DIRECTOR’S CORNER

PUBLICATIONS OUTREACH: There are now about 1,500 copies of our 2009 Less Toxic Landscaping Resource Directory in print & circulation in libraries & elsewhere. Contact us if you want to pick up copies to bring to your local branch or event. The Good Green Schools Guide has been distributed to about 350 school professionals & parents, to pass on to school maintenance directors & facilities managers.

LEGISLATION: RI House bill H5358 almost made it out of the HHS Committee - but without a requirement for third party certification. Because we felt that assurance of really green products was essential, we encouraged a friendly legislator on the committee to hold it “for further study”.

“HOPEFUL” APRIL WORKSHOP: In April, I was pleased to lead a workshop on “Everyday Toxins” for Providence's own Holistic Opportunities for Parent Education (HOPE) group, at the Rochambeau Library on Hope St. (appropriately) in Providence. HOPE is a network of parents dedicated to self-empowerment by sharing new knowledge in the realm of natural health alternatives. They sponsor monthly workshops with local professionals who share the same vision and passion for holistic health and wellness for the whole family. For more information, contact: Rachael Elmaleh, Little Bird Herbs, E-Mail: info@littlebirdherbs.com. Website: www.littlebirdherbs.com

PLANNING IN PROGRESS: We have been invited to participate in two local activities, and are working out details for each, one for August, the other in October.

1. “GREEN TEAMS” TALKS: Groundwork Providence - an environmental nonprofit sponsoring three teams of inner city youth for our summer "Green Teams”, has invited TIP to provide a speaker to address the youth about toxic products and hazardous environments. We expect this to happen sometime in August.

2. PUBLIC SQUARE TUESDAYS: TIP will provide an informational table at several of these events held in Kennedy Plaza in Providence, on the sidewalk along Burnside Park . Our participation dates, weather permitting (themes in parentheses), will be October 6 (Open), October 13 (Youth), October 27 (Education).

GOOD GREEN SCHOOLS GANG PLANNING MEETING: 14 folks concerned about healthy school maintenance gathered on Wed., July 15, at the Groden Center in Providence, to share ideas & support. Included were representatives of the RI Assoc. of School Maintenance Directors (RIASMD), RI DEM, & Apeiron’s Sustainable Schools Network, facilities managers, green products vendors & a parent. The discussion was animated & lasted for an amazing 2 plus hours! Several ways to cooperate & share information were agreed upon, especially through our websites. We’ll continue to communicate on common concerns and actions. Many thanks to Chris Suchmann, Groden Facilities Manager, for hosting, and to all who attended, for giving so much time & effort to this cause! DISCLOSURE:: The high point of the event for me was the facilities manager who stated that he hadn’t used bleach for years!

Blessings, Liberty Goodwin, TIP Director

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD?

(An unusual number of alerts and other information coming to our attention recently have to do with food concerns - so I’m just about ready to call this the “Food issue” of TIP TALKS!

ADMINISTRATION SEEKS TO RESTRICT ANTIBIOTICS IN LIVESTOCK

By Gardiner Harris, New York Times ----- July 13, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/health/policy/14fda.html?_r=1

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration announced Monday that it would seek to ban many routine uses of antibiotics in farm animals in hopes of reducing the spread of dangerous bacteria in humans. In written testimony to the House Rules Committee, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, principal deputy commissioner of food and drugs, said feeding antibiotics to healthy chickens, pigs and cattle - done to encourage rapid growth - should cease. And Dr. Sharfstein said farmers should no longer be able to use antibiotics in animals without the supervision of a veterinarian. Both practices lead to the development of bacteria that are immune to many treatments, he said. The hearing was held to discuss a measure proposed by Representative Louise M. Slaughter, Democrat of New York and chairwoman of the Rules Committee. It would ban seven classes of antibiotics important to human health from being used in animals, and would restrict other antibiotics to therapeutic and some preventive uses.

The legislation is supported by the American Medical Association, among other groups, but opposed by farm organizations like the National Pork Producers Council. The farm lobby's opposition makes its passage unlikely, but advocates are hoping to include the measure in the legislation to revamp the health care system. The Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated that as much as 70 percent of antibiotics used in the United States is given to healthy chickens, pigs and cattle to encourage their growth or to prevent illnesses. The use of antibiotics for "purposes other than for the advancement of animal or human health should not be considered judicious use," Dr. Sharfstein said in his written testimony. "Eliminating these uses will not compromise the safety of food."

Much of Dr. Sharfstein's testimony summarized information that has been widely accepted for years by medical groups. But many farm organizations dispute such claims. "There are no good studies that show that some of these antibiotic-resistant diseases - and it seems like we're seeing more of them - have any link to antibiotic use in food-animal production," said Dave Warner, a spokesman for the pork producers' group.

Robert Martin, a senior officer at the Pew Environment Group, which has paid for an advertising campaign to support the measure, said prospects for the measure's passage were improving. "Just the fact that Congresswoman Slaughter is having a hearing today is a huge step forward," Mr. Martin said.

FOOD, INC. In this MUST SEE film, Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA & FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, livelihood of the American farmer, safety of workers & our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e-coli, the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. Food, Inc. reveals surprising & often shocking truths -- about what we eat, how it's produced, who we’ve become as a nation & where we are going from here. Show that we DO care about these issues & see this movie in a theater! Organize groups of friends & relatives. This will be a GREAT intro to your doubting friends. For a theater near you, go to: http://blogs.healthfreedomalliance.org/blog/2009/06/09/food-inc-opening

THE FUTURE OF FOOD: Health Freedom Alliance is offering, for a limited time, the single Disk DVD "The Future of Food" with a small donation of support. Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, The Future Of Food examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today. Food, Inc could easily be considered "Future of Food Part II." For more details, see: http://blogs.healthfreedomalliance.org/donate

The American Academy Of Environmental Medicine Calls For
Immediate Moratorium On Genetically Modified Foods

May 19, 2009, Wichita, KS - The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) today released its position paper on Genetically Modified foods stating that "GM foods pose a serious health risk" and calling for a moratorium on GM foods. Citing several animal studies, the AAEM concludes "there is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects" and that "GM foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health." The AAEM calls for:

· A moratorium on GM food, implementation of immediate long-term safety testing & labeling

of GM food.

· Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community and the public to avoid GM foods.

· Physicians to consider the role of GM foods in their patients' disease processes.

· More independent long term scientific studies to begin gathering data to investigate the role of

GM foods on human health.

"Multiple animal studies have shown that GM foods cause damage to various organ systems in the body. With this mounting evidence, it is imperative to have a moratorium on GM foods for the safety of our patients' and the public's health," said Dr. Amy Dean, PR chair and Board Member of AAEM.

"Physicians are probably seeing the effects in their patients, but need to know how to ask the right questions," said Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, President of AAEM. "The most common foods in North America which are consumed that are GMO are corn, soy, canola, and cottonseed oil."

See AAEM's position paper on Genetically Modified foods at http:aaemonline.org/gmopost.html. AAEM is an international association of physicians and other professionals dedicated to addressing the clinical aspects of environmental health. More information is available at www.aaemonline.org. Contact: Dr. Amy L. Dean, D.O, Public Relations Chair, Member, Board of Directors, American Academy of Environmental Medicine, 734-213-4901, environmentalmed@yahoo.com

FROM THE OCA NEWSLETTER, “ORGANIC BYTES”

FOOD SAFETY NEWS OF THE WEEK OCA ON NEW FOOD SAFETY BILL-HR 2749

There’s been a lot of buzz on the web about the new Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (HR-2749). Many of supporters have called or emailed OCA to find their stance on the issue. Although the Organic Consumers Association is fairly satisfied that the bill is intended to protect organic farmers from being negatively impacted by new food safety regulations, the bill does not address the underlying causes of America’s persistent and evermore serious food safety crisis: factory farms and chemical-intensive agriculture. When addressing the concerns of E.coli or salmonella, the bill focuses on fresh vegetables and fruits rather than CAFOs or intensive confinement factory farms, in effect treating the symptom and not the disease. A close look at the nation’s food poisoning epidemics over the past decade reveal that the overwhelming majority of fruit and vegetable contamination incidents are a direct result of water and soil pollution from large factory farms. The OCA believes that HR-2749 should be amended to address factory farming:

1) Animals should never be fed blood, manure or slaughterhouse waste.

2) Cows need to eat grass.

3) Animals need to be spread out on enough land to absorb their waste.

4) CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) pose unacceptable risks to human health such as antibiotic resistance, incubate dangerous viruses and pathogens such as the Swine Flu and Bird Flu, contaminate the environment, institutionalize animal cruelty, and need to be phased out and shut down.

Learn More: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18368.cfm

UPDATE OF THE WEEK: NATURAL FOOD INC. RESPONDS TO OCA’S CRITICISMS

In a recent Organic Bytes, OCA criticized Whole Foods Market (WFM) and United Natural Foods for undermining organics by promoting and selling mostly conventional products (greenwashed as “Natural”), instead of certified organic products. OCA and thousands of organic consumers asked WFM & UNFI to begin to put pressure on their so-called “Natural” product suppliers to sign contracts with accredited certifiers and make the transition to organic. Unfortunately, instead of pressuring these “bottom line” companies to rethink dropping organic ingredients in favor of conventional ingredients, and to stop marketing conventional foods as if they were “as good as” or “nearly organic,” WFM and UNFI have “put the squeeze” on a number of OCA’s advertisers--costing our organization thousands of dollars in lost revenue. In spite of this blatant intimidation, OCA will not be silent. We will continue to expose the myth of so-called “Natural” foods and farming. We will continue educating ethical consumers, retailers, wholesalers, farmers, and food processors to put their money and their practices where their supposed values lie. To learn more, read the new essay by OCA Director Ronnie Cummins: The Organic Monopoly and the Myth of “Natural” Foods: How Industry Giants Are Undermining the Organic Movement Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18493.cfm

ALERT: TELL USDA DEPUTY SECRETARY THE DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN FACTORY AND FAMILY FARMS

USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, who helped craft the organic law and regulations as an aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and the head of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service under President Clinton, should be well-versed on the organic industry's worst controversies. In a speech at the All Things Organic trade show in Chicago on June 17, 2009, Deputy Secretary Merrigan said she was going to get "tough on crime" and go after fraud in the organic marketplace. But, when asked whether she was going to do something to help family-scale dairy farmers who are struggling to compete with factory farms masquerading as organic, Deputy Secretary Merrigan tried to dodge the organic dairy controversy by saying, "I'm not sure what a factory farm is or what a family farm is." As OCA network members know, the current organic dairy crisis was precipitated by widespread fraud in the organic dairy industry. The USDA has delayed enforcement for over 5 years of the law requiring mandatory pasture access for organic cows, while allowing giant intensive confinement dairy feedlots with thousands of cows to supply nutritionally inferior "organic" milk to Aurora & Dean Foods/Horizon, who in turn supply Wal-Mart, Safeway, & Target with the cheapest "organic" milk in the country. Justice delayed is justice denied. While we wait for USDA to enforce the law, the 90% of small & medium-sized organic dairy farmers (and even some large ones), who play by the rules & put their cows out to pasture every day during the growing season, are going out of business because they can't compete with the big confinement dairies of Aurora & Horizon, where production costs are 30% lower than grass-fed, pasture-based organic dairies. Explain to Deputy Secretary Merrigan that, as an organic consumer, you know the difference between family farms and factory farms & that you expect President Obama's USDA to stop labeling fraud in the organic dairy & personal care sectors and to maintain consumer trust in the USDA Organic label. Learn more and take action: http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=13678531

WEB FORUM POSTING OF THE WEEK: WHY I’M DITCHING PEACE CEREAL

Here’s an email received from an Organic Bytes reader: “For quite some time I ate Peace Cereal’s Essential 10. I liked it because it was a high-fiber cereal with not much sugar. And it was organic. Then one day sitting at the breakfast table eating my Essential 10 I noticed the box no longer said Organic. Basically the same box design with minor changes to remove the Organic markings...I wrote a letter to Peace Cereal telling them I was very unhappy and would no longer buy their products. They wrote back that the felt they could no longer be completely organic so that lower-income people could afford their product. That’s the kind of excuse I’d expect from Wal-Mart. And, of course, it wasn’t long before they raised all their prices anyway. A look at the Peace Cereal website shows that they now have only one cereal containing an organic ingredient. That ingredient is listed as a coating made from a Chai spice blend. I think those of us who value organics have an obligation to abandon those manufacturers and vendors who abandon us. And I hope co-ops will discontinue Peace Cereal. I now eat a different Organic cereal- Kashi Autumn Wheat. I think we all can find products that keep the organic promise.”
Post your thoughts on any OCA related issue in their web forum:

http://organicconsumers.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=2862

AVOIDING FOOD ADDITIVES

Health News of the Week: Preservatives in Meat Linked to Dementia and Cancer

According to a study published last week in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, sodium nitrite, which is a very common additive added to meat and fish to destroy toxins, reacts with proteins in the meat, damaging human DNA cells. The study links the preservatives to dementia diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The ingredient, which has also been linked to cancer, can be avoided by reading ingredient labels on meats like cold-cuts, hot dogs, and sausages. Sodium nitrite is a synthetic ingredient not allowed in organic foods. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18470.cfm

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Food Safety Tip of the Week: How to Avoid MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the most common and hazardous food additives on the market. MSG is reportedly more toxic than alcohol, tobacco and many drugs. MSG is an excitotoxin, so it tricks your brain into wanting you to eat more and more foods containing the ingredient, even if you are already full. Side effects of MSG include: obesity, eye damage, headaches, depression, fatigue and disorientation. Food manufacturers know that health-conscious consumers try to avoid MSG, so it is oftentimes not listed in a product's ingredients. MSG is banned in organic foods. Here's a list of ingredients that ALWAYS contain MSG:

Autolyzed Yeast -- Calcium Caseinate Gelatin Glutamate -- Glutamic Acid -- Hydrolyzed Protein Monopotassium Glutamate Monosodium -- Glutamate Sodium Caseinate -- Textured Protein -- Yeast Extract -- Yeast Food -- Yeast Nutrient

Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17608.cfm

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Top 12 Food Additives to Remove From Your Diet

Thanks to MSN Health & Fitness contributor Jean Weiss, a list of the most medically questionable and harmful additives in everyday foods has been compiled:

Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18426.cfm

CANARY CORNER

Looking Back & Forth: Past & Future Actions

FRAGRANCE-FREE CONFERENCE BETTER THAN EVER: In this third year of working to make the annual Friends General Conference Gathering (of Quakers) fragrance-free, we got a chance to expand our efforts. In addition to providing FF laundry detergent and liquid soap to laundry rooms and bathrooms used by participants, we had a fragrance-free table at which to display informational materials and sample products for smelling and testing! Compliance and understanding of our concern seemed to be rising from previous years.

NEED NOTICES FOR STINKY NEIGHBORS & PASSERS-BY: Besieged by plaintive reports of pesticide-spraying neighbors & perfume-reeking intruders on canary space, we’re thinking to tackle the formidable job of going after the doubters with a series of quick notes telling them why their actions make us sick! This is the most difficult task we’ve ever contemplated, because denial and chem-loving commercials reign - but it really needs to be done. And one flyer won’t do it. We need multiple efforts to overcome the barriers. Stay tuned.

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TAKE ACTION: SAFER CHEMICALS, HEALTHY FAMILIES CAMPAIGN

If you believe you have the right to be healthy, the right to work in a safe environment, and the right to know what chemicals are in your body, this is the national campaign you’ve been waiting for!

Join the thousands of people signing on to make a change.

Declare Your Independence from Toxic Chemicals!

By filling in the form at www.saferchemicals.org, you can send a personalized message to

your Member of Congress and Senators. (You can add your own comments to the letter)

Address questions to: info@saferchemicals.org

Subject: Protect Us from Toxic Chemicals

Dear Member of Congress,

Please support legislation that will soon be introduced to reform and modernize the nation’s law that is failing to protect my family from dangerous toxic chemicals.

Thousands of toxic chemicals, which have not been tested for safety, have been added to common items found in homes across America: in children’s toys and bottles, in food cans and soda can linings, in our mattresses, computers, shampoos, lotions and more. Pollution is not limited to products. Vast evidence proves there is pollution in people. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found toxic chemicals in the blood and urine of all Americans. Babies are born with hundreds of chemicals in their blood, which increase the risks of prostate and breast cancers, diabetes, heart disease, lowered sperm counts, early puberty and other diseases and disorders.

Additionally, many of our most significant trading partners are implementing stronger chemicals protection policies than we have in the U.S., putting our economy at further risk for not being able to compete in a global marketplace that is rapidly gaining awareness of the problems associated with runaway use of toxic chemicals.

The law governing toxic chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), is now 33 years old and has never been modernized. Outdated technologies and unsafe chemicals have created costs too great to bear to sustain our quality of life, with broad implications for our health care system and our economy.

There are 82,000 chemicals available for use in the U.S. yet only about 200 chemicals have been assessed for safety. Only 5 chemicals have been removed from use based on health and safety concerns. The time has come to give the federal government enough authority to require that chemicals be tested for safety before they are put into the products we use every day.

As your constituent, I urge you to support legislation that will:

1. Take immediate action to stop the use of the most dangerous toxic chemicals;

2. Give the EPA the power to assess the safety of all chemicals so that the health of all people and the environment, especially the most vulnerable subpopulations, including children, workers, and pregnant women will be protected;

3. Improve the right to know about toxic chemicals by allowing the public, workers, and the marketplace to have full access to information about the health hazards from chemicals and the way in which government safety decisions are made.

Legislation to modernize and update TSCA will be introduced soon. I urge you to support this effort to lead us into a new era of safer chemicals and healthy families.

Thank you for your leadership.

From Collaborative for Health & the Environment (CHE) Newsletter: July 2009

ENDOCRINE SOCIETY CALLS FOR PRECAUTIONARY ACTION

June 24, 2009: The Endocrine Society, a highly respected international medical society of over 14,000 members in 100 countries, issued a seminal new report stating that exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals are a growing threat to human health and well-being. This report sends a clear signal to other health-related professional societies as well as policymakers that we can no longer ignore environmental contributors to a wide range of diseases and disabilities.

The Endocrine Society is certainly not a ‘household’ name - nor an organization you may have even thought about before. But no one concerned about public health and the environment can overestimate the significance of The Endocrine Society’s new scientific report stating that exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are a growing threat to human health and well-being (find the report from the CHE website at: www.healthandenvironment.org). EDCs are synthetic chemicals found in everyday products - from lotions to can linings - that can disrupt the hormonal messaging system that choreographs the development and maintenance of the body’s biological systems.

The Endocrine Society’s statement, based on a thorough analysis of the peer-reviewed data from animal and human studies, indicates that exposures to EDCs are contributing to a wide range of public health concerns, including various cancers, reproductive health problems, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and neurological disorders. Of particular concern, the report states, are minute exposures to EDCs in the womb and early childhood during critical windows of development, which can have lifelong adverse health impacts. The statement also emphasizes that disease prevention is predicated on reducing exposures to EDCs, and asserts that, “Our chemical policies at the local, state and national levels, as well as globally, need to be formulated, financed and implemented to ensure the best public health.” In addition, the report explicitly states that “the precautionary principle is critical to enhancing health.”

This report, of course, is not the first time these issues have been raised - the seminal book, Our Stolen Future, co-authored by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers and published in 1996, clearly lays out the accumulated science over 50 years related to these concerns. However, this is the first time such a highly respected international medical society - an organization of over 14,000 members in 100 countries - has taken such an unqualified stance on EDCs.

Given the stature of The Endocrine Society, this ground-breaking statement sends a clear signal to other health professionals as well as policymakers that we simply cannot ignore environmental contributors to a wide range of diseases and disabilities. As members of CHE, we can bring this message to our own constituencies. For some, that might mean urging a health-related professional society to publicly endorse The Endocrine Society’s statement or develop its own resolution highlighting these findings. For others, this might mean using this statement to press for chemical policy reform on state, national and international levels.

Whatever you choose to do, know that this statement is not just another inscrutable scientific treatise, but a call to action to improve the health of our families and communities as well as future generations. See related NY Times article: www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/opinion/28kristof.html?_r=3&em, by Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, “It’s Time to Learn From Frogs”

With best wishes, Elise Miller, Med, Director Collaborative on Health and the Environment

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PLASTIC

By Leslie Crawford

www.care2.com/greenliving/everything-you-need-to-know-about-plastic.html

posted by Mel, selected from Natural Solutions magazine Jul 9, 2009 6:58 am

DEPLASTICIZING YOUR FOOD

Chemicals are most likely to migrate from plastic into food when exposed to high heat, harsh soaps, and fat. These precautionary measures can help you play it safe.

AVOID MICROWAVING IN PLASTIC. Heat speeds the release of chemicals into food. “People are being sold microwave-safe plastic, when in fact we’re not being told what’s in there and the rate at which these chemicals leach out,” says researcher Frederick vom Saal. Avoid this uncertainty by using ceramic or glass instead.

EXPLORE THE ALTERNATIVES. “I have one word for you: glass,” says Terry Hassold, a professor of genetics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who has studied the health effects of bisphenol-A (BPA) on mice. You can also store your food in ceramic containers, waxed- and brown paper bags, and metal canisters made for hot and cold food.

USE PAPER–NOT CLING-WRAP. Many studies indicate that most of the cling wrap used by delis and grocery stores contains high levels of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plasticizing chemical that has been linked to hormonal abnormalities in mice. (Happily, the cling wraps made for home use are safer.) Ask the butcher to wrap meat and fish in paper. And transfer fatty deli foods out of plastic wrap and into waxed paper when you get home. “If you put cling wrap that’s been plasticized on fatty foods, that stuff will migrate,” says Consumer Union’s Ned Groth. You might also want to cut off cheese’s outer layer–which has been directly exposed to plastic–before rewrapping it in something safer.

WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT. Discoloration, cracks, or other signs of wear suggest your plastic containers are degrading and may be leaching chemicals into your food. Once you’ve purged your kitchen of old plastic food bins and cups, splurge on a replacement set made of glass.

LIMIT YOUR EXPOSURE. The longer food sits in plastic, the greater its time of exposure to chemicals that could migrate into it. If you must buy food in plastic–and it’s hard not to transfer it into a more food-friendly container once you get home.

WASH PLASTIC BY HAND. “It only takes 20 washings in the dishwasher for BPA to start leaching,” says vom Saal. Along with high heat, harsh detergents break down plastic as well. Wash your plastic containers, even those labeled “dishwasher safe,” by hand in warm water and mild detergent.

READ THE LABEL. While you’ll never find an actual list of ingredients, many plastics come with labels of sorts: those triangles with numbers inside found on the bottom of plastic containers. The numbers you most want to avoid are 3, 6, and 7. The safest numbers are 1, 2, and 5–the type of plastics used in most small water bottles and all soda bottles, yogurt containers, tubs of butter, and so on. At the very least, look for brands billing themselves as “PVC-free.”

BUY GLASS BOTTLES. Some of the clear plastics, like baby bottles, are treated with bisphenol-A, to which infants are particularly vulnerable. “Using these bottles is like putting a serious drug into what the baby’s drinking,” says vom Saal. Look for glass baby bottles by Evenflo. And avoid drinking water from those five-gallon water jugs delivered to offices and homes, which also contain BPA. Opt instead for filtered water from the tap.

BUY IN BULK. Health food stores are selling everything from pasta to tofu in bulk, and the plastic used to bag bulk products isn’t known to be toxic, says Groth. To play it really safe, you can transfer your bagged items to glass containers at home.

Plastic by the Numbers: Many plastics are classified by one of seven codes located in that familiar triangle on the bottom of containers and bottles. (The triangle doesn’t mean a plastic container is recyclable; the number inside it simply indicates the kind of resin used.) With plastic wraps and bags, it’s harder to know which chemicals have been used. At the very least, look for brands that advertise on their packaging that they don’t contain PVC.

Until consumers demand better labeling on plastic products, you’ll never know exactly what you’re getting in your bottles, bins, and bags, but here are a few suspects to try to steer clear of.

#3 Vinyl or PVC (polyvinyl chloride) Where it lurks: Most commercial cling wrap used in grocery stores and delis; bottles used to store many brands of olive and cooking oils; some water bottles. Risks: Contains plasticizers that are suspected endocrine disrupters and carcinogens.

#6 PS (polystyrene) Where it lurks: Some disposable plastic cups and bowls; most opaque plastic cutlery. Risks: Contains p-nonylphenol and styrene, both of which are carcinogens and suspected hormone disrupters.

#7 “Other” (Usually polycarbonate, or PC) Where it lurks: Most clear plastic baby bottles, five-gallon water jugs; clear plastic sippy cups; some clear plastic cutlery. Risks: “Other” is a catchall category, meaning you don’t know what you’re getting. Most worrisome, many plastics labeled “7″ contain bisphenol-A (BPA), an endocrine disrupter.

Natural Solutions: Vibrant Health, Balanced Living offers the latest news on health conditions, herbs & supplements, natural beauty products, healing foods & conscious living. For a free sample issue, go to:

www.naturalsolutionsmag.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/subscribe.subcribe/offer/ams1

HEALTHY HOME TIPS: THE SERIES

Product safety info for the whole family. from Environmental Working Group (EWG)

Find all the links listed below at: www.ewg.org/Health-Tips

Questions? Get in touch with Lisa Frack, our online parent organizer, at lisa@ewg.org .

Consumer Tip of the Week: Sunscreen. Environmental Working Group Releases 2009 Sunscreen Consumer Guide. Does your sunscreen work? Surprisingly, 3 of 5 brand-name sunscreens either don't protect skin from sun damage or contain hazardous chemicals - or both. An EWG investigation of 1,590 sunscreens rates the season's best and worst. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18473.cfm

EWG is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization in Washington, DC, dedicated to using the power of information to protect human health & the environment. The EWG Action Fund is a legislative advocacy organization that uses EWG research to promote healthy and sustainable policies: www.ewg.org

ROUND UP’S INERT INGREDIENTS

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/roundup-weed-killer-

Environmental Health News, June 22, 2009. By Crystal Gammon

Weed killer kills human cells. Study intensifies debate over 'inert' ingredients.

Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup's inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. The new findings intensify a debate about so-called "inerts" - the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States. About 100 million pounds are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year, according to the EPA. Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate, rather than the mixture of ingredients found in Roundup. But in the new study, scientists found that Roundup's inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells-even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns. One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself - a finding the researchers call "astonishing." "This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in Roundup formulations are not inert," wrote the study authors from France's University of Caen. "Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels" found on Roundup-treated crops, such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or lawns and gardens. The research team suspects that Roundup might cause pregnancy problems by interfering with hormone production, possibly leading to abnormal fetal development, low birth weights or miscarriages.

Monsanto, Roundup's manufacturer, contends that the methods used in the study don't reflect realistic conditions and that their product, which has been sold since the 1970s, is safe when used as directed. Hundreds of studies over the past 35 years have addressed the safety of glyphosate. "Roundup has one of the most extensive human health safety and environmental data packages of any pesticide that's out there," said Monsanto spokesman John Combest. "It's used in public parks, it's used to protect schools. There's been a great deal of study on Roundup, and we're very proud of its performance."

The EPA considers glyphosate to have low toxicity when used at the recommended doses. "Risk estimates for glyphosate were well below the level of concern," said EPA spokesman Dale Kemery. The EPA classifies glyphosate as a Group E chemical, which means there is strong evidence that it does not cause cancer in humans. In addition, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture both recognize POEA as an inert ingredient. Derived from animal fat, POEA is allowed in products certified organic by the USDA. The EPA has concluded that it is not dangerous to public health or the environment. The French team, led by Gilles-Eric Seralini, a University of Caen molecular biologist, said its results highlight the need for health agencies to reconsider the safety of Roundup. "The authorizations for using these Roundup herbicides must now clearly be revised since their toxic effects depend on, & are multiplied by, other compounds used in the mixtures," Seralini's team wrote.

Controversy about the safety of the weed killer recently erupted in Argentina, one of the world's largest exporters of soy. Last month, an environmental group petitioned Argentina's Supreme Court, seeking a temporary ban on glyphosate use after an Argentine scientist and local activists reported a high incidence of birth defects and cancers in people living near crop-spraying areas. Scientists there also linked genetic malformations in amphibians to glysophate. In addition, last year in Sweden, a scientific team found that exposure is a risk factor for people developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Inert ingredients are often less scrutinized than active pest-killing ingredients. Since specific herbicide formulations are protected as trade secrets, manufacturers aren't required to publicly disclose them. Although Monsanto is the largest manufacturer of glyphosate-based herbicides, several other manufacturers sell similar herbicides with different inert ingredients. The term "inert ingredient" is often misleading, according to Caroline Cox, research director of the Center for Environmental Health, an Oakland-based environmental organization. Federal law classifies all pesticide ingredients that don't harm pests as "inert," she said. Inert compounds, therefore, aren't necessarily biologically or toxicologically harmless - they simply don't kill insects or weeds.

Kemery said the EPA takes into account the inert ingredients and how the product is used, whenever a pesticide is approved for use. The aim, he said, is to ensure that "if the product is used according to labeled directions, both people's health and the environment will not be harmed." One label requirement for Roundup is that it should not be used in or near freshwater to protect amphibians and other wildlife. But some inert ingredients have been found to potentially affect human health. Many amplify the effects of active ingredients by helping them penetrate clothing, protective equipment and cell membranes, or by increasing their toxicity. For example, a Croatian team recently found that an herbicide formulation containing atrazine caused DNA damage, which can lead to cancer, while atrazine alone did not.

POEA was recognized as a common inert ingredient in herbicides in the 1980s, when researchers linked it to a group of poisonings in Japan. Doctors there examined patients who drank Roundup, either intentionally or accidentally, and determined that their sicknesses and deaths were due to POEA, not glyphosate. POEA is a surfactant, or detergent, derived from animal fat. It is added to Roundup and other herbicides to help them penetrate plants' surfaces, making the weed killer more effective. "POEA helps glyphosate interact with the surfaces of plant cells," explained Negin Martin, a scientist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina, who was not involved in the study. POEA lowers water's surface tension--the property that makes water form droplets on most surfaces--which helps glyphosate disperse & penetrate the waxy surface of a plant.

In the French study, researchers tested four different Roundup formulations, all containing POEA and glyphosate at concentrations below the recommended lawn and agricultural dose. They also tested POEA and glyphosate separately to determine which caused more damage to embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. Glyphosate, POEA and all four Roundup formulations damaged all three cell types. Umbilical cord cells were especially sensitive to POEA. Glyphosate became more harmful when combined with POEA, and POEA alone was more deadly to cells than glyphosate. The research appears in the January issue of the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology. By using embryonic and placental cell lines, which multiply and respond to chemicals rapidly, and fresh umbilical cord cells, Seralini's team was able to determine how the chemicals combine to damage cells. The two ingredients work together to "limit breathing of the cells, stress them and drive them towards a suicide," Seralini said. The research was funded in part by France's Committee for Research and Independent Information on Genetic Engineering, a scientific committee that investigates risks associated with genetically modified organisms. One of Roundup's primary uses is on crops that are genetically engineered to be resistant to glyphosate.

Monsanto scientists argue that cells in Seralini's study were exposed to unnaturally high levels of the chemicals. "It's very unlike anything you'd see in real-world exposure. People's cells are not bathed in these things," said Donna Farmer, another toxicologist at Monsanto. Seralini's team, however, did study multiple concentrations of Roundup. These ranged from the typical agricultural or lawn dose down to concentrations 100,000 times more dilute than the products sold on shelves. The researchers saw cell damage at all concentrations.

Monsanto scientists also question the French team's use of laboratory cell lines. "These are just not very good models of a whole organism, like a human being," said Dan Goldstein, a toxicologist with Monsanto. Goldstein said humans have protective mechanisms that resist substances in the environment, such as skin and the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, which constantly renew themselves. "Those phenomena just don't happen with isolated cells in a Petri dish."

But Cox, who studies pesticides and their inert ingredients at the Oakland environmental group, says lab experiments like these are important in determining whether a chemical is safe. "We would never consider it ethical to test these products on people, so we're obliged to look at their effects on other species and in other systems," she said. "There's really no way around that."

Seralini said the cells used in the study are widely accepted in toxicology as good models for studying the toxicity of chemicals. "The fact is that 90 percent of labs studying mechanisms of toxicity or physiology use cell lines," he said.

Most research has examined glyphosate alone, rather than combined with Roundup's inert ingredients. Researchers who have studied Roundup formulations have drawn conclusions similar to the Seralini group's. For example, in 2005, University of Pittsburg ecologists added Roundup at the manufacturer's recommended dose to ponds filled with frog and toad tadpoles. When they returned two weeks later, they found that 50 to 100 percent of the populations of several species of tadpoles had been killed.

A group of over 250 environmental, health and labor organizations has petitioned the EPA to change requirements for identifying pesticides' inert ingredients. The agency's decision is due this fall. "It would be a big step for the agency to take," said Cox. "But it's one they definitely should." The groups claim that the laws allowing manufacturers to keep inert ingredients secret from competitors are essentially unnecessary. Companies can determine a competitor's inert ingredients through routine lab analyses, said Cox. "The proprietary protection laws really only keep information from the public," she said.

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ALERT: TELL USDA DEPUTY SECRETARY THE DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN FACTORY AND FAMILY FARMS

From Collaborative for Health & the Environment (CHE) Newsletter: July 2009

ENDOCRINE SOCIETY CALLS FOR PRECAUTIONARY ACTION

With best wishes, Elise Miller, Med, Director Collaborative on Health and the Environment

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PLASTIC

www.care2.com/greenliving/everything-you-need-to-know-about-plastic.html

HEALTHY HOME TIPS: THE SERIES

Product safety info for the whole family. from Environmental Working Group (EWG)

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