TIP TALKS
The e-Newsletter of the
Toxics Information Project (TIP)
February, 2013
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ACTIONS & ALERTS
**Mystery Ingredients in Fragrance, Beauty & the Toxic Beast
**Lawsuit re:Toxic Nap Mats for Tots (Flame Retardants)
TIP ACTIVITIES:
**TIP Speaks Spanish, Game Creation, TT Flyer & Sharing,
**Food Concerns Groups in RI & US
NEWS & INFORMATION
**Antibiotics in Meat - & Pig Manure
**BPA - Avoidance, WA Ban Results, Bad Replacement,
**WHO Noticing Hormone Disrupting Chemicals
(BPA, Phthalates & Flame Retardants)
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ACTIONS & ALERTS
MYSTERY INGREDIENTS ABOUND - SPEAK OUT RE: CHEMS
IN FRAGRANCE (Another "Right to Know" Issue)
Fragrance Industry: Stop Keeping Fragrance Ingredients a Secret!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2708/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12566
From lotion and shampoo to air fresheners and household cleaners,
ragrance seems to be everywhere in household and personal care
products. Lots of people enjoy fragrance, but our new report finds that
millions (yes, literally millions!) of people are affected by skin
allergies caused by chemicals in fragrance. Unfortunately, it’s nearly
impossible for us to avoid specific fragrance allergens because
companies keep fragrance ingredients a secret.
In the E.U. manufacturers of cleaning products and cosmetics are
required to disclose the presence of 26 common fragrance allergens.
Many of these companies make the same products in the U.S., but
don’t disclose allergens here because it’s not required by U.S. law.
The solution is simple: companies should disclose fragrance
ingredients in products so that we have the choice to avoid certain
ingredients like allergens. Please take a moment to tell the fragrance
industry to stop keeping fragrance ingredients a secret! TAKE ACTION:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2708/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12566
**BEAUTY AND THE TOXIC BEAST
Cosmetics Are Full of Harmful Ingredients—Here’s What to Avoid
www.emagazine.com/magazine/beauty-and-the-toxic-beast
Actress Kristen Chenoweth loves her beauty products, but she won’t
be wearing a certain brand of eyelash extensions anymore. In March,
the Emmy-award-winning actress discovered she had an allergy to f
ormaldehyde, which was in the glue used to attach the lashes & caused
her baby blues to swell half-shut. Turns out “dead people’s juice,” as
Chenoweth dubbed it, can be found in a variety of beauty products
even though the U.S. government de-clared it a carcinogen last year.
And formaldehyde is not the only ingredient that seems best left to
Morticia Addams’ compact. Many cosmetics, shampoos and body
washes contain a laundry list of potentially dangerous chemicals
including 1,4-dioxane, which has been linked to cancer in animals,
and phthalates, parabens and triclosan, all known endocrine disruptors
which can alter the way hormones behave in the body.
**TOXIC NAP MATS DRAW SUIT IN OAKLAND
Stephanie M. Lee, Updated February 19, 2013
www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Toxic-nap-mats-draw-suit-in-Oakland-4292200.php
An Oakland watchdog group said Tuesday it is suing major manufacturers
and retailers, including Target and Amazon.com, for selling nap mats
made with a toxic flame retardant that is also a known carcinogen.
Many foam nap mats, which are widely used at places like day care
centers, are doused with flame retardants linked to obesity, hormone
disruption and infertility, according to the lawsuit. One of those flame
retardants is chlorinated Tris, a carcinogen that was banned more
than 30 years ago from children's pajamas, thegroup says.
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TIP ACTIVITIES
**TIP SPEAKS IN SPANISH!: We have a new helper! We are delighted
to be working with Michelle Hernandez, a Brown student, as a Service
Learning Program intern. Michelle is very concerned & knowledgeable
about health and environment connections – and she is bi-lingual!
She is translating some of our TIP materials to make them available
to Spanish speakers. She will also be assisting with updates to the
TIP web pages, including the Kids & Toxics pages, Health Connections
- & of course the section in Spanish.
**LABELING GAME COMING. The North Kingstown Environmental
Fair, at which TIP has a table every year, is encouraging a new way
to involve kids at the event. They will be going to various tables
to engage in funlearning activities, then getting credit for each.
We plan to create a game in which they will read labels to identify
ingredients as “bad guys” or good.Michelle will be helping me
figure this out and put together the materials.
**TIP TALKS. Instead of our usual Grounds & Gardens Guide, this
year we will be trying a new kind of outreach – a special printed
version of TIP TALKS. This will give brief tips on various TIP
concerns, and direct folks to TIP web pages (including the
Landscaping & TIP TALKS sections) to encourage people
to use our website & read and share our monthly TT online.
**FOOD CONCERNS GROUP - RI & NATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND PLANS.
Our RI Food Concerns Group met again on Sunday, Feb. 24, and
are planning to get together again in March – date/time/place TBA.
We are expecting to show the award-winning film “Genetic Roulette",
probably initially at one or more Rhode Island colleges – and to have
informational tables at a number of upcoming health & environmental
fairs. If you know of other possibilities for getting the word out,
please let me know.
**SOCIAL MEDIA: Are you on Facebook? We have several
members who are working on putting up a Non-GMO RI
Facebook page. You should be in contact with them if you'd
like to help with this. Let me know, & I'll pass the word.
**NAME & MISSION: We are still seeking to define more clearly
the nature of our group - and the name. My understanding is that
we will be an umbrella for several food-related concerns, mainly
GMOs, Pesticides & Factory Farms. (Antibiotics & Hormones
are some other likely issues). My feeling is that education of
the public, followed by strong consumer pressure on retail
and food producing interests, is the most effective strategy.
But there is room for others -labeling, while I don't see it
happening in RI unless in combination with other states, is
one tactic. (And a bill has been introduced in the RI House.)
In my mind, any action can be a way to get public attention
share the facts & counteract corporate lies..
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ANY KIND
OF ACTION RELATING TO CONCERNS ABOUT OUR FOOD SUPPLY!
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NEWS AND INFORMATION
ANTIBIOTICS IN MEAT
The Meat Industry Now Consumes Four-Fifths of All Antibiotics
www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/02/meat-industry-still-gorging-antibiotics
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a set of voluntary
"guidelines" designed to nudge the meat industry to curb its antibiotics
habit. As we wait, the industry is madly pumping antibiotics into
animals as fast as they can.
**PIG MANURE REVEALS MORE REASON
TO WORRY ABOUT ANTIBIOTICS
Dan Charles February 11, 2013 --- NPR
www.wbur.org/npr/171690001/pig-manure-reveals-more-reason-to-worry-about-antibiotics
There's a global campaign to force meat producers to rein in their
use of antibiotics on pigs, chickens and cattle. European countries,
especially Denmark and the Netherlands, have taken the lead.
The U.S. is moving, haltingly, toward similar restrictions. Now the
concerns about rampant antibiotic use appear to have reached China,
where meat production and antibiotic use have been growing fast.
**BPA FOOD PACKAGING CONCERNS
**EWG ON AVOIDING BPA www.ewg.org/bpa
**EWG BRINGS BPA CONCERN TO DR. OZ!
www.doctoroz.com/episode/hidden-chemicals-you-re-feeding-your-kids?video=16682
(COME BACK TO THIS ONE AFTER READING THE TWO BELOW-
DO IT YOURSELF AVOIDANCE CAN BE BETTER THAN BANS.)
**THE GOOD NEWS - BPA CAN BE REMOVED
**Washington State's Ban Of Chemical BPA
In Plastics Is Deemed A Success.
Bothell Reporter February 26, 2013 ·
www.bothell-reporter.com/news/193424911.html
Washington state's 2010 ban on the use of the chemical BPA in baby
bottles, children's cups and sports bottles appears to be working.
The Department of Ecology recently tested a number of these
products on retail shelves in Washington and found that BPA
has nearly disappeared. BPA, which stands for Bisphenol A,
is a health concern for children.
** THE BAD NEWS - CHANGING ONE LETTER FROM
A TO S =SAME ESTROGENIC EXPOSURE
BPA Replacement (Bisphenol S)) Alters Hormones
At Low Doses, Study Finds
By Brian Bienkowski, Staff Writer
Environmental Health News, Jan. 17, 2013
www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/bpa-alternative-alters-hormones
"And, just like BPA, the compound (BPS) interfered with how cells
respond to natural estrogen, which is vital for reproduction and
other functions. 'I think we should all stop and be very cautious about
just accepting this as a substitute for BPA,' said lead author and
biochemist Cheryl Watson. 'And not just BPS. We should question
the whole process about how we introduce chemicals into the
marketplace without properly testing them first.' "
OOPS! RETURN TO PREVIOUS EWG TIPS ON AVOIDANCE!
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AT LEAST SOME WORLD HEALTH "EXPERTS" ARE NOTICING
(Especially re: BPA, Phthalates & Flame Retardants)
UN, WHO Panel Calls Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals A 'Global Threat'
By Brian Bienkowski, Environmental Health News Feb. 19, 2013
www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/who-report
An international team of experts reported today that evidence linking
hormone-mimicking chemicals to human health problems has grown
stronger over the past decade, becoming a "global threat" that should
be addressed. The report is a joint effort by the World Health
Organization & the United Nations Environment Programme to give
policy makers the latest information on chemicals that seem to
mess with the hormones of people & wildlife. Much has changed
since 2002, when the organizations released a report that called the
evidence "weak." The panel of 16 scientists from 10 nations found
that endocrine-related diseases and disorders are on the rise.
There is now "emerging evidence for adverse reproductive
outcomes" and "mounting evidence" for effects on thyroids,
brains and metabolism, the report summary says.
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ONE MORE ACTION - HELP US, JUST A LITTLE?
You may or may not have noticed - TIP never sends you
pleading letters seeking donations. We do have info
at the end of posts telling you ways to support us - some
that require no expenditure by you. However, things are
tough right now for many - and we are struggling financially too.
So, please consider making a donation to help us continue
the work we do to educate people and support important
actions vs. the toxic stew in which we all now live.
Checks may be sent to: TIP, P.O. Box 40572, Providence,
RI 02940. (We are a 401C3 tax-deductible organization)
Or, support us through I Give or Good Search/Good Shop
via your web browsing or shopping. Go to:
www.igive.com/welcome/lp2/wr15.cfm?c=38382&m=0
or
www.goodsearch.com/goodto-go?spMailingID=5123963&spUserID=MjgwMDA0NjU1NAS2&spJobID=58665125&spReportId=NTg2NjUxMjUS1
For any help you can give us, we will be truly thankful!
(And will provide more good work per dollar than
larger organizations with larger overhead costs!)
Blessings,
Liberty G
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Liberty Goodwin, Director
Toxics Information Project
P.O. Box 40572,
Providence, RI 02940
Tel. 401-351-9193
Website: www.toxicsinfo.org
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