Frankly Green

Everyday Chemicals May Be Harming Kids, Panel Told

In this day and age, it is baffling to me that we actually need to INTRODUCE legislation "that would require chemical manufacturers to prove the safety of their products before they're released into the market." Should this not be the de facto standard? Unfortunately not!!

Newark, New Jersey (CNN) -- Of the 84,000 chemicals on the market today -- many of which are in objects that people come into contact with every day -- only about 1 percent of them have been studied for safety, Sen. Frank Lautenberg said Tuesday. Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, told a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health that such little oversight means that children in the United States are virtual "guinea pigs in an uncontrolled experiment."

Greens Turn to Small-Scale Issues

By: Coral Davenport
Click Here for Full article

Climate change wasn’t the only environmental issue on Congress’s agenda over the past three years — it just seemed that way.

With the cap-and-trade bill dead in the Senate, lawmakers and environmental groups are looking to shine the spotlight on a slew of problems that received almost no attention in recent years, such as acid rain, overfishing, polluted drinking water and toxic chemicals in consumer products.

Strawberries Are About to Get More Toxic

Yet another example of corporate interests influencing decision-makers to make bad decisions. How can anyone honestly say that using methyl iodide, a chemical used to CREATE cancer in laboratory rats, is a good thing? It's not! Make your voice heard! There is a link at the end of the article where you can send your comments. More to come..........

__________________ 

Caveat eater: Strawberries are about to get more toxic 

Link to Article

Ever wondered exactly how powerful the biggest corporate lobbies are? In Washington, note that Republicans support suspected terrorists' "right" to purchase guns, even while maintaining that no other part of the U.S. Constitution or the Geneva Conventions apply to them. And in Sacramento, a pesticide so cancer-causing that it's often used specifically to create cancer in rats for medical experiments was just proposed for approval for use on the state's strawberry crop.

The state's own Department of Pesticide Regulation had advised in a report against approving the gas, methyl iodide. And several Nobel prize winners asked the U.S. EPA not to approve it. (It did.) According to farmers, there are a number of alternatives to the stuff, including solarization, anaerobic soil disinfestation and natural pesticides. And it's especially important to use safe materials only in strawberries, which hold the chemicals they're treated with. (More background in this TGL post.)

Lobbying for methyl iodide, we have a single company, the largest pesticide manufacturer in the world, Arysta LifeScience. The Strawberry Growers Commission — the people who employ the people who'd be breathing the stuff in — had weakly declined to take a position.

The state is accepting public comment through June 14. Let them know that people trump profits.

Correction: Approval of methyl iodide has been proposed but not yet finalized, pending public comment.

 

Kids Safe Chemical Act

Below is a note that my friend Greg T. sent to all his friends after attending the presentation by Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group last night. Thanks Greg, not just for the great write-up, but for taking action!! And thanks to my friend Marie M. for organizing the event and to all the other co-hosts that made the event a huge success (over 300 people attended!)

There is also a great post on More Green Mom's.

Friends -

The Kid Safe Chemicals Act (KSCA), if passed, will overhaul the incredibly weak Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976.
Please call or write your senator or representative ASAP, and urge them to vote for the KSCA.

I saw a one hour version of this presentation tonight by Ken Cook.   The video is 20 minutes.  It is a must see, for all who care about our children, ourselves and the future of the human race.  Link to Video.

Here is a link to a newspaper article that summarizes the presentation that Ken has been giving all over the country since 2005.

There are now over 80,000 toxic chemicals in products that are strongly implicated in statistics such as:
-        40% increase in childhood brain cancer in the past 20 years
-        62% increase in childhood leukemia in past 20 years
-        Skyrocketing rates of infertility in women under 25
-        1 in 150 children with autism, and NO cases of severe autism in adults, because the chemicals                 causing autism are new
-        3.6% of children with asthma in 1980 and 9.8% of children with asthma in 2000
-        Huge increases in breast cancer, prostate cancer, birth defects, ADHD and on and on

In order to get a new drug approved (through FDA), it takes many years, animal studies, human studies, and many millions of dollars to prove the drug is safe and efficacious.  Even then, all drugs have side effects and some drugs are eventually taken off the market because of hazards that went undetected in 10 years and 10s or 100s of millions of dollars of testing.  In striking contrast, for new chemicals to be sold, there are no health and safety studies required and virtually no disclosures necessary for the chemical to be put on the market.  The entire approval process for a new chemical (through EPA) takes about 3 weeks.  A total of only 5 chemicals of the 80,000 have been severely restricted or banned using the law in the past 33 years.  Amazingly, the law was too weak to get asbestos removed from the market when the first President Bush attempted to do so.

Please call or write your congressional and senate representatives and urge them to pass the Kid Safe Chemicals Act.  And sign the Declaration. We can and must create a tidal wave of support for KSCA, to reverse the horrific wave of human damage caused by unregulated chemicals.

Greg

Solar Versus Energy Efficiency

Solar gets more subsidies, but home energy efficiency may be more cost-effective

Reporter Ben Arnoldy, The Christian Science Monitor
Link to Article

When Ted and Astrid Olsson set out to cut their home electricity bill, they had three strong incentives to buy solar panels: federal, state, and city subsidies. But they shelved the idea in favor of insulating the attic of their San Francisco Victorian.

While it’s not as sexy as a rooftop rack of silicon, improving a home’s energy efficiency tends to be the more cost-effective way to trim carbon emissions. So why are politicians showering subsidies on residential solar instead?

That’s the question posed by Matt Golden, president of Sustainable Spaces, a company specializing in optimizing the energy performance of homes. He convinced the Olssons to think first about energy efficiency, but with every new solar subsidy, it gets harder for him to get homeowners’ attention and contracts.

World Mandate on Climate Action

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Link to Article

Thanks to Elicia V. for this article!

An opinion poll in 11 countries has produced what organisers term a "global mandate" for action on climate change.

About half of the respondents wanted governments to play a major role in curbing emissions, but only a quarter said their leaders were doing enough. In developing countries, a majority of people were prepared to make "lifestyle changes" to reduce climate change.

State, Federal Officials Halt Spraying for Apple Moth

I just made the post on this issue yesterday, and this news comes across today!! Wow, the state and federal authorities must be reading Frankly Green :)

A big thank you to Alexis, Eleanor, Garbielle, Sandie and the many others who championed the efforts to stop the spray! The future health of the Bay Area will be much better thanks to you! And it is a great example for others how individuals can make a difference!!

(This photo looks much better without the airplane spraying chemicals - see previous post)

Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
Thursday, June 19, 2008

Link to Article

(06-19) 15:33 PDT Sacramento -- The San Francisco Bay Area and other urban areas in the state will no longer be sprayed aerially with a pesticide to eradicate the light brown apple moth, state and federal agriculture officials announced Thursday.

Instead the agricultural departments intend to fight the leaf-munching moth by releasing sterile moths and using other ground methods, said California Agricultural Secretary A.G. Kawamura and U.S. Department of Agricultural official Cindy Smith at a press conference.

The government had planned to spray counties where the moth had been found later this summer and fall. Thursday's announcement comes after government leaders and thousands of residents questioned the safety and effectiveness of the program.

Guest Post: I Prefer to Breathe, Thank You.

A guest post by Alexis Fryer.

I realize that this post and the previous post appeal only to the readers in the Bay Area, but this is an important issue. And since I have a lot of readers in the Bay Area, I wanted to make these two posts. Thank you, Alexis, for this post.......

I am concerned about the aerial pesticide spray planned in San Francisco and I think you should be, too.

The spray is designed to disrupt the mating cycle of the male light brown apple moth (LBAM), and contains pheromones in addition to “inert” ingredients, the formulation of which is known only to the manufacturer. The pheromone is housed in microscopic plastic capsules, small enough to penetrate deep into lung tissue.  Spraying will occur over San Francisco, southern Marin County and the East Bay monthly for a period of 3-10 years, that’s 36 to 120 exposures.

The spray has already occurred in Santa Cruz and Monterey, and caused hundreds of people health problems including respiratory distress, dizziness, and skin problems. Many pets were affected, and some pet deaths have been attributed to the spray of the pesticide.

There are many points explored in the media on this topic. I see the most salient are the following:

Five Simple Steps You Can Take to Fight the Spray Today

 Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the aerial pesticide spray proposed for San Francisco and several surrounding populations.  We urge you to dedicate your efforts to this issue and to help us further spread awareness of the potential dangers associated with this program.

The obvious key question is what can each of us do to stop the spray from happening?  

Because the program originates from federal powers, only our Governor can effectively halt the spray from occurring.  Alternatively, our Congressional and Senatorial legislators can apply pressure to have the moth re-classified and removed from a zero tolerance list, which is directly tied to California’s agricultural trade potential.  Finally, we can buy time to build pressure and demand more comprehensive health and environmental impact reports from impartial parties if our City files litigation to demand that these studies are completed before citizens are placed in harm’s way.

Therefore, if you want to help stop the spray, you can make the appropriate requests to the contacts below.  In addition, take some time to consider whether your schools, businesses, book clubs, philanthropic enterprises, corner stores etc. may be leveraged to increase awareness, and apply visible pressure on behalf of our greater community.  Our collective connectivity and influence must be put into full play immediately.

So we urge you to respectfully and knowledgeably contact the following key players to ask for their protection and assistance:

The Environmental Cost of Shipping Groceries Around the World

Every wonder why buying local products can have a positive environmental impact? This excellent article about the true costs of shipping food around the world will help explain. I was fascinated to learn that fuel used in international freight carried by air and sea is not taxed! That means that we are subsidizing the true costs of shipping food around the globe! And it makes no sense that Great Britain imports 15,000 tons of waffles each year while simultaneously importing the same amount! And regular readers know how I feel about shipping water around the globe. 

The New York TImes
April 26, 2008
By Elizabeth Rosenthal

Link to Article

Cod caught off Norway is shipped to China to be turned into filets, then shipped back to Norway for sale. Argentine lemons fill supermarket shelves on the Citrus Coast of Spain, as local lemons rot on the ground. Half of Europe’s peas are grown and packaged in Kenya.

In the United States, FreshDirect proclaims kiwi season has expanded to “All year!” now that Italy has become the world’s leading supplier of New Zealand’s national fruit, taking over in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.

...

But the movable feast comes at a cost: pollution — especially carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas — from transporting the food.