Protect our children from toxic chemicals

Make Sure You Protect Kids from Toxic Chemicals Before You Head Home, Advocates Urge Lawmakers

Bills Would Reduce Exposure to
Lead, Bisphenol A, DecaBDE and Phthalates

Assembly Bills Advance, While Senate Stalls on Children's Health Bills

June 17, 2008

Environmental, social justice, children's advocacy and public health groups across the state called on legislators to pass legislation to protect children from high profile toxic chemicals common in everyday products, homes and schools. The bills would prevent children from exposure to chemicals that are linked to serious health problems - including cancer, aggressive behavior, learning disabilities, reproductive dysfunction and genital malformations.

Two bills have already passed the Assembly (lead prevention and decaBDE). Two have rapidly advanced to the Assembly Rules committee (phthalates and bisphenol-A) and are expected to pass that house. All four of the bills are in need of urgent action in the Senate. Groups also called for the passage of an e-recycling bill to require companies to take back old computers and televisions at the end of their useful life.

The events, organized by members of the JustGreen Partnership, were held in six communities across the state: Albany, Buffalo, Ithaca, Huntington, New York City and Rochester. Prompted by growing scientific consensus about potential health impacts, these chemicals have been the subject of legislation in other states, regulatory action and voluntary market shifts, including recent federal CPSC recalls of leaded products, commitments by Wal-Mart, Target and Sears to phase out or limit products containing phthalates, Nalgene's move away from bisphenol-A/polycarbonate sports bottles, and numerous electronics manufacturers' switch from decaBDE to safer flame retardants.

The bills for which the Partnership seeks swift action include:

• 11277 (Englebright) - eliminates bisphenol A in childcare products and toys for children under fourteen.
• S. 8367. (Alesi)/A. 333-B (Fields) - limits phthalates in childcare products and toys for children under four.
• S. 5244 (Marcellino)/A. 7977-B (Sweeney) - phases out decaBDE, a toxic chemical used as a flame retardant, from electronics and furnishings.
• S. 6350 (Robach)/A. 6399-C (Gantt) - requires DOH to create a primary prevention plan for 30 communities outside of NYC hardest hit by lead poisoning, lowers blood-lead level action threshold, provides a tax credit to owners who make homes lead safe, and creates training programs to ensure effective lead abatement to achieve federal goal of ending lead poisoning by 2010.
• S. 7563 (Marcellino)/A. 8444-B (Sweeney) - creates an electronics take-back program to ensure a free, convenient method for recycling of TVs and computers paid for by manufacturers.

"Parents will do anything to protect their kids, but shouldn't have to worry every time they purchase toys or child care items about whether these products contain toxic chemicals that have the ability to harm their children," said Bobbi Chase Wilding, Organizing Director for Clean New York. "They shouldn't need a degree in toxicology to make decisions about what is safe to feed, clothe, house, transport, and play with their babies. Manufacturers should use the safest available materials, and government should require it of them."

"Keeping our children protected from toxic chemicals should be a no-brainer! But at present we have substances in children's products and toys that cause a reduction in IQ and attention and alter thyroid and sex hormones," noted David Carpenter, M.D., director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at SUNY Albany. "We must take steps to stop these exposures."

"Our children are our precious resource," said Senator Alesi. "It is our responsibility as a government to protect them from harmful products, such as those containing dangerous toxins. For two years now I have sponsored a bill in the State Senate which would prohibit the manufacturing, distribution and sale of certain toys and child care products containing bisphenol-A or phthalates which are intended for use by children. This dangerous chemical has been found in many common products such as toys, pacifiers, teethers and even baby bottles. The neurological damage caused by exposure to these chemicals cannot be reversed and in many cases can cause lasting damage during a child's critical stage of development."

Bisphenol A is a chemical used to make rigid plastic (the most common chemical indicated by a #7 recycling symbol) and epoxy for food can linings. It is found in nearly all Americans. It is used to make baby bottles, sports bottles, infant formula can linings, and dental sealants. Known for over 75 years to act as a weak estrogen, last summer 38 leading bisphenol A researchers issued a consensus statement finding that BPA is showing up in humans at levels above those shown to cause a range of serious health problems in animal studies . These include breast cancer, prostate cancer, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, spontaneous miscarriage, type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Assembly member Steven Englebright stated "These bills would collectively create state policy to protect New York citizens, particularly our children, from hazardous materials found in products sold and used in this state. Increasingly, products made and marketed for children have been found to contain heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, and zinc, as well as volatile and semi-volatile organics. My bill A 12277, addresses the need to remove bisphenol-A from products manufactured for children under the age of fourteen."

Phthalates, also found in nearly all Americans, are used to make plastic flexible, including food containers, plastic wrap, toys, shampoos, perfumes and bath products. Phthalates also have been shown to have hormone-disrupting effects, such as premature birth and genital defects including hypospadias (a birth defect in which the urethra exits lower than the tip of the penis) and decreased anogenital distance (an indication of male 'feminization'). Phthalates have also been linked to the falling age of puberty in girls, a risk factor for breast cancer and other estrogenic cancers.

"As the Chair of the Sub-Committee on Child Product Safety, I am well aware that we must continue to protect our children," said Assembly Woman Ginny Fields. "We, in the Assembly, have several bills to attempt to ensure the safety of toys and other products to which our children are exposed." Fields added.

Lead is a heavy metal that alters brain function, leading to learning disabilities, irreversible IQ loss, brain and organ injuries, aggression and other behavioral disorders. Thousands of children in New York are newly poisoned by lead each year, despite a national 1978 ban on the sale of lead paint. New York has the oldest housing stock in the country and the highest percentage of homes built before 1950; the type most likely to contain lead paint. Lead is also found in toys, jewelry and other novelty products. No amount of lead in the body is known to be without harm. Lead poisoning is a man-made, entirely preventable problem.

"For low income communities and communities of color, lead poisoning continues to be a serious threat to children's health," said Cecil Corbin-Mark, Deputy Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice. "This burden is unjust, unequal, and wrong. This proposed legislation is a step in the direction of correcting a problem that we have the ability to permanently fix."

"Almost 40 years after we banned lead in paint, invisible lead dust from paint in old buildings is poisoning children at epidemic levels, claiming more than 5,000 new victims in the state each year," said Russ Haven Legislative Counsel for NYPIRG. "The Senate has to step up and pass Joe Robach's sensible lead poisoning prevention bill to do what parents can't do on their own: protect their children from the invisible dangers of lead."

DecaBDE is a flame retardant used in electronics (often more than 10% of the plastic housing), foam and textiles. It has been linked to thyroid problems, developmental and cognitive damage , brain alterations, and cancer. DecaBDE can break down into more toxic forms in ordinary sunlight. It is not chemically bound to the products containing it and is found in house dust, on people's hands, in human blood and breast milk, and in a broad range of wildlife. Companies are using safer chemicals or inherently flame-resistant materials, or reconfigure their products to eliminate the need. 95% of electronics manufacturers have moved away from decaBDE or pledged to do so. The European Union has banned its use in electronics, as have a number of states.

"One out of every seven Americans has a learning disability, including 5% of all public school children, and incidence is on the rise. Evidence is mounting that these dramatic increases are substantially influenced by toxic chemicals, including decaBDE and lead," said Stephen Boese, Executive Director of the Learning Disabilities Association of New York State. "It is critical that our policy leaders address this public health crisis, and adopt common sense measures to protect children."

Electronic Waste is the fastest growing segment of the solid waste stream nationwide, even though our overall municipal waste stream volume is declining -- and one of the most toxic. In the US, we scrap about 400 million units per year of consumer electronics. While e-waste accounts for only 2% of the municipal waste stream nationally, it produces as much as 40% of the lead found in landfills. Rapid advances in technology mean that electronic products are becoming obsolete more quickly. This, coupled with explosive sales in consumer electronics, means that more products are being disposed of, finding their way into landfills and incinerators.

"From now until the end of the session, we will continue to work with the Governor and both houses of the legislature to create a recycling plan for electronic waste," said Richard Schrader, New York Legislative Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We want to pass legislation similar to that which passed in Minnesota and New York City which shifts the cost of electronic waste management from towns, cities and taxpayers to manufacturers. Such a successful plan will also address the toxic dangers inherent in these products."

Baby's Toxic Bottle:  

Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles
Is Your Baby's Bottle Potentially Harmful?

A new study Baby's Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles,” released by environmental health groups in the U.S. and Canada demonstrates the toxic chemical bisphenol A leaches from plastic baby bottles when heated.  The groups are calling for an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A in baby bottles and other food and beverage containers The report was commissioned, written and released by the Work Group for Safe Markets, a coalition of environmental health NGOs.  The report is based on research by the laboratory of Frederick vom Saal, PhD., at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

BPA, a synthetic sex hormone that mimics estrogen, is used to make hard polycarbonate plastic. Ninety-five percent of all baby bottles on the market are made with bisphenol A. The results of the U.S. study show that, when new bottles are heated, those manufactured by Avent, Evenflo, Dr. Brown’s and Disney/First Years leached between 4.7 – 8.3 parts per billion of bisphenol A. Recent research on animals shows that bisphenol A can be harmful by disrupting development at doses below these levels.

Results of the study contribute to a growing body of evidence that calls for immediate protective action to reduce public exposure to bisphenol A, especially for infants and children.

Children's Products Database Released!

On Wednesday, December 5th, the JustGreen Partnership released HealthyToys.org, a new website with over 1200 children's products that have been tested for lead, cadmium and other toxic chemicals. The good news is that many of the products in the database don't contain the toxic chemicals for which they were tested. The bad news is that a significant percentage do. Amid ongoing rounds of recalls, most recently as a result of the NYS Attorney General's office (see their news release), it's time for broad reforms to protect our most vulnerable and precious population.

Here is our news release in PDF format.

A project of the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center and the Body Burden Working Group

What would it feel like to learn you are contaminated with toxic chemicals that can permanently harm laboratory animals? What if you realized those chemicals come from the shampoo, soda cans, baby bottles and thousands of other products you and your family use every day?

With recent headlines about toxic chemicals in everything from cars and computers to lipstick and toys, 5 New Yorkers and 30 other Americans - including a commercial fisherman from Alaska, a 9/11 first responder from New York, a U.S. naval veteran from Illinois, a Massachusetts minister, a Connecticut State Senator, a Michigan seventh grader, and a stay-at-home mom in Minnesota - volunteered to find the answer to one simple question: If toxic pollution is in products, is it in us?

On November 8th, the report that answers this question was released.  Go to www.IsItInUs.org to see the results for the whole report.

New York Participants:

David Koon, 60, has served as State Assemblyman from the 135th district in Rochester since 1996. He is the Chair of the Legislative Commission on Toxic Substances and Hazardous Waste. His prior work includes working as an Industrial Engineer for Bauch and Lomb. His longstanding commitment to his community includes promoting violence prevention and serving on the board of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He and his wife, Suzanne, created the Jennifer Patterson Koon Peacemaking Foundation in honor of their daughter. In addition to Jennifer (deceased), they have a son and two grandchildren.

His Results: We found four phthalates and seven PBDEs in David, as well as bisphenol A in his urine.

"The results of my individual evaluation certainly raised my awareness of the personal impact of manmade chemicals. The report created a new perspective for me regarding the need for action - if not by the federal government, then by the State."

Heather Loukmas, 36, has been Executive Director of the Learning Disabilities Association of New York State (LDANYS) for four years and was Associate Director for five years prior. She is responsible for the organization’s action on state policies, regulations and laws that impact children and adults with learning disabilities, serves on state-level panels and committees, and raises public awareness about the link between learning disabilities and toxic chemicals. Heather lives in Clifton Park with her husband Jeff and their daughter age 5, and son, 8 months. As an Executive Director and mother of two young children, Heather is professionally and personally committed to protecting children’s environmental health.

Her results: We found four phthalates and seven PDBEs in Heather’s body, as well as bisphenol A in her blood and urine. Heather had the highest levels of one brominated flame retardant (BDE-154/PBB-153), likely due to accidental grain contamination, which made its way into dairy products, meat, and eggs, in the early 1970's when Heather was a toddler in Michigan. (See also Terry Brown from Michigan.)

”This project started as an academic exercise for me. But finding out that I carry a chemical linked to early menarche in daughters of exposed women made it clear to me that it’s not just about the products we can control, but a much bigger picture. This isn’t a problem we could shop our way out of.”

John Sferazo, 52, is President and co-founder of the non-profit Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes, which advocates for and assists workers from the World Trade Center and other disasters to secure medical and psychological treatment, rehabilitation and monetary benefits. A union structural ironworker, John began working at Ground Zero before sunrise on September 12th, 2001 and continued there for more than 30 days. His breathing and lung capacity have decreased due to exposure to 9/11 pollutants, leaving him unable to work since August 2004.

His results: We found all five phthalates and seven PBDEs in John’s body, as well as bisphenol A in his urine. John had the third highest DEHP levels and the highest dimethyl phthalate (more than 3.5 times higher than CDC’s 95th percentile) and BDE-99 levels. The tubing for his sleep apnea machine (needed for his health ailments post-9/11) may be a significant source of the phthalates.

“As someone whose life has already been dramatically changed because of environmental exposures, who has taken medications to purge toxic chemicals from my bodies, I was shocked to find these chemicals. It's clear action is needed to protect all of us.”

Edith Williams, Ph.D, MS, 27, was finishing her PhD and working as a Research Associate at the State University of New York's Department of Family Medicine, when her samples were collected. She worked closely with the Toxic Waste Lupus Coalition in Buffalo, and researched the different availability of fresh, healthy food in white communities versus communities of color. She has since moved to the University of South Carolina, where she is a Research Assistant Professor with a focus on disproportionate impacts on the health of African-American women. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina with her two children.

Her Results: We found three phthalates and seven PBDEs in Edith’s body, as well as bisphenol A in her urine.

“I am glad to see work like this being done, work that recognizes women don't exist in bubbles and our health is directly affected by what we encounter every day in our environments.”

Black/Latina woman, 27, wished to remain anonymous. 

Her results: We found all five phthalates and six PBDEs in her body, as well as bisphenol A in her urine. None of her levels were in the upper range of our participants, although all participants in whom we detected diethyl phthalate had levels above CDC’s 95th percentile.