Clean and Healthy New York

Naptime Nightmares? Toxic Flame Retardants Found in Day Care Nap Mat

Advocates call on New York State Legislators to Protect Children from Toxic Chemicals

Children’s nap mats from California, New York, Washington, Alaska, Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut contain harmful flame retardant chemicals, according to independent testing commissioned by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH). The flame retardant chemicals found in the nap mats, which are used in daycares nationwide, have been linked to cancer, genetic damage, impacts on fertility and reproductive health, allergies, hormone disruption, and other serious health problems.

A full copy of the report is available here: http://www.ceh.org/flame-retardants

Safeguarding Kids’ Health while Protecting the Great Lakes

 

Clean and Healthy New York and Child Care Council, Inc. recently announced a new partnership to educate child care providers in the Great Lakes basin about common toxic chemicals and how to choose safer products. Clean and Healthy New York received a two-year Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant for “Toxics Reduction through Day Care Provider Engagement” from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Using the framework of the award-winning Eco-Healthy Child Care^® program run by the national Children’s Environmental Health Network, the two organizations will reach out to all the child care providers in New York state’s Great Lakes basin, offering trainings and on-site technical assistance. The program goals are protecting children’s health by making their daily environment safer, while reducing use of chemicals prioritized by U.S. EPA through the agency’s Chemical Action Plans. 

“Toxic chemicals, sadly, are nearly everywhere, including the child care setting,” said Katie Kelly, Program Coordinator for Clean and Healthy New York. “The good news is they don’t have to be, but avoiding them can be a challenge. This project is designed to protect children today in the child care setting while improving their environment for years to come by keeping toxic chemicals out of the Great Lakes basin.”

Call for Non-Toxic Nation Comes to Times Square

Widespread use of toxic chemicals must end, group says

(Albany, NY)  Toxic chemicals are everywhere – in our homes, schools, even our bodies.  These chemicals are linked to rising rates of childhood cancer, learning disabilities, and asthma.  Clean and Healthy New York is bringing this message to Times Square this winter.  Timed to coincide with New York’s 2013 legislative session, Clean and Healthy New York asks viewers to “help us build a non-toxic New York through stronger laws and safer products,” and to visit www.cleanhealthyny.org, where the video can be viewed on-line. 

The ad runs on CBS’s 20’ by 26’ SuperScreen in Times Square every hour, every day until March 31st. Millions of people pass through the Square each week, giving the organization unprecedented visibility on this environmental health issue.

“We know that people are tired of discovering that seemingly innocuous products are actually contaminating them,” said Kathy Curtis, Executive Director for Clean and Healthy New York. “Most Americans and small businesses support much more comprehensive regulation of chemicals.  Our kids shouldn’t be guinea pigs.  This is a problem we can solve together.”

26 States to Consider Toxic Chemicals Legislation in 2013

By Sarah Doll, National Director for Safer States

Despite intense industry opposition and Congressional inaction, state governments continue to defend the vulnerable from toxic chemical exposure.

Each year, state legislatures continue to prove that they are the leaders in protecting public health from toxic chemicals. In the past ten years, 19 states have adopted more than 93 chemical safety policies and this year, they are looking to make more change.

In 2013, we expect at least 26 states to consider legislation and policy changes that will:

• Restrict or label the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in receipts, children's products and food packaging.
• Require removal of certain toxic flame retardants from children's products, home furniture or building materials.
• Change disclosure rules so that concerned consumers will have a way to identify toxic chemicals in products.
• Encourage manufacturers to remove identified toxic chemicals in favor of safer alternatives.
• Ban cadmium, a dangerous, persistent metal that is often found in inexpensive children's jewelry.
• Ban formaldehyde from cosmetics and children's products.
• Promote green cleaning products in schools.

We have seen that state laws snowball into changes in national toxic chemical policy. In 2012, so many states had passed laws banning BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups that manufacturers gave up their fierce battle against bans and removed the toxic chemical from all such products nationwide.

We are now looking to effect the same change with more toxic chemicals and more products. And although it's early in the year, we're already seeing momentum toward increased BPA oversight in Suffolk County, New York and Maine (more info).

But the fight will continue to be tough. Every step of the way, the Safer States coalition has been, and will continue to be, met with tough opposition from the chemical industry, which is backed by billions of dollars in influence. "The chemical lobby, just like the tobacco industry before it, has impeded serious regulation and is even trying to block research," said Nick Kristof this week in a New York Times article which discusses chemicals that may be contributing to obesity.

One focus of state legislatures will be Tris flame retardants, which are probable carcinogens and found in products made of foam, including baby sleep products and couches. The chemical has become infamous because of the chemical industry's intense misinformation campaignuncovered last year by the Chicago Tribune.

Every legislative session, I hear stories from coalition partners about opposition lobbyists who make backroom deals with legislators, spread misinformation about toxic chemical effects and threaten economic impacts that have never come to fruition.

That is why I am proud that states continue to fight, and continue to pass laws and policies which lighten the toxic chemical burden that our families, loved ones and community carry.

Cancer Causing Chemicals in our Couches?!

Are you sitting down on a couch?  This news may make you want to stand up, instead.

A new peer-reviewed study published today in Environmental Science and Technology shows a carcinogen has been used to replace banned toxic flame retardants in many couches sampled in New York and across the United States.  The chemical, a chlorinated Tris known as TDCPP, was removed from children's pajamas in 1977 and has been found in many infant -care products.  The toxic flame retardant was the subject of a proposed legislative ban in children's products in New York in 2012, but failed to pass the Senate in the final hours of session.  All four couch samples submitted by New Yorkers contained flame retardants: three contained TDCPP, and one contained pentaBDE.