NEW CONSUMER PROTECTION PAGE & NEWS OF HOUSEHOLD PRODUCT LABELING ACT

INFORMATION FROM U.S. REPRESENTATIVE  STEVE ISRAEL OF NEW YORK

http://israel.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=205&sectiontree=3,205

Household Product Labeling:  Consumers use billions of pounds of cleaning & other household products every year. Cleaning the house means spraying tile and counter cleaners around the kitchen & bathroom and washing clothes and dishes in detergents. As it now stands, consumers have little to no information about the chemicals contained in these products and there is no legal requirement for full ingredient labeling.  Some laundry detergents include monothanolanmine, a surfactant known to induce occupational asthma. Phthalates, which have been linked to a list of adverse problems including reduced sperm count in adult men and allergies and asthma in children, are used as fragrance carriers in detergents and glass cleaners. A study by Environmental Working Group testing air emissions from 21 products found a total of 457 air contaminants, including known carcinogens.

Rep. Israel introduced the Household Product Labeling Act (H.R.3057) during the 111th Congress so that finally consumers can get all the facts about the products used every day in the home.  (Senate sponsor was Al Franken). The Household Product Labeling Act will require manufacturers of cleaning products to list all the ingredients clearly on the product or its packing.  Rep. Israel’s bill is endorsed by: Audubon Society, Environmental Working Group, Cancer Prevention Coalition, Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Healthy Child Healthy World, Toxics Information Project, OMB Watch, Public Citizen, Oregon Toxics Alliance, Oregon Center for Environmental Health, Method, SEIU, Seventh Generation, Teens Turning Green, Maid Brigade, Breast Cancer Action and Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. 

11-5-09 from: "Consumers Union" action@consumer.org You wouldn’t intentionally put yourself or your family in harm’s way.  But every time you eat canned food or drink from certain plastic containers, you may be unwittingly exposing yourself to a chemical linked to breast and prostate cancers, diabetes and heart disease.  This chemical, known as Bisphenol A or BPA for short, is found in can liners and some clear plastics, where it can leach into food and beverages -- and then into your system.  Canada and some U.S. cities and states recently restricted its use in children’s food and beverage containers because of the potential health effects. Now, a new Consumer Reports investigation has found the chemical in all 19 brand-name foods we tested. One serving of the highest levels detected (found in canned green beans) would expose a small child to levels near or above those shown to cause harm in animal studies. And just one or a few servings of any cans we tested would exceed our level of harm.

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The safety standard used for BPA exposure is more than 20 years old. Since then, hundreds of studies have shown potentially dangerous health effects at levels dramatically lower than the current government safety limit. BPA mimics the female hormone estrogen, and has been linked to numerous health problems, including increased cancer risk. Pregnant women, babies and toddlers are especially vulnerable, and BPA can be found in many baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula cans.  Food and beverage containers are available that don't seem to contain this chemical, and fresh food is also an alternative, so there is no good reason to put ourselves and our families at unnecessary risk. But most of the giant chemical companies are fighting this ban tooth and nail – BPA is one of the top produced chemicals in the world.  The more Americans who speak out against these unnecessary chemicals, the more we can change how companies do business.

Tell the FDA to prohibit the use of BPA in contact with food – sign our petition now.

There’s no need for BPA – sign our petition, and then forward this to friends and family so they can, too.  Sincerely, Jean Halloran, BuySafeEatWell.org   A Project of Consumers Union

(Beyond Pesticides, December 21, 2009) Earlier this month, Congressman Jim Moran of Northern Virginia and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts introduced legislation to explore linkages between hormone disrupting chemicals in the environment and everyday products and the dramatic increase of autism, hyperactivity, diabetes, obesity, breast cancer, prostate cancer and other hormone related disorders. After the identification of endocrine disruptors, the legislation requires federal agencies with regulatory authority to report to Congress on the action it plans to take.  For years, scientists have noted strange anomalies in fish and wildlife in locations where endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are found. A recent study found that an astounding 100 percent of small mouth bass in certain sites of the Potomac River basin have exhibited both male and female organs, a characteristic linked to EDCs. According to a 2009 study by the U.S. Geologic Survey, the occurrence of “intersex” fish is now found to be nationwide.

“These fish are the proverbial ‘canaries in the coal mine,’ a symptom of a larger sickness in our environment. The implications for humans are real and deeply troubling,” said U.S. Representative Moran, who worked with experts for roughly a year to craft the legislation.  “We need facts driven by science, not politics, ideology, or powerful interests, when it comes to understanding the risks associated with chemicals - especially where there’s real concern about harmful developmental disorders in children,” Senator Kerry said after introducing the companion bill in the Senate. “The better we understand these chemicals, the better equipped we’ll be to protect kids and the public.”

EDCs are thought to be harmful because they interfere with the body’s endocrine system where hormones are used to regulate human development, metabolism, growth, and reproduction. These man-made chemicals are used in everyday materials but appearing in increasing levels throughout the environment. “From laundry detergent to pesticides, from fire retardant clothing to plastic baby bottles, these products are potential vehicles for human exposure to EDCs whose long term health effects are unknown,” Rep. Moran said.  The Endocrine Disruption Prevention Act of 2009 [H.R. 4190] would facilitate the research necessary to determine whether these chemicals are affecting human health. Specifically, the act authorizes an ambitious new research program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to identify EDCs and establish an independent panel of scientists to oversee research and develop a prioritized list of chemicals for investigation. If the panel determines that a chemical presents even a minimal level of concern, it compels the federal agencies with established regulatory authority to report to Congress and propose next steps within six months.

The inadequacy of the current federal effort was highlighted this October, when the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled the first phase of tests to determine the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals under an initiative mandated by Congress in 1996. Despite more than a decade’s time, the tests are limited to only a handful of pesticides and are based on science that many consider outdated.

“The new approach proposed by the Endocrine Disruption Prevention Act—including the creation of an independent task force of leading scientists—will improve existing government efforts so we can finally get the kind of timely, accurate, practical data we need to protect public health,” said Rep. Moran. “Under this bill, science, not politics and bureaucracy, will set the stage for regulatory action.”

According to Beyond Pesticides’ research, when intersex fish were first discovered in the Potomac River, the USGS identified: atrazine, a common herbicide used in agriculture and on lawns that is already linked to sexual abnormalities in frogs; insecticides chlorpyrifos and endosulfan; the herbicide metolachlor; and two chemicals used to add fragrance to perfumes, soaps and other products, tonalide and galaxolide. Disturbingly, there are more commonly used pesticides that are known or suspected endocrine disruptors, such as 2,4-D, lindane, and permethrin.  A recent study found that the commonly used lawn pesticide formulation Round-up, with the active ingredient glyphosate, causes damaging endocrine effects in fetuses. EPA does not currently evaluate or consider the endocrine disrupting properties of pesticides during registration or reregistration.

The environmental effects of these endocrine disrupting chemicals have been well-established: pseudo-hermaphrodite polar bears with penis-like stumps, panthers with atrophied testicles, hermaphroditic deformities in frogs, and male trout with eggs growing in their testes have all been documented as the probable result of these chemicals in the environment. Many scientists believe that wildlife provides early warnings of effects produced by endocrine disruptors, which may as yet be unobserved in humans.

The Endocrine Disruption Prevention Act has been endorsed by The Endocrine Society, the world’s largest and most active professional organization of endocrinologists, representing over 14,000 members worldwide, and by over 160 independent scientists.  For more information on endocrine disrupting pesticides, see Beyond Pesticides’ article “Pesticides That Disrupt Endocrine System Still Unregulated By EPA” and BP’s Daily News Blog on endocrine disruptors for the latest news and research.  For more information on the Endocrine Disruption Prevention Act, including a bill fact sheet, fact sheet and how you can help, see the Endocrine Disruption Exchange.

Blogging policy reform:  Read EDF's series of posts pressing for reform of chemicals policy: 

Toxic Ignorance is Not Bliss   12/07/2009;  A big day for chemicals   12/02/2009; 

Bottom lines: Stating the business case for chemicals policy reform   12/01/2009

Take Action!  Tell Congress to strengthen standards for toxic chemicals.

https://secure2.edf.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1640

MESSAGE FROM SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE RE: TSCA (TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT)

Tue, 17 Nov 2009   From: "Sheldon Whitehouse" <sheldon_whitehouse@whitehouse.senate.gov> 

Thank you for contacting me with your support for Toxic Substances Control Act(TSCA) reform. I appreciate having the benefit of your views, and I share your belief that Americans deserve strong protections against exposure to potentially toxic substances. As you may know, during the 110th Congress, I was a proud original cosponsor of the Kid Safe Chemicals Act of 2008 (S. 3040). This bill would have amended the Toxic Substances Control Act to reduce the exposure of children, workers, and consumers to toxic chemical substances. It also would have established a strengthened safety standard for each chemical on the market and shifted the burden for proving chemicals are safe from the EPA to the chemical manufacturers themselves. Under the bill, the manufacturers would be required to provide the EPA with sufficient data to determine if a chemical presents a risk to children's health. In the 111th Congress, Senator Lautenberg, the sponsor of S. 3040 in the 110th Congress, is again expected to introduce legislation to update TSCA to better protect the public from toxic chemical exposure. I look forward to working closely with him to move this legislation forward, in my capacity as a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and its Toxics and Environmental Health Subcommittee.

You might also be interested to know that earlier this year I introduced the Mercury Pollution Reduction Act (S. 1428), which would amend TSCA to require all chlor-alkali facilities to transition to a cleaner, newer production technology, which eliminates all mercury emissions and contamination from the production of chlorine and caustic soda. This bill is a significant and necessary step towards removing mercury pollution from our environment and lessening its impact on public health. Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that has been linked to loss of muscle coordination, speech impairment, and memory loss, among other troubling symptoms, especially in children. S. 1428 has been referred to the EPW Committee, where it awaits further consideration. Rest assured, I will actively work towards passage of this bill and other key pieces of legislation that will reform and strengthen TSCA. Once again, thank you for contacting me about this important issue. I hope you will stay in touch about this or any other issue of concern to you.