How Two College Pals Are Growing A Solution To Our Reliance On Plastic

By Patrick James

Maybe the most devastating aspect of styrofoam packaging is that it’s useful for a matter of days or hours–say, while a product ships–but it lasts for a millennium. Plastics like styrofoam currently take up between 25% and 30% of our landfill space, and a single cubic foot of styrofoam has the same energy content as about one and a half liters of gasoline. That’s a lot of impact for just a little bit of value.

And that’s precisely why college pals Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre established Ecovative, which grows cost-effective alternatives to plastic insulation and packaging. While they were students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Bayer and McIntyre experimented with mycelium, the network of vegetative filaments in mushrooms, and realized that it could be used to form incredibly strong bonds. Essentially, the substance functions like a glue that you can grow and use to form agricultural byproducts like plant stalks and seed husks into natural alternatives to styrofoam packaging and insulation.

“It turns out that mycelium is actually a living polymer,” says Bayer, who graduated in 2007 and co-founded Ecovative that same year. “I like to think of it as low-tech biotech.”

After graduation, he and McIntyre continued working with mycelium and soon earned grants from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. Larger awards followed from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the EPA; these allowed them to hone their concept and bring it closer to market. Bayer even performed a TED talk in 2010.

They’ve replaced toxic products–styrofoam and insulation–with superior proxies that are biocompatible with the planet (meaning they’re compostable). And perhaps the most compelling fact about Ecovative is that–like the product itself–the company continues to grow. What began as a bright idea between two college students is now the driving force for a company of more than 50 people. They’ve got a fully operational New York office and hope to open a 40,000-foot facility in the Midwest this summer. They’re even working on growing a house entirely out of the fungal materials. Ultimately, they’ve unearthed a natural solution to a consumer problem.

“All of our clients came to us because they have a problem,” said Bayer of styrofoam-based products. “They had to get out of plastic, either because their CEO said they’re not going to do any more plastic or because their customers called up and asked them to stop sending plastic waste with their products.”

Ecovative products use what Bayer calls a “whole-organism approach,” meaning that everything they grow goes into the final product. “There’s no extraction in the approach. The feedstock and the organism become the final product. This means our yield rates in comparison to every other company are phenomenal. It’s a tremendous challenge to replace a plastic like styrofoam–which is really cheap–at the same price and performance. It’s really hard; that’s why no one’s done it. But we’re thrilled to be able to get there. “

How to Create Greener and Healthier Schools for Children and Teachers

WHEN: Thursday May 23 – 4:30pm – 5:45 pm

WHERE: Free Webinar From Your Home/Computer

RSVP online at: http://bit.ly/healthyschoolswebinar

Healthy schools that are free from toxic chemicals are critical to children’s health. Unfortunately school building materials and products can contain chemicals harmful to children’s health that have been linked to asthma, learning and developmental disabilities, cancer and other serious health problems on the rise.  For example, hazardous chemicals and materials like mercury, phthalates, vinyl and halogenated flame retardants have been found in lighting, flooring, office supplies, and/or other products in schools. The good news is safer and affordable alternatives are available for schools and parents to use and purchase.

Learn how you can encourage your school to be greener and healthier by launching an environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP) program.

Join this free webinar sponsored by NYS United Teachers (NYSUT), the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ) and the Green Schools Alliance.

RSVP online at: http://bit.ly/healthyschoolswebinar

Questions? Contact mike@chej.org / 212-964-3680.

Funding provided by the NYS Pollution Prevention Institute through a grant from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.   Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Toxic Phthalates and BPA Found in Vinyl Water Hoses

** ATTN TV Reporters: B-Roll Available Upon Request**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Tuesday, May 7, 2012

CONTACT:
Jeff Gearhart, 734-369-9276(o); 734-945-7738(mobile); jeffg@ecocenter.org

Hazardous Chemicals Found in Gardening Water Hoses

Hoses Can Leach Phthalates and BPA into Water, Study Finds

Retailers Called on to Stop Selling Products

Watch Short Video of Study Results at HealthyStuff.org

Report graphics and background materials

• Diagrams of garden products tested:
  • Room Essnetial 50 ft Light Duty Hose – Overall score: HIGH **Water sampled from this hose**
  • Swan Fairlawn Light Duty – Overall score: HIGH **Water sampled from this hose**
• Logo/other images (click to download low res)
  • Dog drinking from hose
  • Child drinking from hose
  • HealthyStuff.org logo
• Phthalate Material and Water Sample Results
  • Phthalates in Water Hose and Water Sample Summary

High levels of hazardous chemicals, many of which have been banned in children’s products, were found in garden hoses for the second year in row. Phthalates and the toxic chemical BPA were all found in the water of a new hose after sitting outside in the sun for just a few days, according to researchers at the Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center, which has just completed a study of toxic chemicals in garden hoses.

The study is a follow-up to a 2012 study that tested 90 garden water hoses. This year, 21 garden hoses were tested for lead, cadmium, bromine (associated with brominated flame retardants); chlorine (indicating the presence of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC); phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA). These chemicals have been linked to birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, premature births and early puberty in laboratory animals, among other serious health problems. Results were released today at www.HealthyStuff.org.

“Drinking water from a hose is one of the pleasures of summer. You shouldn’t need to worry that the water contains chemicals of concern from your garden hose”, said Jeff Gearhart. “While the good news is that consumer pressure has resulted in lower levels of lead in hoses this year, we are still finding unnecessary toxic hazards in garden hoses. And it’s encouraging that healthier choices are out there. Polyurethane or natural rubber water hoses are a great improvement over PVC and are better choices.”

Highlights of Findings

• 21 new garden hoses were purchased from Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Target and Kmart. One-third (8 of 21) of the garden hoses tested contained high levels of one or more chemicals of concern. These hoses are widely available and top selling brands.
• Of the 21 garden hoses tested, 67% (14 of 21) were polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and 4.5% contained brominated flame retardants.
• 5 hoses were tested for phthalate content. Total phthalate content in those hoses ranged from 11 to 18% by weight. Phthalates are not chemically bound to the material and can be released to the air and water.
• 100% of the PVC hoses tested for phthalates contained one or more of the phthalates which have been banned by CPSC in children’s products.
• Hazardous metals were also found in hoses; including organic tin stabilizers (29%); and antimony (52%)
• Overall the level of lead in garden hoses declined between 2012 and 2013. The percentage of hoses with greater then 100 ppm lead declined from 50% in 2012 to 14% in 2013.

What Was Found in the Water

• Water was sampled from one hose after it was left in the sun for two days
• BPA levels of 0.34 – 0.91 ppm were found in the hose water. This level is 3 to 9 – times higher than the 0.100 ppm safe drinking water level used by NSF to verify that consumers are not being exposed to levels of a chemical that exceed regulated levels.
• The phthalate DEHP was found at 0.017 – 0.011 ppm in the hose water. This level is 2-times higher than federal drinking water standards. EPA and FDA regulate DEHP in water from the tap at 0.006 mg/l (ppm).

Phthalates are a group of industrial chemicals that add flexibility and resilience to many consumer products. Consumer products containing phthalates can result in human exposure through direct contact and use, indirectly through leaching into other products, or general environmental contamination. Humans are exposed through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal exposure during their whole lifetime.

BPA is used as an antioxidant in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics, as an inhibitor of end polymerization in PVC, and as co-stabilizers for certain PVC plasticizers. This is not the first time BPA has been found to leach from PVC plastic products. A study by scientists in Japan found BPA leaches from PVC pipes into water, and they concluded “PVC hose might be a significant source of environmental BPA”. Other studies have documented BPA in PVC gloves.

What You Can Do

• Read the labels: Avoid hoses with a California Prop 65 warning that says “this product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects and other reproductive harm.” Buy hoses that are “drinking water safe” and “lead-free”.
• Let it run: Always let your hose run for a few seconds before using, since the water that’s been sitting in the hose will have the highest levels of chemicals.
• Avoid the sun: Store your hose in the shade. The heat from the sun can increase the leaching of chemicals from the PVC into the water.
• Don’t drink water from a hose: Unless you know for sure that your hose is drinking water safe, don’t drink from it. Even low levels of lead may cause health problems. Don’t give it to your pets either
• Buy a PVC-free hose: Polyurethane or natural rubber hoses are better choices. Visit www.HealthyStuff.org for sample products.

“No parent should have to worry whether their garden hose is leaching hormone disrupting chemicals into the water their children or pets drink from,” said Mike Schade, Markets Campaign Coordinator with the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ). “We now know vinyl garden hoses may leach toxic phthalates and BPA into water. It’s time for retailers like Home Depot and Wal-Mart to safeguard our children’s health and phase out the use of these poison plastic vinyl hoses.”

For more details on what the Ecology Center researchers found, and what you can do to avoid toxic chemicals this gardening season, visit www.HealthyStuff.org.

Since 2007 researchers at the Ecology Center have performed over 22,000 tests for toxic chemicals on over 7,500 consumer products, including pet products, vehicles, women’s handbags, jewelry, back-to-school products, children’s toys, building products and children’s car seats. All of this information can be found at www.HealthyStuff.org.

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ATTENTION JOURNALISTS: B-Roll, graphs of results, an embeddable widget and mobile app are available at www.HealthyStuff.org.

The vinyl plastics industry: one of the biggest users of mercury in the world

A vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant in China that uses mercury. Photo credit: United Nations

Dioxins.  Vinyl chloride.  Phthalates.

There are an appalling number reasons why we consider vinyl to be the most toxic plastic on the planet.

One reason that many people don’t realize is that the vinyl chemical industry is one of the biggest users of mercury in the entire world, in fact the #2 user globally, and that use has been increasing in recent years – primarily in China, where many of our vinyl plastic products come from.

China is the world’s biggest user and emitter of mercury and within China, the single biggest users of mercury are the factories turning coal into PVC.

PVC, mercury and chlorine production

The United Nations estimates the chlorine industry has 100 plants in 44 countries across the globe that still use mercury to make chlorine.  The #1 use of that chlorine is to make vinyl plastic, like vinyl flooring, pipes and school supplies.

According to the US EPA, “In the U.S., the chlor-alkali industry is currently the largest private-sector source of stored and in-use mercury, and therefore the largest private-sector source of potential new supplies as a result of future closures or conversions of mercury cell chlor-alkali equipment or plants.”

PVC, mercury and vinyl chloride monomer in China

In China and Russia, mercury is also used to make vinyl chloride monomer, the basic building block of PVC.  And this use of mercury is increasing at an appalling rate.

According to the United Nations, “Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) production using the mercury catalyst process is the second largest demand sector for mercury globally (estimated at 570-800 tonnes annually in 2008). The process has emerged as a cost effective production technique for countries with high availability of acetylene over ethylene as raw materials (namely in China and Russia). It is believed that China represents 80-90 % of global capacity with 89 facilities currently identified.  UNEP has collaborated with China on this important topic since 2008.”

Vinyl plastic industry’s use of mercury on the rise

In 2002, the Chinese PVC industry used 354 tons of mercury. Within two years, that had increased to 610 tons, growing at an annual rate of 31.4%.  It’s been estimated that mercury usage continued to increase to over 1,000 tons by 2010.

No one really knows precisely how much the industry is using today, or how much of that mercury may be getting into the air, oceans and fish we all eat.

Why should we care?

According to the United Nations:

“Mercury is recognized as a chemical of global concern due to its long-range transport in the atmosphere, its persistence in the environment, its ability to bioaccumulate in ecosystems and its significant negative effect on human health and the environment.

Mercury can produce a range of adverse human health effects, including permanent damage to the nervous system, in particular the developing nervous system.  Due to these effects, and also because mercury can be transferred from a mother to her unborn child, infants, children and women of child bearing age are considered vulnerable populations.”

The UN’s most recent assessment identifies the vinyl chlorine industry as one of the biggest sources of mercury on the planet.

If we want to eliminate global use and releases of mercury, one thing we can do is phase out the use of this hazardous plastic that is fundamentally reliable on this global pollutant.  That’s a global strategy we can get behind.

The latest news on the poison plastic: what every parent needs to know

The bad news on vinyl, the poison plastic, and phthalates keeps on mounting.

The more I learn, the more I wonder, why are we still allowing this hazardous plastic in our schools and homes?

Here are some of the most recent developments that every parent needs to know.

First responders file lawsuit over vinyl chloride disaster

In response to the December vinyl chloride disaster, which sent over a cloud of over 20,000 gallons of vinyl chloride into the air (originally destined for OxyVinyls in NJ), a group of first responders have filed a lawsuit over this toxic exposure.  NBC Philadelphia reports:

“A class action lawsuit was filed today relating to the Paulsboro, New Jersey train derailment and chemical spill that forced hundreds of people from their homes and left dozens sick last year.

The plaintiffs include more than 100 first responders, young children, and property owners who allege they sustained injuries and damages after the hazardous chemical spill… First responders claim that Conrail representatives advised them throughout the day that they did not need breathing masks or other personal protective equipment, despite high readings of vinyl chloride in the air. The suit states they later underwent extensive medical testing that showed high levels of vinyl chloride in their urine.”

Vinyl chloride is the basic building block of PVC, used to make vinyl flooring in our nation’s schools, hospitals and homes.  You can’t make this plastic without this cancer-causing chemical.

The latest science: vinyl chemicals toxic to our health

As families and first responders have been suing over vinyl chloride epxousre, more scientific studies have been published showing that vinyl chemicals are harmful to our health.  Some notable studies in recent months include:

• Research funded by the US Department of Defense found phthalates, used to make vinyl flooring soft and flexible, may contribute to disease even generations after exposure. They report that, “Observations demonstrate that a mixture of plastic derived compounds, BPA and phthalates, can promote epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease. “

• Only a few weeks after I blogged on new studies linking vinyl chemicals to asthma and obesity, researchers in China found a link between phthalates and obesity in school children.

• Researchers in Ireland found potentially hazardous nanomaterials leach from PVC food packaging into food: “An exposure assessment revealed that human exposure to silver (assuming a worst case scenario that all silver is in its most harmful nanoform), is likely to be below current migration limits for conventional migrants and a provisional toxicity limit; however it is acknowledged there is still considerable uncertainty about the potential harmful effects of particles at the nanoscale.”

Policies to protect our kids from poisonous chemicals

On the policy front, the big news is the reintroduction of the Safe Chemicals Act by Senators Lautenberg and Gillibrand (honored to have her as my Senator here in NY, thank you very much ), which will go a long way in protecting American families from unnecessary toxic chemicals like phthalates.  Yesterday, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a news release announcing their endorsement of these common sense health safeguards.

As chemical policy reform continues to be debated here in the US, at the international level, Denmark has just unveiled a comprehensive new strategy to address phthalates in consumer products.

“As part of the strategy, the Danish EPA will commence evaluation of the information available about the most common phthalates. And this may very well lead to new bans or other measures if necessary, the Minister for the Environment pledges.”

Pressure mounting to eliminate vinyl and phthalates nationwide

Meanwhile, the market movement away from vinyl and phthalates continues.  For instance, EPEAT has recently announced new standards for printers and imaging equipment, which rewards PVC avoidance in electronics – which should have a huge impact on the electronics sector.

Just yesterday, the San Francisco Travel Association announced that all new street banners around the convention center will be completely free of PVC, due to the hazards PVC poses from production to use to disposal.

“San Francisco has always been a city of firsts when it comes to sustainability and now that extends to our city’s street banners. I’m pleased to see the San Francisco Travel Association embrace our city’s goals of zero waste and toxics reduction by eliminating the use of PVC, a harmful and non-recyclable material, and up-cycling the banners as well,” said Melanie Nutter, director San Francisco Department of the Environment.

Last and certainly not least, CHEJ and our friends at the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families campaign have launched a new Mind the Store campaign to urge the nation’s top ten retailers to eliminate the hazardous 100 chemicals, which includes phthalates, vinyl chloride, and a number of other chemicals unique to this poison plastic.  Many retailers, such as Target, have already taken steps to phase out PVC, but much more is still needed. Read all about what bloggers are saying about the new campaign, who traveled to stores nationwide urging them to get these nasty chemicals out of their products.

***

Phew, that’s a lot to report on!

Anything important I missed?  Would love to hear other new developments!

Till next time.  Your humble plastics crusader, Mike.

Paulsboro Derailment Blamed in Death of Woman, 77

Wessie Hardy, who had an underlying cardiovascular condition, died three days after the derailment.”Ms. Hardy’s death is a tragic result of a company failing to properly maintain equipment and inadequately transporting dangerous chemicals,” said Joe Messa of the Philadelphia law firm Messa & Associates. Read more. . .

Health and Environmental Advocates Protest at Disney Shareholder Meeting in Phoenix

Toxic Chemicals Harmful to Children in Disney Lunchboxes and Backpacks

Phoenix Groups Call to Phase out Toxic Chemicals in Disney Children’s Products

(Phoenix, AZ) Concerned parents and environmental health advocates held a protest today outside of the Walt Disney Company Annual Shareholders Meeting in Phoenix, AZ, to call on the company to phase out toxic phthalates and vinyl plastic in children’s products such as school supplies.

Phthalates are chemicals used to soften vinyl plastic products such as school supplies.  The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified phthalates as chemicals of concern and states, “EPA is concerned about phthalates because of their toxicity and the evidence of pervasive human and environmental exposure to these chemicals… Phthalate exposures are a potential concern for children’s health… children have the highest exposures to phthalates of all groups monitored.”

“Why does Disney sell lunchboxes and backpacks that contain toxic chemicals that have been banned in toys?” said Steve Brittle, President of Don’t Waste Arizona, a statewide environmental health organization. “We would like Disney to do what’s right and safeguard our children’s health by eliminating these unnecessary harmful chemicals and plastic.”

With Disney’s shareholders, Senior Executives and Board of Directors in Phoenix, AZ for the company’s annual shareholder meeting, environmental and health groups demonstrated outside holding signs and passing out leaflets to Disney shareholders and executives.  Today’s action follows a recent report published by the Center for Health, Environment & Justice that identified phthalates up to 59 times the safety level in Disney products.   Disney lunchboxes, backpacks, and raingear were found to contain high levels of phthalates, which may leach out of the products.  The levels of phthalates found in Disney school supplies would be illegal if these products were toys.

“As a parent, I always thought Disney products were safe for my family,” said Stormy Rose of the Sierra Club – Palo Verde Group. “These toxic phthalates linked to asthma and birth defects have no place in our children’s school supplies.”

Over 65,000 concerned parents across the country have signed petitions to Disney on Change.org and MomsRising.org, calling on the company to phase out these harmful chemicals.

“Like millions of kids out there, my three boys eat out of lunch boxes,” said Lori Alper, a mother of three school-aged boys from Massachusetts, who launched the online petition to Disney. “But what most parents don’t realize is that lunch boxes made by Disney may be toxic to growing kids with developing immune systems. That’s why I started a campaign on Change.org asking Disney to make sure its lunch boxes are safe for my boys and other children.  Over 65,000 people have come together by signing the petition demanding that Disney make a change.”

“Many leading businesses such as Google, Apple, IKEA and Nike have already committed to eliminating these harmful chemicals, “ said Mike Schade from the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ), author of the report, Hidden Hazards: Toxic Chemicals Inside Children’s Vinyl Back-to-School Supplies. “Even some Disney suppliers have eliminated these chemicals.  If they can do it, we know Disney can too!  As the world’s largest licensor of consumer products, Disney has a responsibility to sell products that are safe and healthy for our young ones.”

“Disney’s promotion and sale of PVC laden products is not only a children’s health issue. The manufacture and disposal of these products is concentrated, both internationally and domestically, in low-income and communities of color, and it poisons the air and water, the communities and the workers involved,” said James Jordan, National Co-Coordinator, the Alliance for Global Justice.”

“Parents should have the confidence that the products they purchase from Disney will do no harm to their children,” said Judy Braiman, of the Empire State Consumer Project, co-publisher of the report Hidden Hazards: Toxic Chemicals Inside Children’s Vinyl Back-to-School Supplies.

Over 90% of all phthalates are used to soften vinyl plastic. Phthalates are hazardous at low levels of exposure, disrupt hormones in our bodies, and have been linked to birth defects, infertility, early puberty, asthma, ADHD, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. According to testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children have the highest exposures to these hazardous chemicals. As a result of the widespread use of phthalates in vinyl plastic products, they have been found in the air and dust of our homes and schools, our bodies, blood and breast milk. The production and disposal of vinyl school supplies also releases other highly hazardous chemicals including chlorine gas, ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride, dioxin, and mercury

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ATTENTION JOURNALISTS: Photos of Disney children’s products containing toxic chemicals can be accessed at: http://bit.ly/disneyphthalates To read the report documenting toxic chemicals in Disney products, please visit: http://www.chej.org/disney

For More Information Contact:

Steve Brittle, Don’t Waste Arizona dwaz@fastq.com / 602 881 3305

Mike Schade, CHEJ mike@chej.org / 212 964 3680

An Insider’s View of The Toy Industry Association Flyering Event

My name is Tommy Mutell and I just started working at CHEJ’s New York City office as an intern last month. Last Tuesday I was given the opportunity to participate in a flyering event alongside about forty other people organized by the JustGreen Partnership to bring awareness to the nation-wide lobbying efforts of the Toy Industry Association (TIA) against the discontinuation of harmful chemicals such as BPA, phthalates, and mercury in toys.

TIA claims to have the best interests of its consumers as a primary mission to their association. However, what they say to consumers about toy safety and what they do regarding toy safety legislation and regulations are two different things. Our time at the Toy Fair, an event that attracted tens of thousands of visitors from 92 countries, was spent calling out TIA for their recent lobbying of continued usage of toxic chemicals in toys and other consumer products.

“The Toy Industry Association should stop toying around with our children’s health, and support state and federal efforts to protect children from toxic chemicals in children’s products,” said Mike Schade, Campaign Coordinator with the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ).

The flyering event was really a great learning experience and I received a lot of satisfaction in helping to spread the word to the issues we are working to resolve. It felt like the few dozen of us accomplished the amount of work in about an hour that it would take me alone months to complete. I am learning that our collaborative efforts of flyering and raising awareness are really at the frontline of making an impact and bringing about change, and I am going to continue to work on the discontinuation of toxic chemicals in toys and consumer products in the months to come.  I also enjoyed meeting and working with other interns, staff, and volunteers at different environmental groups within the city, as well as members of NYPIRG, the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and the Center for Environmental Health to name a few.

Is vinyl plastic making our children fat and asthmatic?

An alarming pair of new studies add to the mounting scientific evidence linking vinyl chemicals to asthma and obesity in children.

The latest study found an association between the phthalates DINP and DIDP and asthma, which are primarily used to make vinyl flooring and other vinyl products flexible.  The researchers report:

“The strong correlation between MCOP and MCNP suggests similar sources of exposure to the parent compounds, which are both used primarily as plasticizers of PVC and may be used in flooring, wall coverings, building materials, heat-resistant electrical cords, car interiors, and toys.”

OK.  I need to vent, for just one moment.

We’re talking about asthma here people! You know, the disease that impacts over 7 million children!  A disease that kills over 3,000 Americans a year.  AND it’s super costly.  According to the CDC, asthma costs $57 billion a year in healthcare costs. B-I-L-L-I-O-N.

Now that I got that out of me, as I’ve blogged before, this isn’t the first time certain phthalates have been linked to asthma.  It’s not even the second or third!

What’s particularly interesting is that DINP and DIDP are phthalates the industry loves to argue are “safe.”  And of course, they make the same argument for just about every other poisonous chemical they just love to pump into consumer products.

The other new study, which Nick Kristof wrote about in the New York Times last weekend, found a link between certain organotins and obesity.

Nick Kristof sums it up:

“Just this month, a new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that endocrine disruptors that are sometimes added to PVC plastic cause mice to grow obese and suffer liver problems — and the effect continues with descendants of those mice, generation after generation.”

These chemicals which can apparently help trigger obesity, have been coined obesogens (dioxins and phthalates have also been linked to obesity BTW).

Like phthalates, organotins are added to vinyl products to give them certain properties; in this case they’re used as “stabilizers.”  Lead and cadmium are also used as stabilizers, and now the chemical industry seems to be playing a toxic shell game with our children’s health, where they’re replacing one toxic stabilizer for another (in this case, switching out lead for cadmium or organotins).  If that’s not a regrettable substitute, I don’t know what is. Oy.

What’s especially concerning is that these chemicals continue to be used in building materials and other vinyl products in our homes and schools, where our kids spend so much of their time.  Why is that they can be banned in toys, but still be allowed in so many other products?!

If we want to avoid these harmful additives, and all the other toxic hazards associated with vinyl (HELLO!  chlorine gas, ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride, chlorinated byproducts like PCBs, dioxins and furans, and mercury, oh my!), the best thing to do is to get it out of our schools and homes in the first place.

These new studies underscore the need for companies like Disney to get these chemicals and plastic out of children’s products one and for all.

After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.  Right?

Tell Disney: Have a heart this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. This Valentine’s will be a great opportunity for you to show your love for a toxic-free future.

Disney is the largest licenser of consumer products in the world, and our recent investigation found that many Disney branded school supplies are filled with high levels of toxic phthalates. Phthalates are so toxic they’ve been banned in toys and have been linked to asthma, birth defects and ADHD.

These chemicals have no place in our children’s Disney school supplies. Join us in telling Disney to make our dreams come true this Valentine’s Day – no more toxic school supplies!

TAKE ACTION: Send a Valentine to Disney and show your affection for a healthier world. Here’s how:

• We created these Valentine’s signs you can print out and take a photo with.
• Click this link and download our Valentine’s signs.
• Print your favorite image. Feel free to make your own, or decorate it with your favorite Valentines Day flare. Be creative and have fun!
• Take a picture of you, your family, your pet, with the sign using your camera or phone.
• Email us your photo to disneyvalentine@chej.org and we’ll send it on to Disney.

We’ll make sure your photo gets to the decision-makers at Disney, and will also share the photo on our websites.

Don’t wait – tell Disney to have a heart this Valentine’s Day.

Yours for a toxic-free Disney,

Mike Schade, Campaign Coordinator
Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ)