Major Green Purchasing Victory!
New York consumers and the environment got a green holiday gift on December 29th when the state approved the nation’s most comprehensive Green Purchasing policy to avoid “bad actor” chemicals in products. CHEJ was successful in convincing the state to approve a policy requiring all state agencies to consider avoiding 85 chemicals in products purchased by the state, such as carcinogens. This is the most comprehensive chemical avoidance purchasing list in the country and it will have a major impact on greening the marketplace with NY’s annual buying power of $9 billion. For more information, go to CHEJ’s blog at http://www.chej.org/blog

CHEJ Prepares for Superfund National Day of Action
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the federal Superfund program. Since the ‘polluters pays’ fees were allowed to lapse in 1995, Superfund has gone bankrupt. Over 1,200 Superfund sites remain on the National Priorities List and surrounding communities wait years for a cleanup. On December 1st, Superfund communities in 20 states will join CHEJ in asking Congress to reinstate the ‘polluters pay’ fees and save the Superfund program.

Read the media advisory.
Read the full list of participating communities.

 

New Report Finds Toxic PVC Toys Still Widely Sold at Toys “R” Us
A new report by CHEJ and the Teamsters found that Toys “R” Us has broken its promises to rid their shelves of toxic PVC toys. The report, Toxic Toys R Us – PVC Toxic Chemicals in Toys and Packaging was released just as the 2010 holiday shopping season begins. Over 70% of toys tested contained PVC, the most toxic plastic for our health and environment.

Download the report
Read the press release

CHEJ Presents This Vinyl School

Like most American schools, This Vinyl School is hiding a secret beneath its bright exterior - many things in this school are made of PVC or vinyl, a plastic that is risky for our health and environment. Click through a virtual animated school to identify where this dangerous plastic is hiding and find healthier products.

Visit This Vinyl School today!

Cross the poison plastic off your back-to-school shopping list.
Find safer products for your kids!

CHEJ’s proud to announce the release of our 3rd annual Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies to help parents choose safer, PVC-free school supplies for their kids. Over thirty categories of school supplies, from backpacks to art supplies, are covered in this year’s guide.

Download the guide and wallet-sized version.
Read CHEJ’s press release.

Photos & Video from our Rally at Toys R Us!

Fresh from our action at Toys R Us in Times Square, read all about it on our blog, check out this great story from Fox 5 TV, and here’s a photo slideshow from the rally:

CHEJ & Teamsters Demand End to Toxic Toys R Us at Times Square Flagship Store
Groups Warn that Toys R Us’ Broken Promises May Be Toxic for Kids

Today CHEJ, the Teamsters Union, Clean New York, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, concerned parents, students and consumer activists protested toxic PVC plastic used in toys at the Toys R Us flagship store in Times Square.

Read the press release.
Learn more and download our flyer.
Read the article in Variety
Read our blog post on the action.

CHEJ Taking Action on Dioxin - No More Delays!

Today CHEJ testified at the EPA's national public meeting on dioxin, the most toxic man-made substance on Earth. We hand-delivered a letter to EPA signed by over 300 organizations and over 2,000 individuals.

Read all about it on our blog, and check out our letter here.

What’s in your green beans and chicken noodle soup?

Today CHEJ co-released a new national report, No Silver Lining, which found toxic bisphenol A (BPA) in canned foods like green beans and chicken noodle soup. We tested a wide variety of products, including fish, fruits, vegetables, soups, and more, and found BPA in foods from 92% of the cans we tested. Our new report reveals that BPA is a routine contaminant in canned foods.

What can you do?
1) Read the report, and educate yourself and your family!
2) Take Action! Urge your Senator to support national legislation to ban BPA in food and drink containers.

Photos from the Road - CHEJ's PVC-Free Schools Tour

CHEJ is back from our 10-day New York State PVC-free schools speaking tour! Check out this wonderful slideshow of photos from the tour below, and also be sure to check out some of the videos we shot.

We're Blogging!

This week, CHEJ is proud to announce our new blog, Backyard Talk. Get up-to-the-minute information on the work being done at CHEJ and developments in the environmental health field at our new blog. www.chej.org/blog

CHEJ Kicks Off PVC-Free Statewide Speaking Tour in NY

CHEJ founder, Lois Gibbs will be traveling to universities across New York state over the next two weeks to introduce our new PVC-Free Schools Campaign. See the full schedule and download the new student activist toolkit.

Spokesman Review: Superfund Outcry Grows Louder

More than 70 grass-roots groups from around the nation have joined Silver Valley activists in asking the Obama administration for new ways of dealing with pollution from cleanup of the Bunker Hill Superfund site in North Idaho. Read about CHEJ’s work with the Bunker Hill community in the Spokane Spokesman-Review

In the News: CHEJ Pushes NY State Towards Green Purchasing Policies

The Journal News reports on CHEJ’s efforts to harness the buying power of the State of New York to shift the consumer market to non-toxic products. The New York State Purchasing Committee is currently considering placing 85 chemicals on a Chemical Avoidance List. Full Article.

Over the past month, toxic chemicals in PVC’s lifecycle, have made headlines coast to coast:

• A new study by EWG found cleaning products, many of which are used to maintain vinyl flooring in schools, can contaminate the air inside schools with harmful chemicals.

• The American Medical Association came out with a new policy on endocrine disrupting chemicals, which are released by PVC products found in our nation’s schools.

• Robert DeNiro, stars in a new movie where he plays a man “who spent his entire life breathing in toxic fumes at a plant that manufactured PVC coating for telephone wires.”

• PVC fenceline communities breathed a sigh of relief, after they won an agreement from EPA, to finally start regulating air pollution from PVC chemical plants.

• The vinyl chemical industry, backed by Exxon Mobil, has announced yet another “grassroots” (astroturfing) association – the Flexible Vinyl Alliance.

• A new study by EWG found minority babies are born pre-polluted with Dioxins, chemicals released by PVC’s toxic lifecycle.

What a month! We’re looking forward to 2010.

Dangerous Money Sinkhole: Nuclear Power
Community leaders gathered in Scottsboro, Alabama with CHEJ recently to craft a publicity plan that will enhance their campaign against the TVA proposed Bellefonte nuclear reactor. Two message frames were selected: 1) Danger - TVA has a responsibility to put safety first. 2) Money - TVA has wasted our time and taxpayer dollars. The Bellefonte Efficiency & Sustainability Team will be launching a series of ads and media events to spread the word. Their first action is a Mother Goose Pond Tea Party at the TVA's hearing at the Goose Pond Civic Center. Check out the great poster. If your community is fighting a proposed reactor and wants to hold a Messaging and Publicity Meeting, contact CHEJ at anne@chej.org

Click here for the poster!

New PVC-Free Schools Campaign Fact-Sheets
CHEJ is kicking off a brand new PVC-free schools campaign to encourage schools to ditch the poison plastic in favor of safer alternatives. We need your help to make it a success! We’ve created a series of new PVC-free schools fact-sheets to help educate parents, students and decision-makers on the dangers of PVC plastic.
Click here to download the new fact-sheets!

CHEJ’s new Safe School Siting Toolkit
Check out the Safe School Siting Toolkit which includes fact sheets, model policies and everything you need to protect children’s health and pass a Safe School Siting policy in your community. Click here for the toolkit.

CHEJ's Pricing Pollution Tool Kit
What are the real costs of environmental damage? What are the health costs of using chemicals? Check out CHEJ's Pricing Pollution: True Cost Environmental Tool Kit and see how organizations are uncovering the true costs of toxic chemicals and hazardous technologies. View Fact Sheets by experts on the powerful tool of precautionary economic analysis and 16 studies which reveal the real costs of environmental hazards.

PVC-Free Back-to-School Guide
Need help keeping poison plastics off of your back to school shopping list? The Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies helps you make smarter, healthier shopping choices for a toxic-free future. Find out about school supplies made out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl) plastics and learn about safe alternatives, download the guide here.

CHEJ's New Media & Messaging Tool Kit
Struggling to make your voice heard over industry’s public relations consultants? Trying to get your side of the story covered by the newspapers? Check out the Media & Messaging Tool Kit of fact sheets, sample news releases and more. Learn all the tips and tricks to help your group compete with the corporate media machine. Click here to view the Tool Kit..

Climate Change & Corporate Bailouts Threaten Superfund
A CHEJ study, Superfund: In the Eye of the Storm, reveals corporate bailouts and climate change-related hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding are damaging Superfund toxic waste sites and burdening the financially ailing Federal Superfund. Click here to see the Report and News Release.

Green Purchasing Tool Kit
Find out the best local and state green purchasing programs promoting environmentally-friendly products. CHEJ's Green Purchasing Tool Kit includes model policies, resources and fact sheets on How to Pass a Green Purchasing Policy. From start to finish, this Took Kit helps you support policies to green the marketplace and promote healthy, safe products. Click here.

Real Costs of Nuclear Waste Cleanup
Economists and scientists revealed the true costs of nuclear waste cleanup in a ground-breaking state-funded study released by CHEJ and other groups. The Real Costs of Cleaning Up Nuclear Waste has startling new information on the long-term consequences of leaving buried nuclear waste onsite—it can cost $27 billion or more while endangering public health for thousands of years. The first-ever study looks at the West Valley site in NY comparing the costs of digging up waste versus leaving buried waste onsite for 1,000 years and finds buried waste is both high risk and very expensive. Download Report, News Release and Fact Sheets

 

[ MORE CAMPAIGN NEWS ]

In the News

11/30/09
Federal Health Agency Deeply Flawed
New York Times
[Read More]

11/09
Getting to the Bottom of Plastic Bottle Risks
Business Week
[Read More]

10/1/09
Children’s Diseases Linked to Chemicals On Rise, Professor Says
The Journal Sentinel
[Read More]

9/26/09
Go Green – What Are Your Floor Plans?
Santa Cruz Sentinel
[Read More]

9/17/09
Environmental Group Reveals Toxic Chemicals in a Range of Consumer Products
The New York Times
[Read More]

8/24/09
Back to School With Less Plastic – A Teaching Moment
The LA Times
[Read More]

[ MORE NEWS ARTICLES ]