Center for Health, Environment & Justice
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Toxic Cloud of Vinyl Chloride

This morning near Philadelphia, PA there was a serious vinyl chloride train derailment, which sent a toxic cloud of vinyl chloride into the community. View the slideshow of photos to see the vinyl chloride cloud at http://www.philly.com/philly/gallery/Train_derails_in_Paulsboro.html?viewGallery=y According to Breaking News Desk (11/30/12),”a freight train derailed this morning in Paulsboro, Gloucester County, with some of the cars leaking hazardous vinyl chloride into the air and nearby waterways. A railroad bridge over Mantua Creek apparently collapsed, sending a couple of railcars into the the water, and toppling several others. More than a

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November 30, 2012

NY PTA Passes Resolution to Phase-out PVC in Schools

The New York State Parents Teachers Association (PTA) voted last week at their annual meeting in Saratoga Springs, NY to pass a resolution calling for a phase out of the plastic PVC in schools. The resolution, called “Reducing & Phasing Out the Purchase of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Plastic in New York Schools,” acknowledged the serious harm posed by PVC throughout its lifecycle, releasing toxic chemicals such as phthalates during use in products such as school supplies and building materials; releasing toxic chemicals such as vinyl chloride and ethylene dichloride during manufacture;

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November 28, 2012

All I want for Christmas is a toxic-free Disney

Last Saturday, I stood outside of Disney’s iconic flagship store in Times Square, calling on them to make our dreams come true, by getting poisonous phthalates and vinyl plastic out of children’s school supplies. I organized the action with Penelope Jagessar Chaffer, a mother of two young children (who also came along for the fun), and Director of the fantastic new environmental health documentary, Toxic Baby. With me and Penelope and other concerned NYC residents were the voices and dreams of over 65,000 parents and Disney customers, who had signed

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November 26, 2012

Great Lakes Are Improving from Legacy Chemicals but Fracking May Change That

Environmental Health News recently reported that, “The Great Lakes hold 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water. The good news is that legacy contaminants are decreasing more quickly than previously reported in three of the Great Lakes, but have stayed virtually the same in two other lakes, according to new research… Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the pesticide DDT and other banned compounds dropped about 50 percent in fish in Lakes Michigan, Ontario and Huron from 1999 through 2009, although there were no significant changes in Lakes Superior and Erie fish,

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November 23, 2012

Using Blood Lead Levels to Set Cleanup Goals

The creativity of our government regulators never ceases to amaze me. I’ve seen a lot of incredibly stupid and callous decisions in my time, but this one is right up at the top. The US environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality somehow thought it was a good idea to use Blood Lead Levels in children to establish a remedial action objective (RAO) at the Bunker Hill Superfund site in Kellogg, ID. According to a recent peer reviewed paper published in the American Journal

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November 17, 2012

It’s The Ground Game That Matters In Politics & Policy

The election is over and the analysis is being done. What worked, what didn’t and how can we learn from this experience? One strategy that everyone agrees worked was President Obama’s ground game; it made a difference. On election night Donna Brazile a democratic advisor/strategist said that when the Obama campaign staff said they were going to re-energize their base and expand it she didn’t think expanding was necessary. She went on to say that she was wrong. Expanding the base was the right move. Not surprisingly, that’s exactly what

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November 10, 2012
Blog Roll
Greenpeace’s The Witness
Grist
Groovy Green
Healthy Child Healthy World
Inside Prevention
It’s Getting Hot in Here
Moms Rising
Pharos
Safe Mama
Safer Chemicals Healthy Families
The Soft Landing
Treehugger
Zero Waste World