that no one, healthy, asthmatic or
canary, should be forced to breathe any unhealthy chemicals. The school of hard knocks has trained human
canaries and asthmatics to sense unhealthy indoor air. If we value our kids, we will not let
children (or adults) breathe any air that a human canary can’t breathe.
I believe that chemically
sensitive people should have civil rights.
Ø
A canary should have the right to go to a hospital without
having medical consequences from cleaning chemicals in the hospital’s air, or
by heavy perfume worn by a nurse. Safer
cleaning chemicals exist. Previous
generations of nurses all knew better than to wear perfume around asthmatic
patients. This generation of nurses
needs to be taught not to do so.
Ø
A canary should have the right to go to a church, synagogue,
mosque, temple or meetinghouse, the right to worship God, the right to belong
to a community of worshippers, without the chemical solvents in the next
worshipper’s perfume, cologne or body scent putting her flat on her back for a
week.
Ø
A canary should have the right to use a public airline
without getting poisoned on the plane or sick in the terminal. People who were allergic to cigarette smoke
once had no rights on an airplane, but then the government made smokers move to
the back of the plane. Later, smoking
was banned on airliners. The privileges
of fumers should now be weighed against the medical needs of asthmatics and
canaries.
Ø
A canary should have the right not to be physically
assaulted, nor to have a credible threat of assault. An angry man once threatened to spray my wife Liberty Goodwin in
the face with his finger on the nozzle of a can of air freshener. He backed her out of a door with what
essentially was a dangerous weapon pointed at her. It’s possible that this man didn’t believe his weapon would
actually do medical damage, but he at least knew that my wife was as afraid of
the wielded weapon as she would be of, say, a knife.
Ø
A canary should have the right not to be poisoned out of a
job by a co-worker or co-workers, in cases where a department budget is
shrinking and the co-workers stand to gain financially by hanging on to their
own jobs.
Ø
An asthmatic or a canary should have the right to enter a
polling place to vote without adverse medical consequences. An asthmatic or a canary should be able to
attend any government hearing.
Ø
Schools should not make readily available to students any
cholinesterase inhibitor chemical commonly used by kids for “huffing”. To do so would facilitate drug abuse. Neither should these same chemicals be in
school air in trace amounts, as evidence exists that neurotoxic chemicals
demonstrably affect the education of kids with ADHD, and might be subclinically
affecting other students also.
Canaries should have many civil
rights. We only mention the most basic
human rights here, which canaries don’t yet have. Canaries and asthmatics have one enforced civil right. The United States Postal Service will no
longer let fragranced advertisements and fragranced magazines be bulk-mailed to
homes. In homes that use mail slots,
fragranced ads would automatically pollute the air of asthmatics and canaries
in their own homes. The enforcement of civil rights for canaries may in fact
save the lives and health of other people, people who by rights should live a
long life.
Perhaps each healthy person’s
civil right to a healthy life is being violated too. Asthma, allergies and chemical sensitivity are statistically
linked. We live in a pandemic of
histamine reactions and cholinesterase inhibitor reactions. Asthma, allergies and chemical sensitivity
are normal to the human condition, but never were they normal in the quantities
seen in this modern generation. The
modern discrepancy might be caused by toxic chemicals in what we breathe, in
what we eat, on our skin, in what we buy and bring home, as well as by diet and
exercise. Furthermore, we seem to be
doing worse every decade. Americans are
getting cancer in greater numbers than ever before. Perhaps we are killing ourselves by our own purchases.
WHAT TO
DO?
From
August 23 Special Forum Testimony by Liberty Goodwin, TIP Director
The really important thing is, what actions can reasonably
and realistically be taken to improve the situation of this vulnerable group of
people? I have a few suggestions.
- PROTOCOLS & POLICIES in all involuntary
public facilities – those which people must have access, and cannot just
avoid. This would include health
care providers, nursing homes, schools.
All should require fragrance-free employees, alternative, less
toxic cleaning products, low or no-VOC paints, rugs, etc. Public bathrooms should be free of
toxic “deodorizers” or “air fresheners” (actually pollutants per the
EPA). These kinds of requirements
are being used and enforced in many hospitals and other places, in both
the U.S. and Canada. Policies
could be instituted voluntarily or, better, be statewide by regulation or
legislation. In schools,
toxin-free environments would benefit not only those with conditions like
ADD and asthma - studies indicate
they might reduce aggressive behavior in some and enhance the learning
abilities of other students as well.
- EDUCATION.
The Commission can provide information to employers, medical
people, school personnel, on the health effects of chemicals and on the
alternatives available.This could involve developing a database of such
effective measures, healthier products and accommodations that work, as
well as a possible speakers’ bureau.
- LAWN PESTICIDE LEGISLATION. Support the two bills to protect Rhode
Islanders from toxic lawn pesticides, introduced in 2005 and coming back
next year. One would ban the use
of such products at schools and day care centers. (A similar bill was passed this year in
Connecticut). The other would
permit towns and cities to pass ordinances restricting cosmetic lawn
pesticide use within their borders that were more stringent than those at
the state level. They had this
power until it was taken away from them in 1990. This might allow, among other things, some kind of response
to the growing number of people who are sickened in their homes – or
driven out of them - by pesticide drift from neighbors’ lawn
applications.
- ENCOURAGING FEDERAL ACTION ON
TRANSPORTATION. Although the
Commission does not have power to change regulations for airlines, perhaps
the Governor, in cooperation with counterparts in other states, could call
upon federal authorities to address “canary” accessibility issues on
planes. A simple provision
requiring fragrance-free flight attendants and the right to request that
someone change seats with you would be a Godsend to the chemically
sensitive, asthmatics and those with other respiratory or health
conditions.
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TWO
TALES OF CHEMICALS IN THE CLASSROOM
QUERY:
Maybe if school and workplace administrators realized how fragrance,
cleaning and other chemicals can affect brain functionality and productivity,
they would be more willing to clean up their air?
“Let me
introduce you to Tracey, a bright, seven-year-old, environmentally
hypersensitive child in Australia who had to contend with asthma, tachycardia,
multiple food and chemical sensitivities, hyperactivity and learning
difficulties. Tracey was labeled a non-reader at her school until her mother
requested perfume and solvent accommodations. Two weeks after her classroom
teacher stopped wearing perfume and banned solvent-based marking pens, Tracey
began to read fluently!!” (Excerpted
from “Open Letter: Perfumes Contaminate Our Classrooms”, posted in full
at: http://www.toxicsinfo.org/canary/Protocols/PerfumeInClassrooms.htm
Report
from a Rhode Island mother: (Hearing
testimony will be posted when received.) She and her son were sensitized by
toxic exposure from nearby waste dump.
She has headaches, lightheadedness, mood changes from exposures,
including perfume, also hives from laundry detergent. Her son was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Symptoms, including inability to
concentrate, headaches, etc., abated at school when teachers stopped using
perfume and switched to chalk instead of permanent markers. Within 2 weeks of
no chemical exposure in class, he went from 3 or 4 right answers on tests to
100 % marks.
SIGNS OF
PROGRESS
GREEN SUCCESS
5
Presidential awards honor chemists for
developing cleaner and economically viable technologies
STEPHEN K.
RITTER, C&EN WASHINGTON, June
27, 2005, Volume 83, Number 26, pp. 40-43
"We have changed innumerable
things in the practice of chemistry, but the most important thing we have
changed is our minds," commented American Chemical Society President
William F. Carroll, speaking last week at a ceremony honoring the winners of
the 2005 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. A few moments earlier,
Carroll had recounted a story about how, during a recent discussion in China,
one student's pronouncement that "pollution is inevitable with growth and progress"
had stopped him cold.
"From the perspective of the
chemical industry, pollution and progress are not synonymous," Carroll
recalled telling the student. "Pollution is waste, and waste means
cost." Carroll followed up by telling the student that the job of chemists
is not to find a singular solution to a technical problem, but to challenge
themselves to constantly find better solutions. "That understanding is
fundamental to what we call green chemistry," Carroll said. Green
chemistry is all about more efficient production of industrial chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, and consumer products. That is to say, the purpose of green
chemistry is to find ways to develop ever-better chemical products and
processes that require fewer reagents, less solvent, and less energy to
produce, while being safer, generating less waste, and increasing
profitability. One Massachusetts company won an award:
Metabolix,
Cambridge, Mass., was selected as the award winner in the small business
category for developing a fermentation process to produce polyhydroxyalkanoate
(PHA) "natural plastics" from renewable feedstocks such as plant
sugars or oils. These readily biodegradable polyester polymers and copolymers
combine the film-barrier properties of polyesters with the mechanical
performance properties of petroleum-based polyethylene and polypropylene.
Metabolix is set to start making PHAs on a large scale. It will join Cargill
and DuPont--former Green Chemistry Award-winning producers of NatureWorks
and Sorona,
respectively--as producers of biobased polymers.
For full story: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/83/8326sci1.html
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NEW YORK STATE REQUIRES SCHOOLS TO USE GREEN CLEANING
(Beyond
Pesticides, August 25, 2005)
A recent vote by the New York State Senate now requires
schools to use green cleaning products. The bill, Senate Bill 5435 (S5435),
signed into law on August 23, 2005, by New York Governor George Pataki,
requires the procurement and use of environmentally sensitive cleaning and
maintenance products in schools. In a press release from Healthy
Schools Network, Claire Barnett, Executive Director said, "We are
committed to working with the Governor, members of the legislature, education
leaders, schools, and parents and personnel to achieve healthier schools for
all children." Stephen Boese, NYS
Director, Healthy Schools Network, added "This is a highly cost-effective
and environmentally responsible step that will reduce toxics used by custodians
in schools and by agencies. It will help improve indoor air quality and promote
healthier building operations."
Arthur
Weissman, President and CEO, Green
Seal, Washington, DC, a national not for profit environmental labeling and
consumer education organization, commented, "We applaud Governor Pataki's
initiative. It is critical to create uniform specifications that will ensure
high quality and environmentally responsible product purchasing, and drive
market changes, such as the efforts underway in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,
and other states."
According
to Barrnett, New York State moved to address the greening of schools with funds
to replace New York City schools' 300 polluting coal-fired boilers in 1996 with
cleaner, energy efficient systems. In 1997, the state enacted comprehensive
legislation to improve existing school buildings, including state record
keeping systems; in 2000, to reduce pesticide use; in 2002, to seal and
remediate or eliminate arsenic-treated wood; and in 2004, to ban highly toxic
elemental mercury in schools. Alarmed by increasing
reports of mercury in fish, antibiotics in meat and poultry, hormone-mimicking
chemicals in cosmetics, and pesticides in toothpaste, American consumers as a
whole are being driven by health and environmental concerns toward the use of
green products, from arsenic-free lumber to pesticide-free pet food (See Daily
News). Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine and has
been testing products since 1936, recently launched a green-products
Web site.
PESTICIDE-FREE
PLAYING FIELDS
LOCAL
ACTION: We are still seeking to offer a
workshop on playing field maintenance led by someone experienced in providing
such care without toxic pesticides. We
also hope to compile a booklet with information on such organic athletic field
practices and materials. Because of
other work, we have not yet been able to follow up on contacting people
responsible for some of these fields in Rhode Island, but are trying to find
time to do so.
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – SOCCER FIELD EXPOSURE UPDATE
BACKGROUND: ChemLawn made promises and did not keep them
- sprayed just before kids came on the
field. Two girls were rushed
from the field with anaphylactic reactions, and now have breathing problems
when they go near the field. For a year
and a half, nothing was reported about this incident while Corinne Risch,
mother of another child sickened by the exposure, tried to get the Atlanta
authorities to switch to less toxic playing field care. When the efforts failed, she went public,
and is now working with a task group of parents to bring about change and
protect the children from further damage to their health.
Details from a story in the local paper
recently:
One such exposure was experienced by 15-year-old
Kelsey Langworthy last fall. She came
home lightheaded after practice at the city’s Highway 74 Baseball/Soccer
Complex with a bright, emerald green substance on her shoes and socks and on
her feet. The healthy and athletic
teenager began rapidly manifesting labored breathing, chest pains and other
problems that landed her in the emergency room. Since that time Kelsey has experienced three other occasions of
similar symptoms, including one just over a week ago. On every occasion, the common denominator was her presence at the
Hwy. 74 Baseball/Soccer Complex. For
Kelsey’s father, Bill Langworthy, her first-ever episode was something he will
never forget. “The fear was etched in
her eyes,” he said. “As a parent you
are there, but there is nothing you can do. You are helpless.”
Risch said research on pesticide exposure shows that
chronic exposure includes worsening of asthma, headaches, dizziness and
flu-like symptoms. Other exposure levels can be much worse. “Pesticide exposure is very serious and can
include asthma attacks which can obviously be fatal, serious allergic reactions
like Kelsey experienced and even cancers, which we do see in our soccer
population and the children in Peachtree City. The specific cancers associated
with pesticide exposure are leukemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma and brain
tumors.” “I’m a nurse so I believe an
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And if it has happened in the
past it will happen again,” Risch continued, recalling her children and others
covered in a blue-green substance on one occasion after soccer practice. “The
likelihood is a whole lot greater that a lot of other children have been
exposed and we want to avoid having one more person experience this.”
Risch said the company that
applied the pesticide would not release the names of the specific chemicals
used to treat the fields. Applications made as recently as last week were
claimed by the company to be benign, though parents could not obtain the names
of the substances. In the mean time, Risch said, Kelsey had a a fourth reaction
while at the soccer fields. “This is
completely unacceptable,” she stressed. “A couple of parents have noticed a
pattern where they would bring their kids home from practice and two or three
times during the season they’ll be very sick, needing breathing treatments or
perhaps needing to go to the doctor.
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LESS TOXIC LANDSCAPING
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR – OR
POISON HER?
A POIGNANT
TALE OF WOE FROM FLORIDA
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 09:11:27 –0400
Subject: How Do We Stop Being Exposed to Neighbors’
Landscape Pesticides......
I am so ill again from a neighbor spraying pesticides across the street from me on Wed.
of this week. It has brought on another attract of gastroparesis (stomach nerves freeze and food
won't go through your system so what goes down comes back up. I lost 20 lbs. in 3
weeks the last and 1st time
this happened to me My doctors said it was brought
on by my exposure to an
organophosphate pesticide that made me very ill. Of the 9 most common causes 4 of the 9 are associated with pesticides
and diabetes is a
leading cause but my doctors said my glucose numbers were not high enough to cause this condition
and I take no medication for the diabetes.) I just saw my doctor for the 6-month
check-up and he was so pleased that I was on no medication for the gastroparesis and had
not had any trouble
eating after that attack. He said it was more proof that my gastroparesis was due to the pesticides.
But here again I had a direct exposure to a pesticide and I have another attack of
this disabling
condition that could lead to a permanent feeding tube to my stomach.
My doctor had to put a feeding
tube in a young woman who was badly poisoned by an organophosphate
pesticide several years ago. Her condition
continued to degrade until this was the sad result. Another
Dr. who treats
pesticide injured patients told Nancy (a woman who won her poisoning case that he treats) that he
had a patient as young as 7 with gastroparesis from pesticide exposures, and
has others as well.
As you know, we leave for 3 days each month so the lawn spraying pesticide
industry can come into my neighborhood and we have done this for years - ever since I got the pesticide
/ posting / notification law in Florida that I spearheaded, the neighbor that
sprayed and affected me last Wed. is well aware of my problem and that we move out for
spraying or
treatments but did it anyway with me home. It was not meant to be mean, it is the lack of
understanding of the harm of a little exposure. How can we protect ourselves from these
exposures as there is no way
to keep the vapors from entering our home. We have large carbon filters inside but they don't
take the poisons out fast enough to protect me from the vapors or small amount of the
poison.
I had a call
yesterday from a woman asking the same question of me. What do we do? I am tired of being ill from
landscape/lawn use pesticides/poisons. Canada has stopped the problem --
How can we stop it here???? Lawn care should be safe for
all. And it is now not safe for any---health problems abound from these
poisons. Ann Mason, annmason@mindspring.com
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TAKE ACTION: SAMPLE
WORDING FOR LETTER TO TAKE TO YOUR LOCAL HOME DEPOT
Dear Store Manager:
I am a
regular customer at Home Depot and a supporter of the National Coalition for
Pesticide-Free Lawns. I was very pleased to recently learn that Home Depot was
asked by Beyond Pesticides and Defenders of Wildlife on behalf of the Coalition
to carry a full range of natural, non-toxic lawn and garden products, to train
staff to be knowledgeable about non-toxic alternatives, and to reconsider the
sale of “weed and feed.” It is currently impossible to shop at Home Depot and
purchase the full array of products needed to maintain a natural lawn or
garden. I would very much like to see not just one or two natural lawn and
garden products on your shelves – but a full range by Spring 2006, and
therefore strongly support these requests. In addition to carrying these
products, I expect Home Depot staff to be able to offer advice in the use and
benefits of natural alternatives. As a do-it-yourselfer, I would also
appreciate written materials that provide instructions on how to create and
maintain a natural lawn.
I would
like to shop at Home Depot for my lawn and garden products and will be watching
to see if more non-toxic products become available and if efforts are
undertaken to train your employees and provide good materials. I urge you to
work with the National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns to help make this a
reality.
Thank you
for listening to my concerns and please convey my support to the
company headquarters.
Sincerely,
TIME
FOR THE LAST ROUNDUP?
NEW STUDIES: MONSANTO'S BEST SELLING "SAFE"
PESTICIDE IS HIGHLY TOXIC
Two new
peer-reviewed scientific studies have further confirmed the toxicity of
glyphosate, the world's most commonly used herbicide. The June 2005 scientific
journal "Environmental Health Perspectives" reports that glyphosate,
sold by Monsanto under the brand name "Roundup," damages human
placental cells at exposure levels ten times less than what the company claims
is safe. A study in the August journal Ecological Applications found that even
when applied at concentrations that are one-third of the maximum concentrations
typically found in waterways, Roundup still killed up to 71 percent of tadpoles
in the study. Similar glyphosate studies around the world have been equally
alarming. The American Academy of Family Physicians epidemiological research
has now linked exposure to the herbicide with increased risk of non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, a life-threatening cancer, while a Canadian study has linked
glyphosate exposure with increased risk for miscarriage. A 2002 study linked
glyphosate exposure with increased incidence of attention deficit disorder in
children. Despite these studies, Monsanto continues to advertise Roundup,
sprayed heavily on 140 million acres of genetically engineered crops across the
world, as one of the "safest" pesticides on the market
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AND
WHAT ABOUT THAT ALIEN CORN!
EXPLOSIVE MONSANTO DOCUMENTS REVEAL SERIOUS HAZARDS
OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CORN
A May 22 headline news story in the London Independent has rocked Monsanto and the biotech industry and fueled the controversy over the safety of genetically engineered food. The story reveals that internal Monsanto documents, reviewed by EU scientists, show serious health damage to laboratory animals fed Monsanto's new genetically engineered "rootworm-resistant" corn. Rats who consumed the mutant corn developed smaller kidneys and exhibited blood abnormalities. Scientists say these are "red flags" for immune system damage and/or cancer tumor promotion. Although the EU will now likely ban Monsanto's new GMO corn, this same rootworm-resistant corn is already being grown and consumed on a major scale in the United States. Monsanto has denied that the corn can harm humans, but nonetheless refuses to turn over its data to the media, claiming that the lab studies are "Confidential Business Information”.
LTL RESOURCES
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Do You
Need Some FISHEMO In Your Yard?
5
To
purchase this organic plant & garden fertilizer, email 8women@gmail.com or stop by
the Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) Office at 109 Somerset Street in Providence. $3/four oz. bottle or $10/sixteen ounce
bottle. FROM
SCLC electronic newsletter, "Southside
Outreach" Contact: Kate Hitmar,
<outreach@southsideclt.org>
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COMING SOON: PESTICIDE-FREE LAWNS COALITION DOOR-HANG
TIP
is a member of this national coalition – see their website at www.pesticide-freelawns.org
This resource, meant to help inform your neighbors about the reasons for
avoiding lawn pesticides, should be available by the week of Sept 5. Contact Liberty Goodwin, TIP Director, for
more information.
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MORE SIGNS OF HOPE?
EUROPE DEBATES THE MOST MASSIVE CHEMICAL BAN IN HISTORY
From: Grist Magazine <www.grist.org>
5/17/05
The European Parliament is set to debate new regulations that would dramatically increase the number of banned chemicals in the EU. The law would require manufacturers of some 30,000 currently legal chemicals to provide scientific evidence that their products are safe for human health and the environment. If the legislation passes, it would have a major impact on thousands of chemicals and products manufactured and sold in the U.S. Despite much weaker regulations in the U.S. many American companies have no choice but to adhere to European regulations given that the EU, with 25 countries and 460 million people, represents an even larger market than the U.S. http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/strict051805.cfm
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QUICK TIPS
Baking soda makes a good scouring powder.
Cedar shavings and aromatic herbs can replace
mothballs.
TIP
TALKS