The Canary Report

Open Tabs

Posted on Mar 12, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, News, Susie Collins

More from my series Open Tabs, sharing links to the pages I have open on my browser.

I’m sorry I don’t always remember where the links come from, many are sent to me through Facebook or email. I try to give credit when I can. I’m not working in a vacuum, most info I find is sent to me in one way or another and I thank all of you for taking the time to share. xoxo

Clean, Green, and Lean: Get Rid of the Toxins That Make You Fat by Dr. Walter Crinnion

My online friend, Missy, sent me this link to a book about losing weight, Clean, Green, and Lean: Get Rid of the Toxins That Make You Fat by Dr. Walter Crinnion. Before you get the wrong idea, this book is not about another fad diet so your can fit into your Gucci pants, this is serious information of value to people who have a weight problem due to toxic chemical or mold exposure. It’s also available on Kindle.

A renowned naturopathic doctor shows you how to get lean and be green while helping to save the planet.

Now you can lose weight and be good to the environment, too-without starvation diets, calorie counting, complicated meal plans, or even having to exercise. Dr. Walter Crinnion, a naturopathic doctor and environmental medicine physician, shows you how to clean up your diet and clear out your body and home to eliminate unwanted pounds and toxins from your life. You’ll be able to get rid of nagging health problems such as allergies and fatigue and enjoy greater energy and a greener planet. Clean, Green, and Lean:

* Shares an effective program to shed pounds and stay healthy by getting rid of toxins in your body and your life in just four weeks
* Combines losing weight with being good to the environment
* Can help reduce aches and pains, depression, and other health problems
* Is written by one of the country’s foremost authorities on environmental medicine who has appeared on The View and other programs

If you’re serious about losing weight and safeguarding your health, follow the expert advice of Dr. Crinnion and start getting clean, green, and lean today.

Here’s an enlightening essay by Helen Larkin on Women and the Environment: Understanding Connections.

America was created, designed, and governed by men, yet now we are one of the most violent Westernized countries, infested with cancer, and have the greatest disconnection from our ecological impacts. Young women today need to enter into the sciences with a vengeance studying toxicology, agriculture, biomimicry, conservation, green chemistry, alternative energy, health, nutrition, and ecological dynamics. Women today must enter all realms of governance. We need to preserve the best of modern living while walking as gently as possible on the planet. We must educate and KNOW that female is creation, female is nature, and female is the future. Most important: Female is Life.

The Environmental Working Group has an excellent page on Scented Secrets: Fragrances Hide Toxic Chemical Ingredients. It was produced as guidance for Valentine’s Day presents, but can be applied any day. The Environmental Working Group is one of the best places on the web to get information about toxic chemicals in consumer goods, it’s info you can trust.

Take a quick look at a personal care product label, and you’ll nearly always find a long list of chemical ingredients in tiny print. Chances are, somewhere in the midst of these technical chemical terms, is the simple word “fragrance.” Although companies are required by law to list all chemicals ingredients in a product, a special loophole allows them to hide what’s in the “fragrance” component[1]. And what’s hidden in that simple word can include complex mixtures of up to hundreds of chemicals that studies show may be linked to a variety of health problems, including allergies, skin reactions, endocrine/hormone disruption, and possibly even birth defects. Companies are not required to test cosmetics for safety before they are sold. The label is the primary protection we have to make decisions about products we rub, pour, and lather on our skin and hair. Yet when it comes to fragrances, we don’t even have this simple protection.

An online friend asked me to share some info about burn pits. I’ve covered this story previously on The Canary Report, but here’s a recent report in the New York Times: Veterans speak out against burn pits, a range of health problems are linked to the pits on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, toxic substances have been found in the smoke.

On the website Fragrance Free Living, Bonnie tells her story about losing her job and almost her house due to her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. I’m pleased to see my online friend Roberta Bradley, vice president at the Environmental Health Association of Alberta, leave a comment for Bonnie with links and information.

Common Dreams reports Cities Sue Manufacturer of Weed-Killer Found in Tap Water: Federal Lawsuit Seeks Funding to Remove Atrazine from Water Supply. This story is interesting because the states are arguing that they shouldn’t have to pay for filtering out the contaminant that the chemical company is responsible for manufacturing and selling as safe. I would argue the federal government is equally to blame for this problem, having not done their job of protecting public health before protecting corporate interest.

Annie Bond writes about toxic teeth, BPA and dental bonding materials. This is a product about which every canary should be aware.

Okay, that’s enough, that should keep you busy for awhile! Thanks to everyone who sent me the links!

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Tags: Books, Chemicals, Environment, Fragrance, Perfume, Pesticides, Policy, Pollution, Products, Research, Toxic

Film: Gasland

Posted on Mar 12, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Susie Collins

A cross-country odyssey uncovers toxic streams, dying livestock, flammable sinks and weakening health among rural citizens on the front lines of the natural gas drilling craze.

This is a follow-up on the same topic of yesterday’s post about fellow canary Sandra DenBraber, who is battling an oil and gas company contaminating her neighborhood with toxic emissions from a natural gas drill site near her home.

Meet Josh Fox, who is offered $100K for rights to drill for natural gas on his property, but Josh smells a rat and decides to travels through 32 states to discover for himself what happened in other areas that cut a deal. There he discovers the hellish world of fracking, the highly toxic process of natural gas extraction. And he catches the whole nightmare on film.

This film is currently on the film festival circuit. The next three Gasland film fests: WASHINGTON DC Environmental Film Festival, March 16th; the PHILADELPHIA film fest, April 9-11; and at the YALE Environmental Film Fest, April 11th.

Link to the Gasland website.

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Tags: Environment, Policy, Pollution, Video

Film: Living Downstream

Posted on Mar 06, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Living Downstream is an eloquent and cinematic feature-length documentary.

This is sure to be an incredible film, making the connections between cancer and toxic chemicals in our environment. Public screenings begin this month.

There once was a village overlooking a beautiful river.

The people who lived here were very kind.

These residents, according to parable, began noticing increasing numbers of drowning people caught in the river’s swift current and so went to work devising ever more elaborate technologies to resuscitate them.

So preoccupied were these heroic villagers with rescue and treatment that they never thought to look upstream to see who was pushing the victims in.

Living Downstream is a walk up that river. The river of human cancer.

Based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Living Downstream is an eloquent and cinematic feature-length documentary. This poetic and character-driven film follows Sandra during one pivotal year as she travels across North America, working to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links.

Link to the Living Downstream website.

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Tags: Air, Children's Health, Environment, Pollution, Research, Toxic, Video, Water

Toxic soup, phthalates, and checking your house for chemicals

Posted on Mar 06, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Linda Sepp

Canary’s Cry.

Post by Linda Sepp.

Above is the trailer for Toxic Soup: The Politics of Pollution. Toxic Soup shares the stories of everyday Americans fighting to keep their blood, water and air safe from pollution.

Environmental Health News reports phthalates predispose mice to allergies. Phthalates are the chemicals that make your laundry and deodorant smell fresh forever. DBP is an endocrine disruptor associated with developmental, metabolic and reproductive disorders. It has also been shown to sensitize skin during immunological studies.

Enviroblog, the Environmental Working Group’s blog, reports on checking your house for chemicals. If you’ve ever wondered what’s toxic in your house, you’ll want to watch this home walk-through with Jane Houlihan, EWG’s Senior Vice-President for Research.

The Globe and Mail reports that road salt is poisoning water bodies. During winter thaws, some streams have salinity levels just under those found in the ocean. There are too many things being put down our drains and I think it’s time to take water quality seriously. The old saying “the solution to pollution is dilution” only worked till saturation point. We are past that point and need to seriously clean up everything we do that ends up in our water if we want to remain alive. That includes getting toxic chemicals out of laundry, personal care and cleaning products, pharmaceuticals and pesticides. As well as everything that drips out of cars and gets used on roads.

Brené Brown at Ordinary Courage blogs about “i’m pretty. pissed.”

The word is getting out. Oprah Radio host Dr. Mehmet Oz talks with Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, authors of Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things. (Audio.)

###

The health and ability for those with environmental sensitivities rests with the choices and actions of others. For more information, see The Medical Perspective on Environmental Sensitivities.

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Tags: Air, Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Video

Anatomy of a toxic chemical spill

Posted on Feb 25, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Guest Bloggers

On February 17, 2010, in Alameda, CA, a garbage or recycle truck owned by Alameda County Industries blew its hydraulic line at the corner of Oak Street and San Jose Avenue, spewing hydraulic fluid all over the street. I had to walk through it to get to my house.

By guestblogger Steph.

~~~

02-17-10

February 17, 2010 - Alameda, CA. That's not snow - it's 57F outside. Alameda County Industries garbage or recycle truck blew its hydraulic hose earlier in the day, and their crew came out with an absorbent material to pick up the spill. That material was like fine grain sand and immediately went airborne. Now it's on the cars and everything, and likely in my house since I had to open the front door to go inside.

~~~

02/18/10

On February 17, 2010 in Alameda, CA, a garbage or recycle truck owned by Alameda County Industries (ACI) blew its hydraulic line at the corner of Oak Street and San Jose Avenue, spewing hydraulic fluid all over the street.

Cars continued driving, as San Jose Ave is a thoroughfare, and the oil spread all up and down both streets. ACI sent a cleaning crew, who applied a thin sandy ‘absorbent’ material all over the road, which got picked up by passing cars and went airborne immediately, with the oil particles on the sand.

The scene above is what I had to walk through to get to my house.

Please google hydraulic fluid toxicity to learn more, and also check out a news story about a woman who died after a similar accident.

I have also uploaded photos here. My lips were stinging when I got back into the house last night after taking pictures. I should have worn a mask of course. Of course. I shed all my clothes in the kitchen and put them in a garbage bag. I took a shower immediately.

Last night I filed complaint with the Alameda Department of Public Works and the City Clerk’s office for Boards and Commissions. This morning, following Susie Collins’ advice, I phoned up the police department to make sure they’d been notified. They said they had, and seemed indifferent to me. They routed me over to the fire department, where I was told I’d get a call back. I got a voicemail saying they’d send someone over to check out the street, but I didn’t see anyone come by in a Fire Department uniform or vehicle.

At 3pm today, I received the following email:

Good afternoon Steph,

I am responding back to your e-mail that was sent to ACI this morning, at approximately 2:30pm on February 17,2010 one of our fully automated trucks had a hydraulic hose rupture and leaked fluid onto the street, our driver immediately contacted our dispatch center and a field supervisor.

Upon notification of the spill we immediately contacted the City of Alameda, Public works department. Both the City of Alameda Fire and Police department were called and responded to the scene to assist us with the cleaning of the street and traffic control.

After meeting with the fire department and the urban run-off group they released the scene back to us for our cleanup process. We responded with 7 ACI employees to put dry sweep on the on the fluid and swept up all the areas effected. The hydraulic fluid can become slippery and that’s why we reacted to get it cleaned up immediately. The fluid that was on the ground is a premium hydraulic oil that is commonly used in hydraulic systems. The absorbent that was used is called select sorb professional multi purpose spill aid (MSDS_SelectSorbProfessional.pdf).

We are keeping in contact with the city of Alameda and the urban run-off Manager, today we had street sweepergo thru the areas that were effected and he will be returning again tonight after cars have left the street. As far as the City of Alameda and ACI is concerned there are no direct health hazards as a result of the spill.

I apologize for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you, please feel free to contact me should you have any further questions or concerns.

Best Regards,

Guy Martinez

Safety Manger

I sent an email back to Mr. Martinez, asking for specifics on the hydraulic fluid; “Thank you for your response. Can you tell me what type of hydraulic fluid had spilled, aside from it being ‘premium’? Was it mineral oil, organophosphate ester, or polyalphaolefin?”

And now I wait.

[...]

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Tags: Air, Children's Health, Environment, EPA, Law, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pollution, Products, Toxic

US Senate committee holds hearing on public exposures to toxic chemicals

Posted on Feb 04, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Susie Collins

Now available: Transcript and webcast of today’s hearing at the United States Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health entitled, “Current Science on Public Exposures to Toxic Chemicals.”

Led by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), at left, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health held a hearing today entitled, “Current Science on Public Exposures to Toxic Chemicals.” I urge you to become familiar with Sen. Lautenberg’s work on the hill; along with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), he’s the greatest advocate in the U.S. Senate for toxic chemical policy reform. For those of you who follow The Canary report, you’ll remember a post I did on Sen. Launtenberg back in February 2009 when he assumed the chairmanship of this committee. Lautenberg is the senator who introduced the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, a proposal to overhaul federal restrictions on toxic chemicals.

Canaries will recognize the name of one other of our heroes among the panel members: Ken Cook, president at the Environmental Working Group.

Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health hearing entitled, “Current Science on Public Exposures to Toxic Chemicals.”
Thursday, February 4, 2010
10:00 AM EST
EPW Hearing Room – 406 Dirksen

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health, will convene a hearing to examine the current science on public exposures to toxic chemicals.

Majority Statements
Barbara Boxer
Frank R. Lautenberg

Minority Statements
James M. Inhofe
Witnesses

Opening Remarks

Panel 1

Steve Owens
Assistant Administrator, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances
Environmental Protection Agency

Henry Falk M.D., M.P.H.
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

John Stephenson
Director, Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Linda Birnbaum Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S.
Director
National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences

Panel 2

Molly Jones Gray
Participant in a Biomonitoring Study

Ken Cook
President
Environmental Working Group

Charles McKay MD FACMT, FACEP, ABIM
Division of Toxicology, Department of Emergency Medicine, Hartford Hospital

Tracey J. Woodruff PhD, MPH
Associate Professor and Director
Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco

I don’t know how much change is going to be made as a result of these hearings, but I can tell you that trends are moving in the direction of toxic chemical policy reform. If President Obama manages to hang on to a second term despite the discontent that is brewing due to the economic problems, we will have a much better chance at stronger reform. I can tell you though, that even though the wheels of Washington, DC, move painstakingly slow, I’ve seen more happening to enforce the Clean Air Act and to put progressive environmental policies in place over the past year than I saw in the entire eight years of the Bush administration.

Link to transcript and webcast of today’s hearing.

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Tags: Air, Chemicals, Environment, Food, Law, Policy, Pollution, Products, Research, Toxic, Water

We are all connected

Posted on Jan 25, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

A tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

“We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” -Carl Sagan

Incredible mix of quotations from some of the greatest scientific minds of our age. If everyone understood the truth of this, the planet would not have been poisoned with toxic chemicals and most of us canaries would not not have developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity due to toxic chemical injury.

There is much to learn.

“We Are All Connected” was made from sampling Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, The History Channel’s Universe series, Richard Feynman’s 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye’s Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking’s Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

Check out “A Glorious Dawn” by Carl Sagan, another Symphony of Science project!

And my website for more original music: [Colorpulse]

Enjoy!

John
john@symphonyofscience.com

Lyrics [after the jump]:

[...]

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Tags: Environment, Environmental Health, Video

Book ties toxic chemicals to rising healthcare costs

Posted on Jan 11, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Home & Garden, Linda Sepp, Media/Videos, Research

Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA: A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick, by Catherine J. Frompovich (2009, BookSurge Publishing)

Post by Linda Sepp.

I just ran across a reference to this.

From the Industrial revolution and onward, the world has become an environment that is overflowing with dangerous toxins. Mass manufacturing has resulted in thousands of chemical pollutants being released in the atmosphere, water, and soil. As well, there has been a widespread increase of chemicals being added to almost every type of food and retail product. With this overwhelming chemical exposure, there has been an increase in research and studies showing the life threatening impacts on our health and well being. In her book, Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, author Catherine J Frompovich delves into the effects of a chemical laden world on the body at a cellular level.

Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA is an important “wake up call’ about the current and future state of our toxic environment and what will happen if important changes are not made. Not only is it highly educational, the attention to detail makes the book a handy health resource tool. It is highly recommended to not just mass readers, but also to politicians, manufacturing industry officials, and health professionals.

Link to the author’s website.

Link to Amazon.com and good review.

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Tags: Books, Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, Environmental Illness, Fragrance, Home, Indoor Pollution, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pesticides, Toxic

Volcano Awareness Month starts off with a blanket of vog

Posted on Jan 04, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Susie Collins

I can hardly catch my breath today sitting here at my desk because the volcanic emissions, or vog, is so thick. Oh, and the itchy eyes, lovely when trying to work.

This week the National Park Service launched Volcano Awareness Month, just as the vog, or volcanic emissions, got so thick that we can hardly see how many fingers we’re holding up in front of our faces.

We won’t get relief until Thursday when the northeast tradewinds return. Pleh. Those yellow bands you see on the graphic are the vog plumes heading north, past me at the northern part of the island and up throughout the state. The chart shows the worst toxic component of the vog, the sulfur dioxide, in yellow in the color code warning, just before the orange warning to “sensitive groups.” But of course people with chemical sensitivities like me feel the effects before those concentrations of the orange code.

It’s going to be a rough week.

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Tags: Air, Environment, Featured Post, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Pollution

Book: The Value of Nothing

Posted on Nov 20, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Available January 5th, 2010. To read the first chapter, click here: http://bit.ly/1ajaxZ . For more information on both Raj Patel and The Value of Nothing, visit http://www.rajpatel.org .

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Tags: Air, Books, Chemicals, Environment, Environmental Health, Healthy Living, Indoor Pollution, Organic, Policy, Toxic, Video

Add your voice to a coalition fighting for toxic chemical reform

Posted on Oct 31, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Law, Susie Collins

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families wants to hear your story.

I wanted to take a minute to tell you about a coalition of groups working hard to reform toxic chemical policy in the United States: Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

At the end of the post, find a link to their website, where you can tell your story about how toxic chemicals have impacted your life. I urge you to add your voice and give your support to this organization.

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families is a groundbreaking coalition of diverse groups united by their common concern about toxic chemicals in our homes, places of work, and products we use every day. Please take a moment to learn more about what we want:

A reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) would serve as the backbone of a sound and comprehensive chemicals policy that protects public health and the environment, while restoring the luster of safety to U.S. goods in the world market. Any effective reform of TSCA should:

Take immediate action on the most dangerous chemicals
Current laws aren’t protecting us from chemicals that are building up in our bodies and threatening our health. These persistent, bioaccumulative toxic chemicals should be phased out of commerce. Our exposure to other toxic chemicals that we know can cause serious health problems, should be reduced. Green chemistry research should be expanded, and safer chemicals favored over those with known health hazards.

Hold industry responsible for the safety of their chemicals and products
Due to serious limitations of the current law, very little is known about the vast majority of the tens of thousands of chemicals produced and used in the US. Over the past three decades, the EPA has required testing on just 200 existing chemicals and restricted only five. Companies that make and use chemicals should be required to provide full information on the impact of all their chemicals on health and the environment. The public, workers, and businesses should have access to information about the safety of chemicals.

Use the best science to protect all people and vulnerable groups
Chemicals should meet a standard of safety for all people, including children, pregnant women, and workers. The extra burden of toxic chemical exposure on people of color, low-income, and indigenous communities must be reduced and more studies must be done to detect which chemicals are present in our bodies.

Safer Chemical, Healthy Families wants to hear from us. Please click here to go to their website to tell your story about your chemical injury and why you believe that toxic chemical policy in the U.S. must be reformed. Tell them you support their work 100%, but urge them to do even more. Tell them you want more than just “safer chemicals,” tell them you want all products in the marketplace SAFE, period.

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Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, Environmental Illness, Indoor Pollution, Law, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Policy, Products

Blog Action Day ‘09: Climate Change

Posted on Oct 15, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos

Blog Action Day ‘09

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Tags: Environment, Video

Government to improve regulation of toxic chemicals

Posted on Oct 14, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Government Regulation, Policy, Social Justice, Susie Collins

EPA director presents new guidelines to improve regulation of toxic chemicals.

The Michigan Messenger reports momentum builds for tighter regulation of industrial chemicals; health care providers say reform of chemical regulation is key to creating public health system.

In a recent policy speech, Lisa Jackson, director of the Environmental Protection agency, called the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act an “inadequate tool” and presented a set of guidelines that she said should steer efforts to improve regulation of chemicals. Environmental health activists, representatives of the American Nurses Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Clean Water Action are urging the EPA to use biomonitoring data — data gleaned from screening certain demographics for chemicals in blood and urine — as a guide in prioritizing its investigation of chemical safety.

The Michigan Messenger reports on the EPA announcement from their state’s perspective:

New chemical regulations could have special meaning in Michigan. Midland-based Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW), the nation’s largest chemical company, is in negotiations with EPA officials over how to handle the company’s widespread contamination of the state’s largest watershed with industrial chemicals. In the Midland area, and in other industrial and post-industrial sites around the state, people are burdened with historic chemical contamination in the environment as they also encounter new chemicals in everyday items [emphasis added].

Unlike pharmaceutical chemicals, which are often only available by prescription and only after they are evaluated for safety by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and manufacturers are required to divulge information about possible side effects, industrial chemicals — found in plastics, food packaging, cleaning products, building materials, furniture, medical supplies and a host of consumer products — are generally not reviewed for safety by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“[W]e need to review all chemicals against safety standards that are based solely on considerations of risk — not economics or other factors ,” Jackson said, “[A]nd we must set these standards at levels that are protective of human health and the environment.

Although more than 80,000 chemicals have been manufactured, since the 1976 enactment of the Toxic Substances Control Act, EPA has only declared five unsafe.

The article explains well the problems in current chemical regulations.  Given the weak federal protections, states were pretty much left on their own to strengthen the most problematic of health and environmental toxicity. We saw this when California recently initiated the first of its kind state-level chemical oversight program. The article makes the case for using the new momentum initiated by the EPA to strengthen chemical regulations at both state and federal levels.

I don’t think any of this current activity is going to bring tangible relief to those of us with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Both policy reform and biomonitoring initiatives are first looking at the most egregious offenders, already backed by solid science as being harmful — such as lead, Bisphenol A, mercury, perfluorinated compounds, phthalates, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and triclosan — not necessarily the most common household chemicals that can make our lives a living hell on a daily basis. But there are trends moving in our favor in toxic chemical regulation reform and also with breakthroughs in green chemistry. Again, perhaps not activity that will bring people with MCS relief in the near future, but nonetheless positive activity when looking at “cause” of our illness.

It’s wise to remember while watching trends that government regulations do not truly change corporate practices in a systemic manner until consumers demand it. So keep doing what canaries do best: educate, educate, educate. Live by example. Continue sparking discussion and debate about toxic chemicals with your friends, family, employers, landlords and elected officials. It’s a tough job, especially when struggling with chronic illness, but it’s always tough for people ahead of the curve on medical, social and economic change. Hang in there and be aware that there are forces out there finally taking a look at toxic chemical regulation reform.

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Tags: Chemicals, Environment, Environmental Health, EPA, Fragrance, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Policy, Pollution, Products, Research, Toxic

Film: Killing Fields

Posted on Oct 13, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

Much of the cheap meat and dairy produce sold in supermarkets across Europe is arriving as a result of serious human rights abuses and environmental damage in one of Latin America’s most impoverished countries.

Ecologist reports on Killing fields: the true cost of Europe’s cheap meat. “Statistics compiled by pressure groups suggest that as much as 23 million litres of pesticides and herbicides are sprayed in Paraguay each year, including several that have been classified by the World Health Organisation as being ‘extremely hazardous’.”

Cheap meat has become a way of life in much of Europe, but the full price is being paid across Latin America as vast soya plantations and their attendant chemicals lead to poisonings and violence

Much of the cheap meat and dairy produce sold in supermarkets across Europe is arriving as a result of serious human rights abuses and environmental damage in one of Latin America’s most impoverished countries, according to a new film launched in conjunction with the Ecologist Film Unit. [...]

Industrial scale soy production, particularly for genetically modified (GM) crops – some 90 per cent of Paraguay’s soy is now thought to be GM – is dependent on the frequent application of powerful pesticides and other agri-chemicals which have been linked to environmental degradation and a host of negative health impacts on people living near to soy farms.

Crop spraying has polluted important water sources in many rural regions, say campaigners, poisoning both domestic and wild animals, threatening plant life, and resulting in a number of health problems in people, including diarrhoea, vomiting, genetic malformations, headaches, loss of sight and even death.

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Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Food, Law, Pesticides, Policy, Pollution, Products, Toxic, Video

Why I boycott Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Posted on Oct 01, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Environment, Social Justice, Susie Collins

Beware: Breast Cancer Awareness Month turns breast cancer into just another marketing campaign.

Post by Susie Collins.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I’d like to add my two cents to the discussion: I am a breast cancer survivor and I boycott Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Rather than jumping on the very popular pink bandwagon, I boycott all breast cancer “awareness” and pink ribbon campaigns, subscribing to a CAUSE not CURE approach to the epidemic of breast cancer.

My highly critical view of Breast Cancer Awareness Month is along the lines of  Samantha King’s, who, in her book Pink Ribbons, Inc., “traces how breast cancer has been transformed from a stigmatized disease and individual tragedy to a market-driven industry of survivorship.” King maintains that corporations,  under the guise of philanthropy, “turn their formidable promotion machines on the curing of the disease while dwarfing public health prevention efforts and stifling the calls for investigation into why and how breast cancer affects such a vast number of people.” I couldn’t agree more.

I fully support Breast Cancer Action, an organization based in San Francisco helping to transform breast cancer from a private medical crisis to a public health emergency. And I love their Think Before You Pink campaign that “calls for more transparency and accountability by companies that take part in breast cancer fundraising, and encourages consumers to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions.” Think Before You Pink also highlights “pinkwashers”—companies that “purport to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufacture products that are linked to the disease.”

In the spirit of focusing on CAUSE not CURE, Rita Arditti at CommonDreams.org writes about “Why Cancer’s Gaining on Us,” making the case about the rise in breast cancer coinciding with the flood of synthetic chemicals in our environment since the 1950s, calling for research into any possible links.

“Is there definitive evidence that these substances cause breast cancer?” she asks. “Have they been sufficiently studied? Well, no. We need to know more about the timing, duration, and patterns of exposure, which may be as important as dosage.”

Don’t miss that the chemicals she lists as examples are some of the very same chemicals to which those of us with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity react negatively.

Since World War II, the proliferation of synthetic chemicals has gone hand-in-hand with the increased incidence of breast cancer. About 80,000 synthetic chemicals are used today in the United States, and their number increases by about 1,000 each year. Only about 7 percent of them have been screened for their health effects. These chemicals can persist in the environment and accumulate in our bodies. According to a recent review by the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, 216 chemicals and radiation sources cause breast cancer in animals.

Nearly all of the chemicals cause mutations, and most cause tumors in multiple organs and animal species, findings that are generally believed to indicate they likely cause cancer in humans. Yet few have been closely studied by regulatory bodies. There is concern about benzene, which is in gasoline; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are in air pollution from vehicle exhaust, tobacco smoke, and charred foods; ethylene oxide, which is widely used in medical settings; and methylene chloride, a common solvent in paint strippers and glues.

That’s where we should be focusing, not on the pretty ribbon in a feel-good color that pops up on the calendar once a year and is sponsored by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Photo credit. Metastatic cancer cells.

This post was originally published in October 2008.

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Tags: Chemicals, Environment, Environmental Illness, Indoor Pollution, Research, Toxic