TIP TALKS, NOVEMBER, 2015

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                            IN THIS ISSUE

**LIB TALKS:  Simplifying Healthy Holidays,

Consumer Action Works!, Clever Consumer Flyer: 

TIPS on CC Strategy. Non-Regulation of Chems

in Personal Care & Household Products & Help

With Alternative Choices

**GOOD NEWS:  Halifax Celebrates 20 (Now 25) Y

ears Fragrance Free!

**CLEVER CONSUMER ACTION - & SUCCESS! 

Get Endocrine-Disrupters Out of Nail Polish, Macy’s

to Stop Sale of Furniture With Toxic Flame Retardants,

Subway Phasing Out Antibiotics in Meat.

**RESOURCES:  Top Ten Toxic Skin Care Ingredients,

Ava Anderson – A Source for Less Toxic Options

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                        LIB TALKS

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**SIMPLIFYING HEALTHY HOLIDAYS  As Thanksgiving

looms and Xmas approaches, we all get very busy, do a

lot of shopping and cooking!  Although there is much detailed

info on what gifts & food to buy, it can be hard to find time

for real “research”.  So, I suggest you use our TIP Thoughts

on Going Non-Toxic web page,http://toxicsinfo.org/thoughts.htm

to pick up some quick holiday tips.  Scroll down to find lots of

ideas & resources, including those in our previous Healthy

Holiday Hints & Handbooks.  Other useful info can be found,

at:  http://toxicsinfo.org/house/FoodFacts.htm in our Food

Facts & Fantasy flyer.  (Note: All these are formatted for

printing out as two-sided, folded over handouts).  Finally,

you can check out The Non-Toxic Kitchen on a Budget at:

http://toxicsinfo.org/house/ModusVivendi.htm

 

CONSUMER ACTION WORKS!  As indicated via our new

Clever Consumer Campaign, consumer power can be awesome

– and quicker than the legislative route to change! This month’s

TIP TALKS provides several examples of success, by groups

and individuals just telling the guys who want our money to give

us what WE want!  ALSO, SEE OUR NEW CLEVER CONSUMER

CAMPAIGN FLYER FOR SOME IDEAS & RESOURCES FOR

ACTION:  It’s online on the “Thoughts” page:

http://toxicsinfo.org/thoughts.htm

 

NON-REGULATION OF PRODUCT INGREDIENTS:  We can’t

go totally rosy & positive in our reporting – we have to include

the concerns we’re here to address.  And, protection by the

Federal agencies just isn’t good – too much corporate influence.

So, since you want to look great for holiday partying, here’s a

reminder – fragranced products, used for personal care, can

include ANY chemicals, without testing or approval by any

federal agency – it’s called “trade secrets”. So, this month’s

TIP TALKS winds up with some tips on finding help to avoid the

stinkers – and find the (fortunately available) alternatives. 

(Don’t forget also our plea at the bottom of this page to support

our TIP efforts – especially the one of benefiting us at no cost to you

while web browsing or shopping via GoodSearch, GoodShop or IGive!)

 

Finally, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours –with the

comforting thought that, though we can’t be completely

non-toxic these days, if we just reduce our exposure to

bad stuff, and embrace the good, our wonderful immune

systems can do an excellent job of handling the rest!

 

Blessings, Liberty G

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                          GOOD NEWS

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HALIFAX CELEBRATES 20 YEARS FRAGRANCE FREE

January 15, 2011 (Shared in September, 2015 by Nancy

Alderman of EHHI in CT)  “This is a really interesting article -

even if it is a bit old.  Today, I guess they would be celebrating

25 years of being fragrance- free. "Now voluntary anti-fragrance

policies are the norm in most workplaces, churches, schools

and public spaces in the entire province of Nova Scotia” saiys Nancy.

 

In 2011 Halifax marks its 20th anniversary as the first city in

North America to go fragrance free at work. The idea started

in a local hospital and spread to other businesses. Now an entire

generation of young people has grown up without wearing scented

beauty and body products in public spaces.

 

Brenda Marsh is the former director of occupational health

services at the QEII Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She and

her group developed and implemented North America's first

fragrance-free policy for a hospital in 1991 and went on to do

the same for the entire city of Halifax, including a voluntary ban

on scented products in public schools, libraries and buses. 

Now voluntary anti-fragrance policies are the norm in most

workplaces, churches, schools and public spaces in the entire

province of Nova Scotia. Marsh's policies serve as the original model.

Nancy Alderman, President, Environment and Human Health, Inc.

http://www.ehhi.org, http://ehhijournal.org

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              CLEVER CONSUMER ACTION

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TELL SALLY HANSEN, WET N WILD, OPI & OTHER NAIL POLISH

BRANDS:  STOP USING ENDOCRINE-DISRUPTING CHEMICALS

If you’ve painted your nails lately, there’s a good chance you used

one of these brands: Sally Hansen, Essie, OPI, Revlon, Wet n Wild,

Maybelline, or a handful of others.  There’s also a chance that a

suspected endocrine-disrupting chemical known as triphenyl phosphate (

TPHP), has ended up in your body as a result. This chemical is added

to polish to improve its flexibility and is also commonly used in

plastics manufacturing and as a fire retardant in foam furniture.

 

A new study co-authored by researchers at EWG & Duke University

found that 10 to 14 hours after polishing their nails, the levels of a

metabolite of TPHP in all 26 participants had risen by an average of

nearly sevenfold.  Besides disrupting hormones, TPHP could contribute

to weight gain & obesity., according to scientific research. In animal

studies, it has caused reproductive & developmental problems.

In other words, it has no place in our nail polish or in our bodies.

Sign EWG’s petition  here:

http://action.ewg.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=2168&tag=201510NPAction

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        CLEVER CONSUMER SUCCESS - & ACTION

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SUBWAY: THANKS FOR PROTECTING ANTIBIOTICS

(From US PIRG)  Subway just announced it will phase out the use of

antibiotics from its entire meat supply. This is a major win for public

health, and we're ecstatic that Subway will be living up to the healthy

image they've created.  As the largest fast food restaurant in the

United States, this decision will put major market pressure on meat

producers to change their practices, and stop overusing antibiotics. 

 

This major victory came just two days before we planned to deliver

more than 270,000 petition signatures calling on the chain to take

action to help save antibiotics. So, we quickly shifted our message

to one of thanks and marched all those “thank you's" straight to

Subway’s front door in Milford, Connecticut. We wanted Subway

-- and the entire industry -- to know just how much consumers

appreciated their commitment to public health.

 

Subway’s plan to eliminate antibiotics from its entire meat supply

means fewer poultry & livestock operations will dose healthy animals

with our life-saving medicines. It means halting a practice that breeds

antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which already sicken two million & kill

23,000 Americans each year. It means more hope that antibiotics

will keep working to save lives today, & for generations to come. 

Join in telling Subway, "Thank You."

https://uspirg.webaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=13327

 

          MACY’S PLANS TO STOP SELLING FURNITURE

          WITH TOXIC FLAME RETARDANTS  SAYS NGO

Retailer Takes Step at Urging of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/21/ngo-applauds-macys-idUSnPn74wq2G+81+PRN20151021#tOlqLf4DOmu10srp.97

 

Concerned parents and health advocates had asked Macy's to

commit to adopting a policy eliminating the toxic chemicals in

furniture by this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The groups had planned a national "day of action" today at Macy's

Herald Square and other stores around the country. Over the past

two weeks, Macy's had received thousands of e-mails from customers

encouraging them to address the harmful chemicals.

 

Macy's responded to Mind the Store yesterday, saying in part,

"We expect that our suppliers (the manufacturers of furniture sold at

Macy's) are no longer using the chemicals in question, and we believe

a majority are already in compliance…We will be instructing any

remaining suppliers who are using these chemicals to cease doing so.

If we do identify a vendor that is still applying the old flame

retardants, we'll be requiring them to cease doing so immediately."

 

Numerous competing retailers like IKEA, Walmart, and Ashley have

already announced that they are phasing out toxic flame retardants

in furniture. Some chains like Pier 1 Imports, Rooms to Go, and

Berkshire Hathaway's furniture stores have not yet made announcements. 

The Mind the Store campaign is challenging major U.S. retailers to

adopt policies to identify, restrict, and safely substitute the

Hazardous 100+ chemicals in common consumer products.

http://dev.thedailysmell.com/2011/01/15/halifax-nova-scotia-celebrates-20-years-fragrance-free/

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                                  RESOURCES

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  TOP 10 TOXIC SKIN CARE INGREDIENTS (AVOID

          PUTTING ON YOUR SKIN AT ALL COSTS)

http://foodrevolution.org/blog/top-10-toxic-skin-care-ingredients-avoid-putting-on-your-skin-at-all-costs

 

                NEW EWG VERIFIED PROGRAM

EWG is going beyond Skin Deep® with their new EWG VERIFIED™

program. Whether you’re in a brick-and-mortar store or online, you

will now be able to see instantly which products meet EWG’s strictest

standards. With EWG VERIFIED™, you’ll be able to identify the EWG

VERIFIED™ mark right on products – from shampoo to moisturizer to

toothpaste – to make your shopping experience quicker.

See: http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/27/ewg-verified-toxic-cosmetics/

 

AVA ANDERSON NON-TOXIC, PERSONAL, HOUSEHOLD

&  PET PRODUCTS WITHOUT HARMFUL CHEMICALS

(An online source where you can avoid the “Toxic Ten” and more!

http://avaandersonnontoxic.com/why-non-toxic/

www.avaandersonnontoxic.com/shop/

www.AvaAndersonNonToxic.com/lorigibson

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          CONTACT US WITH YOUR THOUGHTS,

                COMMENTS, QUESTIONS!

AND BY THE WAY – WE’RE SMALL, WE’RE ACTIVE,

WE DON’T BOTHER YOU WITH LOTS OF PITCHES

FOR MOOLA – BUT WE REALLY DO NEED SOME HELP!

HERE'S A QUICK WAY TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE:

            http://toxicsinfo.org/subscribe.htm#tenfortip

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OTHER EASY WAYS TO SUPPORT OUR WORK:

BENEFIT TIP WHILE SURFING OR SHOPPING THE WEB at:

www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=818190

BENEFIT TIP WHILE SHOPPING ON THE WEB AT:

www.igive.com/welcome/warmwelcome.cfm?c=38382&m=0

     

BUT MOST OF ALL, MAKE A DONATION:

    Mail a check to TIP at the address above.

      (We are a tax deductible organization)

OR GO TO: http://toxicsinfo.org/subscribe.htm#tenfortip

to donate via PayPal or CreditCard

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Liberty Goodwin, Director, Toxics Information Project (TIP)

P.O. Box 40572, Providence, RI 02940

Tel. 401-351-9193, E-Mail:  liberty@toxicsinfo.org

Website: www.toxicsinfo.org