TIP TALKS
The e-Newsletter of the
Toxics Information Project (TIP)
October, 2014
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IN THIS ISSUE
“”RHODE ISLAND SPECIAL EVENT NOTICE:
Free Screenings of GMO OMG, Oct. 22
(Non-Rhode Islanders consider viewing or showing
the film I your neck of the woods!)
“”HALLOWEENY BIZARRE NEWS & ACTION
**LIB TALKS: Weird Spam Addressed to TIP,
Shift of Time & Tone for Oncoming Holidays
** RESOURCES: Toxic-Free Halloween Tips,
**ACTIONS & ALERTS: Pink is For Fracking?
**SCARY STORIES – Followed by a note of hope.
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2 FREE "GMO OMG" SCREENINGS, OCT. 22 AT RIC
The film, GMO-OMG will be shown on Wed. Oct. 22,
at Noon & 7 PM at Rhode Island College,
600 Mt. Pleasant Ave., Providence,
See description of film below. To register for free seats:
Noon to 2 p.m.: gmoomgrhodeislandcollege1.eventbrite.com
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.:gmoomgrhodeislandcollege2.eventbrite.com
(Note: I learned about this from a flyer picked up at
Whole Foods Market – they are the sponsor! The greater
the attendance, the more they’ll see how many of us care!)
PASS THE WORD!
GMO OMG director and concerned father Jeremy Seifert
is in search of answers. How do GMOs affect our children,
the health of our planet, and our freedom of choice?
And perhaps the ultimate question, which Seifert tests
himself - is it even possible to reject the food system
currently in place, or have we lost something we can’t
gain back? These and other questions take Seifert on
a journey from his family’s table to Paris, Norway, and
the lobby of agra-giant Monsanto, from which he is
unceremoniously ejected. Along the way we gain insight
into a question that is of growing concern to citizens
the world over: what's on your plate?
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LIB TALKS:
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**FUNNIEST SPAM SOLICITATION OF THE YEAR –
(Sick Humor, of Course)
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2014 To: liberty@toxicsinfo.org
Re: PP, PET, PVC resin/ resin/ plastic raw material
Dear manager, We are leading plastic raw material
manufacture in China. Our factory produces PP resin,
PET resin, PVC resin, HDPE resin and so on.
With superior quality and competitive price
.If you need, free email us. Thanks & Regards
**HALLOWEENY ENOUGH FOR YOU? What more can
I say? Selling poison plastic to TIP??? This will be a short
“Lib Talks” – just enjoy the strange items of the month and
look forward to a cheerier November! We have changed the
date of sending TIP TALKS so we can get more holiday info
to you (more hopeful & helpful than scary) in a timely fashion.
Blessings, Liberty G
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TIPS FOR A TOXIC-FREE HALLOWEEN
From: CHEJ chej@mail.democracyinaction.org
Wanna hear something spooky? With one of CHEJ’s
favorite holidays, Halloween, right around the corner, we
want to let you in on the chemical industry’s dirty little tricks.
PVC, one of the most toxic plastic for children’s health and the
environment, has scared its way into some of our beloved
children’s costumes. Even scarier is that many vinyl products
are laden with harmful phthalates, endocrine disrupting
chemicals banned in toys but widespread in many other
vinyl products children come in contact with. Vinyl products
also often release a witches’ brew of toxic chemicals into the air.
That’s that new plastic vinyl smell so many of us grew up with.
Who knew it was so scary!
With that in mind, here are some tips for a safer Halloween
for your family and friends:
·**Avoid PVC: Shop for PVC-free costumes and masks.
If you’re not sure what the costume is made out of, ask the
store or manufacturer whether or not it contains PVC & phthalates.
**Make your own costume out of safer PVC-free materials!
We bet you can come up with something fun and creative by
just diving into your closet.
**Trade safe costumes with your friends. No need to buy more stuff.
**Use safer face-paints.
Happy Halloween - and don’t get spooked by the chemical
industry this Halloween season!
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ACTION: JUST BECAUSE IT'S PINK, DOESN'T
MAKE FRACKING LESS TOXIC
From Food & Water Watch: This is unbelievable. The Susan
G. Komen Foundation is taking $100,000 from a fracking
company that is turning their drill bits "pink" for breast cancer
awareness. Fracking company Baker Hughes, a $27 billion
company, is donating $100,000 to Susan G. Komen to help
fund research to find a cure for breast cancer and sending
1,000 "pink" oil and gas drilling bits around the world. If Baker
Hughes really wanted to find a cure for cancer, they should
start at home, since some of the chemicals used in fracking
have been shown to cause cancer.
Tell Susan G. Komen to Refuse Donations
from Fracking Companies
https://secure3.convio.net/fww/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1657&autologin=true
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HALLOWEEN HA-HAS FROM FDA.
(Provided by Care2.com)
COLORING TO DYE FOR? DANGERS OF RED NO. 3
Dr. Michael Greger, October 8, 2014
www.care2.com/greenliving/seeing-red-no-3-coloring-to-dye-for.html?cid=email_na
Fifteen million pounds of food dyes are sold every year in the U.S.
Why? Foods “are artificially colored to make unattractive mixtures
of basic ingredients and food additives acceptable to consumers
.” Food colorings are added to countless processed food products
to conceal the absence of fruits, vegetables, or other ingredients
and to make the food ”appear better or of greater value than it is.”
Otherwise cherry popsicles might actually look as if they had no
cherries in them! I’ve talked about the role of food dyes in causing
ADHD symptoms in kids (See Food Dyes and ADHD), but what
about their role in cancer?
Due to cancer concerns, Red dye #1 was banned in 1961. Red #2
was banned in 1976, and Red #4 was banned soon after. But what
about Red No. 3, used today in everything from sausage to maraschino
cherries? It was found to cause DNA damage in human liver cells
in vitro, comparable to the damage caused by a chemotherapy drug
whose whole purpose is to break down DNA, but Red No. 3 was also
found to influence children’s behavior over 30 years ago & to interfere
with thyroid function over 40 years ago. Why is it still legal?
By 1985, the FDA had already postponed action on banning the Red
No. 3 twenty-six times, even though the Acting Commissioner of the
FDA said Red No. 3 was “of greatest public health concern,” imploring
his agency to not knowingly allow continued exposure (at high levels
in the case of Red No. 3) of the public to “a provisionally listed color
additive that has clearly been shown to induce cancer while questions
of mechanism are explored. The credibility of the Department of Health
and Human Services would suffer if decisions are not made soon on
each of these color additives.” That was over 30 years ago.
At the end of the day, industry pressure won out. While FDA scientists
& FDA commissioners have recommended that the additive be banned,
there has been tremendous pressure to delay the recommendations
from being implemented. In 1990, concerned about cancer risk,
the FDA banned the use of Red No. 3 in anything going on our skin,
but it remained legal to continue to put it in anything going in our
mouths. The FDA also said they planned to end all other remaining
uses of Red No. 3, lamenting that the cherries in 21st century fruit
cocktail “could well be light brown.”
But over 20 years later it’s still in our food supply. After all, the
agency estimated that the lifetime risk of thyroid tumors in humans
from Red No. 3 in food was at most one in a hundred thousand.
Based on the current U.S. population that’s 3,000.This whole
fiasco might become clearer once you watch my video
"Who Determines if Food Additives Are Safe?"
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/who-determines-if-food-additives-are-safe/
If you want to tell Congress to ban artificial food dyes,
here’s your chance to do so: sign this petition.
www.care2.com/greenliving/seeing-red-no-3-coloring-to-dye-for.html?cid=email_na
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MORE HORROR STORIES FOR YOUR OCTOBER SCARY
A RISING TIDE OF CONTAMINANTS
Poison Pen, By Deborah Blum September 25, 2014
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/a-rising-tide-of-contaminants/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1&
FLAME RETARDANT IN FURNITURE POSES DANGER,
DUKE STUDY SHOWS By Reid Creager
Sunday, Sep. 21, 2014 Charlotte Observer
www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/09/21/5178939/sitting-on-danger-duke-university.html
(Story shared by Environment & Human Health, CT)
One reason we are in serious trouble with flame retardants-
-- "If a flame-retardant manufacturer wants to market a new flame
retardant, they can go right ahead and do so without testing it for
toxicity beforehand. All they have to do is tell the EPA 'I'm producing
this chemical' and under what volumes, and how I'm going to use it."
When the government bans one flame retardant -- industry just
substitutes another flame retardant, & without proper or any testing.
Nancy Alderman, EHHI Director
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WE COULD HAVE TOLD MANY MORE SCARY STORIES
– BUT, YOU GET THE PICTURE. TO CHEER UP, TRY THESE:
1. WORK WITH – AND SUPPORT – TIP’S EFFORTS TO
EDUCATE ON CONCERNS & WORK FOR CHANGE!
2. WATCH FOR OUR HEALTHY HOLIDAYS FLYER AND
NOVEMBER/DECEMER NEWSLETTERS! WE’LL OFFER
HOPEFUL, HAPPY HINTS & GOOD NEWS REPORTS
FOR A JOYFUL SEASON!
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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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