Reports and pages I’ve been exploring this weekend:
The EPA urges families to lock up household chemicals and pesticides. No mention about eliminating toxic chemicals from the home in the first place to remove the danger completely. Listen to this: “Leading causes of poisoning include cosmetics such as perfume and nail polish, deodorant and soap, household cleaning products and medications.” Did you know perfume, nail polish, deodorant and soap are LEADING causes of child poisoning? WAKE UP, PEOPLE! Get those toxic chemicals out of your house! Here’s the EPA’s page on Prevent Poisonings in Your Home; again no mention about elimination or alternatives.
I love Paul Tukey‘s blog SafeLawns.Blog. Paul is the founder of SafeLawns.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation. He’s also executive producer of the award-winning documentary, A Chemical Reaction, which can be found at www.pfzmedia.com; the movie chronicles the origin of the anti-pesticide movement sweeping across Canada and into the United States.
Shine reports on the woman who was awarded $100K because her employer did not provide her proper accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act when her co-workers’ perfume and the office air fresheners made her ill. I’m disgusted at the media for the way this story’s been reported: I’ve read at least 50 reports on this story and not one has mentioned that perfume and air fresheners contain toxic chemicals and that it was the toxic chemicals that made the woman ill, not the “stink” or “chemical-smells.” I think this report here at The Ohio Employer’s Law Blog has the most interesting perspective I’ve read yet about the case:
The focus in ADA cases has shifted from the legal argument of whether an employee’s medical condition rises the level of an ADA-protected disability, to the factual issue of whether the employer reasonably accommodated that disability.
Dr. Andrew Weil answers a question about the use of clay treatment for healing fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is in the same group of illnesses as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I was delighted to discover Annie Leonard’s blog The Story of Stuff Project. If you haven’t seen her Story of Stuff videos, you must!
Harrison Medical Center, Washington state, has a scent-free policy.
Nirvana Safe Haven has the most comprehensive list I have ever seen on scent-free organizations and policy. Good resources there for anyone trying to implement scent-free policy in churches, schools, public venues and more.
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