Today families, school children, hundreds of residents were evacuated again from the area around the train derailment in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which sent a cloud of vinyl chloride into the air early Friday. This event is yet another example of how our federal and state governmental agencies fail to respond in a health protective way. They failed to gather enough data to clearly, scientifically and honestly say to families it is safe to go home. They shot from the hip—said it was safe and they were wrong.
Imagine on Friday all of the schools were in lock down – meaning no one could leave or even open the doors and the homes and businesses around the accident were evacuated. Other than 48 homes closest to the accident, people were told they could go home. Sunday people went to church, children played outdoors in the unseasonably warm weekend riding bikes, climbing on swings at the playground and more. People were assured the risk had been eliminated and they are safe.
Today . . . Monday test results revealed that the area is not safe and schools were closed and homes and business were once again evacuated. This, it’s dangerous—not dangerous seesaw announcements, by trusted health authorities happens time and time again in every state. We’ll never know what that unnecessary vinyl chloride exposure to local small children and families did to their health. Vinyl chloride is a very dangerous chemical that causes cancer and nervous system damage. After 31 years of watching innocent families being victimized by corporation and then victimized by their own government authorities that are suppose to protect them, I am ready to scream. Why is it that chemical exposures are responded to with such casual concerns? Why can’t or won’t the authorities take precautionary steps when it comes to the health of innocent Americans?
I know when I ask this question of government health authorities they said because, the problem is contained. Moreover, we know who was exposed and who wasn’t and unlike infectious disease or contaminated food products it won’t reach beyond the physical area.
What is shocking is that somehow; those in charge of our health and environmental protection think this casual approach “because it’s contained” is acceptable. I don’t. There is no real urgency to accidents, spills or on-going pollution because it’s contained and what the authorities don’t say is it impacts on the responsible corporations’ bottom line. What about the American families’ bottom-line? They want protection, warnings, sound scientifically based information. They shouldn’t have to pay with their wallets and health.
Odd as it might seem, I sometimes wish people were treated like corporations profits. If that was the case PA families would not have been told to return home when it wasn’t safe.
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,” acknowledgedthe 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; and generating toxic chemicals such as dioxins during disposal when burned.
The PTA’s resolution recognized that chronic health problems and conditions in children linked to environmental exposures are on the rise, including learning and developmental disorders; that children are uniquely vulnerable to harm from toxic chemicals such as those released by PVC; that PVC materials and products contain toxic additives, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and phthalates, that may be released into the indoor environment, posing hazards to human health including asthma and developmental problems and that children are at greatest risk of exposure; that PVC is commonly found in office supplies and building materials used in schools; that safer, cost-effective alternatives to PVC products are readily available for schools; and that the U.S. Green Building Council provides incentives for schools to avoid PVC and phthalates in “green schools.”
The NYS PTA resolution calls for the following actions:
Resolved that the New York State Congress of Parents and Teachers, Inc. seek and support legislation that would reduce and phase out the use of PVC products at all New York State school facilities; and be it further
Resolved that the New York State PTA urge school districts and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to develop green procurement policies to reduce and phase out the use and purchase of PVC building materials and office and education supplies in school facilities where safer cost effective alternatives are available; and be it further
Resolved that the New York State PTA and its constituent units educate parents and community members about the potential health effects of PVC and work to eliminate PVC products at all PTA-sponsored events; and be it further
Resolved that the New York State PTA forward this resolution to the National PTA for its consideration.
This resolution adds to the growing movement for PVC-free schools and follows similar resolutions enacted by the American Public Health Association (APHA), the “oldest and most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world,” last year and by the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) union that represents more than 600,000 employees and retirees from New York State schools, colleges, and healthcare facilities, this past summer. The full PTA resolution can be read at the following link: http://chej.org/wp-content/uploads/NYS-PTA-PVC-Resolution.pdf.
When considering day care, more than a few related topics could come to mind: children, toys, play, and a safe environment are probably some to just name a few. However, although children at day care may be under the supervision of responsible adults and having a great time with their playmates, they may be at risk for a danger most parents would have no idea about — toxic chemicals in the day care environment.
A new study of day care centers found a toxic cocktail of chemicals lurking in the air and dust, including phthalates, chemicals that are so toxic they’ve been banned in toys across the globe.
The research, funded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), is the first-ever detailed analysis of environmental contaminants and exposures for California day care centers. It covered 40 early childhood education facilities.
“Children are more vulnerable to the health effects of environmental contaminants, and many small children spend as much as 10 hours per day, five days a week, in child care centers,” said study lead author Asa Bradman, associate director of the UC Berkeley Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health (CERCH).
Phthalates Widespread in Daycare Centers
Phthalates are chemicals commonly used to make vinyl building materials such as flooring soft and flexible. These building materials are commonly used in schools and day care centers, even though safer biobased alternatives like linoleum are available.
In the new study, phthalates were found in 100% of the air and dust samples inside daycare centers. The report noted that,
“Phthalate compounds, detected in 100% of the air and dust samples, have been shown to disrupt normal hormone function in animals. There are no health-based benchmarks to evaluate phthalate levels in air. Of all compounds measured in dust, the highest were the phthalates di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), with medians of 172.2 and 46.8 μg/g, respectively.”
Oy. Every single sample.
Phthalates have no place inside day care centers or schools, and are brought to us by BIG CHEM. They are harmful to children’s health. The researchers stated that
“Phthalate compounds are on the California Proposition 65 list as developmental toxins, and have been found to contaminate indoor environments.Studies have associated phthalate exposures with bronchial obstruction, allergies, and asthma in young children, and they are likely endocrine disruptors in humans.”
US EPA: Children Face Highest Exposures to Phthalates
“Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey (NHANES) indicates widespread exposure of the general population to phthalates. Biomonitoring data from amniotic fluid and urine have demonstrated that humans are exposed to phthalates in utero, as infants, during puberty, and in adult life, and that people are exposed to several phthalates at once…NHANES detected a DEHP urinary metabolite in 78% of the 2541 samples tested with women having a higher exposure than men. Children have been reported as having the highest exposures; specifically to DEHP, DBP, BBP and DnOP…Children are exposed to phthalates through environmental sources (e.g., air, water, food) as well as consumer products (e.g., toys)…Children’s estimated exposures are often greater than those in adults which may be due to increased intakes of food, water, and air on a bodyweight basis, as well children’s unique exposure pathways such as mouthing of objects and ingestion of non-food items. The 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 biomonitoring data in the Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals demonstrate that children have the highest exposures to phthalates of all groups monitored, and other biomonitoring data indicate in utero exposures to phthalates.”
Phthalates Banned in Toys in the US and Around the World
Phthalates were banned in toys in the United States in 2008. Similar bans have been enacted by the states of California, Washington and Vermont.
Restrictions or bans have been placed on phthalates in PVC toys in the entire European Union, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Iceland Mexico, Norway, and Sweden.
After years of defending PVC as an ecologically sustainable industrial material, Interface, one of the world’s largest carpet manufacturers and a pioneer in sustainable business, has announced that it will be eliminating virgin PVC from its entire product line by 2020.
The announcement comes as a welcome end to a long-standing conflict between the company and its core constituency of ecologically-minded consumers and businesses. In recent years, other major carpet manufacturers including Shaw and Milliken have phased PVC out of their product lines, but Interface had not followed suit. In a recent article in GreenBiz, the company’s sustainability team writes about the painful but productive process of incorporating vinyl’s full life-cycle impacts into its definition of sustainability.
Vinyl is the plastic environmentalists love to hate because of its life-cycle toxicity issues, which occur both upstream (emissions from plastic production) and downstream (if it gets burned under uncontrolled conditions). In addition, PVC always contains other chemical additives, some of which (e.g., heavy-metal stabilizers) may be quite toxic. While our Restricted Substances List adequately screens out toxic additives, it is not designed to account for these life-cycle toxicity issues.
As an early champion of lifecycle assessment (LCA), we were confident that we had a tool to account for the life-cycle of PVC. And while LCA has proven to be a reliable tool for more holistic decision-making, especially for considering carbon footprint or water impacts, it is notoriously weak at evaluating human health impacts like toxicity.
Even with robust life-cycle toxicity data (such as the chlorinated emissions from a PVC supplier), plotting it in a graph next to greenhouse gas emissions is scientifically meaningless and emotionally explosive, given that potential health impacts are far more personal and comprehensible.
Though it spent years defending PVC, in 2008 Interface began working more closely with its critics and adjusting its industrial criteria. The policy it has developed eliminates the use of virgin PVC by 2020, while reusing and diverting from the landfill millions of pounds of PVC carpet-backing currently in the waste-stream. It’s a major step forward for the carpeting industry, and we at CHEJ are glad to have Interface in our corner.
For me personally, first learning about Interface’s story was an “ah-ha” moment. I’d seen the movie “The Corporation,” in which Interface’s founder and long-time CEO, the late Ray Anderson, speaks dramatically of his conversion to an ecological approach to business. He realized that Interface’s extraction and production practices amounted to “the way of The Plunderer, plundering something that’s not mine, something that belongs to every creature on Earth.” I later readNatural Capitalism by Paul Hawken and Amory and L. Hunter Lovins, and learned with great excitement about the ways in which ecological thinking had transformed not only the contents of Interface’s carpet, but their whole business model.
Anderson and his team realized that businesses don’t want to own carpet — they want the service of floor covering. They combined this insight with the fact that when standard broadloom carpet is replaced due to worn spots, traditionally once every ten years, huge amounts of perfectly good carpet gets torn out and landfilled. There is more carpeting in US landfills than almost any other product, much of it toxic.
In response to these two realities, the company fundamentally rethought their business approach. Interface created modular carpet tiles, allowing worn areas to be replaced individually; they then leased these tiles to businesses rather than selling them, taking the worn tiles back to the factory; and they developed a higher quality, less toxic, resilient carpet product called Solenium to cover the tiles, which could be completely remanufactured into itself, retaining the value of the materials and further reducing waste.
Reading about this type of holistic, innovative approach to industry was eye-opening. It was proof that businesses can make money by being smart and following their values, by protecting their customers’ health and the environment rather than endangering it. Interface is to be commended for finally incorporating PVC-elimination into its vision. I look forward to seeing where that vision it takes the company next.
Last month, when news outlets around the country covered our press event revealing toxic phthalates in children’s Back To School supplies, we were proud of the work we’d done. Tens of thousands of Americans had been educated about how to avoid real risks to their children’s health.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Abandoned trailer, Mississippi River, Near Dow Chemical Plant, Plaquemine, LA, 1998. From Petrochemical America, photographs by Richard Misrach, Ecological Atlas by Kate Orff (Aperture 2012).
But as so often happens, absent from the coverage were the stories of the people who live near the chemical plants that produce the vinyl, whose land, air, and water has been harmed for decades by some of the most profitable companies in the world.
This month, CHEJ is proud to help present those stories in a way they have never been presented before.
Petrochemical America: Picturing Cancer Alley is a groundbreaking new collaboration by photographer Richard Misrach and landscape architect Kate Orff, debuting at Aperture Gallery and Bookstore in NYC tonight. Through haunting photographs and innovative composite images employing ecological and sociological data, gathered over the course of 14 years on the banks of the Mississippi river in Louisiana, the book and gallery exhibition provide a moving and deeply informed portrait of the American “sacrifice zones” upon which our use of plastics, oil, and gas depends. Read more about Plaquemine, LA, pictured above.
For those in New York City, we invite you to attend two free, upcoming gallery events:
Tuesday, Sept. 25th, at 6:30pm:A panel discussion with our own Mike Schade, joined by Ms. Orff and Wilma Subra of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network.
Tuesday, Oct. 2nd, at 6:30 pm:A talk and screening of the excellent and darkly comic film Blue Vinyl, with author David Rosner and landscape designer Gena Wirth.
Both events are free and include access to the exhibit. They will take place at Aperture Gallery and Bookstore, 547 West 27th Street, New York, NY.
[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Human mismanagement is turning lush cypress trees into ghostly poles, jeopardizing Louisiana’s bayou ecologies, local economies, and cultures. Requiem for a Bayou. From Petrochemical America, photographs by Richard Misrach, Ecological Atlas by Kate Orff (Aperture 2012).
For our supporters around the country, we encourage you to explore the content of the book and consider purchasing a copy. Aperture Foundation is nonprofit, and book sales help sustain its exhibitions, books, and magazine.
As we continue to advocate in New York City to get PVC out of new construction, renovation, and school supplies in our public schools, projects like Petrochemical America help us and our supporters keep in mind the full scale of what’s at stake in shifting to a safer, more sane, and more just material economy.
I have asthma. Just like millions of other Americans.
That’s why I was upset when only a week after we released our new report that found high levels of phthalates in children’s vinyl back-to-school supplies, researchers at Columbia University published a major new study linking phthalates to asthma in NYC children.
“While many factors contribute to childhood asthma, our study shows that exposure to phthalates may play a significant role,” says Allan Just, PhD, first author on the new Center study and current postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Phthalates are chemicals used to soften vinyl plastic, chemicals manufactured by big corporations like Exxon Mobil.
Phthalates in Harlem and Bronx children.
In the study, researchers found phthalates in the bodies of every single one of the 244 school-aged children in the study, ages 5 to 9. Every single one! Do you believe that?!
Higher levels of two different phthalates were associated with higher levels of nitric oxide in exhaled breath, which apparently is a biological marker of airway inflammation. They also found phthalate exposure and airway inflammation was especially strong among children who had recently reported wheeze, a common symptom of asthma.
One of the phthalates they investigated, butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP), is commonly used to soften vinyl flooring in NYC schools and others across the country.
A study published in 2009 found a statistically significant link between PVC flooring and asthma.
A 2008 study found an association between concentrations of phthalates in indoor dust and wheezing among preschool children. The presence of PVC flooring in the child’s bedroom was the strongest predictor of respiratory ailments.
A study of 10,851 children found the presence of floor moisture and PVC significantly increased the risk of asthma.
A study of adults working in rooms with plastic wall covering materials were more than twice as likely to develop asthma.
In the last decade, the proportion of people with asthma in the United States grew by nearly 15%.
Today, one out of every 11 school-age children has asthma. In fact, asthma is a leading cause of school absenteeism: 10.5 million school days are missed each year due to asthma. About 9 people die from asthma each day.
Additionally, asthma costs the United States $56 billion each year. That’s right. 56 B-I-L-L-I-O-N.
What can we do?
We know phthalates have been linked to asthma, not to mention many other health problems. We know there are safer alternatives. We don’t need to use vinyl school supplies, flooring and other products in our schools in the first place. Why take an unnecessary risk with children’s health?
Chemicals that have been linked to asthma have no place in our children’s schools.
Getting these harmful chemicals out of our schools is a common sense precautionary solution.
Two great new pieces of activist reporting came out last week, and both dovetail perfectly with our work to get PVC, the poison plastic (a k a vinyl), out of NYC schools. Check them out!
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]More than half of the United States is currently in drought
“Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” a feature article in Rolling Stone by Bill McKibben, lays out three numbers that may well define the future of our planet: how much warmer we can “safely” allow the climate to get; how much carbon we can burn without going over; and how much carbon is currently planning to be burned by the oil and gas industry. (Hint: that last one is about five times larger than the second one.)
McKibben’s frightening conclusion is that unless the international community (i.e. we) demands that Exxon, Chesapeake, and the other oil, gas, and coal giants keep about 80% of their current reserves in the ground, unused, uncontrollable climate destabilization is inevitable. Problem is, that would mean about $20 trillion in losses for these companies, giving them roughly unlimited financial (if not human) incentive to block legislation forcing them to do it.
In short, we have our work cut out for us. Enter the latest installment from Story of Stuff Project:
The animated web-comic “The Story of Change” by Annie Leonard and her team takes viewers through a six-and-a-half minute tour of how citizens can bring about the environmentally sustainable, people-centered, non-toxic, socially equitable economy that we want.
Her prescription? [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Big idea] + [people] + [action] = CHANGE. It’s a convincing argument, and one that we’ll need to take to heart if we’re going to keep the fossil fuel industry’s equation from stealing the future.
So what’s the connection to PVC-free schools for New York City?
Dow Chemicals Vinyl Plant in Freeport, TX.Photo: Greenpeace USA 2011
First, it can save energy.
The vinyl 3-ring binders, floor tiles, and examination gloves found throughout the NYC school system don’t just release harmful toxins into the air. They also take enormous amounts of energy to produce. PVC plastic is made up of about 40% chlorine, and chlorine production is one of the most energy intensive (not to mention dangerous) industrial processes in the world. According to Joe Thornton, PhD, of the Healthy Building Network, “Chlorine production for PVC consumes an estimated 47 billion kilowatt hours per year — equivalent to the annual total output of eight medium-sized nuclear power plants.”
By spending its multi-million dollar purchasing budget on safer, cost-effective alternatives to PVC, the NYC school system can better protect its students, teachers, and staff, and help drive producers away from this costly, energy-intensive material.
Second, we’re using a big idea, building people power, and taking action!
We’re bringing together parents, teachers, students, doctors, environmental justice activists, labor unions, and more to stand behind a clear message: PVC is the wrong choice for NYC school supplies and construction materials. Click here to join the effort!
A brand new report by the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse has documented elevated levels of toxic cadmium and lead in PVC packaging sold by dollar-store discount retailers. They found that:
This is the symbol of PVC packaging. Just remember Bad News Comes in 3’s – Don’t Buy PVC!
“Almost 40 percent of imported PVC packaging of products tested, sold by discount retail chains, was found to violate state toxics laws… These packages contained cadmium or lead, which are restricted by laws in 19 states due to toxicity.” – TPCH press release
“Packaging in violation of state laws is likely not one-time sourcing or production mistakes, but rather appears pervasive in imported PVC packaging,” – Kathleen Hennings of Iowa Department of Natural Resources.”
PVC packaging violates laws in 19 states.
No less than nineteen states have laws that prohibit the sale or distribution of packaging containing intentionally added cadmium, lead, mercury, and hexavalent chromium, and set limits on the incidental concentration of these materials in packaging. The purpose? To prevent the use of toxic heavy metals in packaging materials that enter landfills, incinerators, recycling streams, and ultimately, the environment. The Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse has been working to implement and enforce these laws.
In their latest report released this past Friday, a total of 61 flexible PVC packaging samples were screened using XRF technology. 39% of the packaging samples failed the screening test for cadmium and in one instance, also for lead. All the failed packaging samples were imported, mostly from China.
Packaging that failed the screening tests was used for children’s products, pet supplies, personal care, household items, home furnishings, hardware, and apparel. The products were purchased at eight retail chains across America. Six of the eight retail chains operate at least 500 locations each across 35 or more states.
Not the first time PVC packaging contaminated with toxic metals
This isn’t the first time the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse has documented PVC packaging laden with toxic heavy metals. In 2007, they published a report which found sixty-one percent of the PVC packages tested were not in compliance with state laws due to the use of cadmium and/or lead. In 2009 they published a follow up report which found that all packaging samples failing for cadmium content were flexible PVC, and over 90 percent of these were imported.
Other studies have documented other chemicals of concern in PVC packaging, including phthalates, organotins, bisphenol A (BPA), and adipates. Unfortunately, these were not tested for in the brand new study, and are also likely lurking in PVC packaging at retailers.
Is cadmium the new lead?
In recent years, the vinyl chemical industry has been moving away from lead as a stabilizer, but apparently has been replacing lead with cadmium and organotins.
There’s a body of evidence that cadmium may be the new lead. Like lead, cadmium has been linked to learning problems in school children, which are on the rise. A recent study by researchers from Harvard found children with higher cadmium levels are three times more likely to have learning disabilities and participate in special education.
Our friends at SAFER have compiled lots of great information on cadmium, including a summary of cadmium’s health concerns.
Just Remember – Bad News Comes in 3’s, Don’t Buy PVC
Thankfully, it’s not too hard for consumers to identify and avoid PVC/vinyl packaging, to help reduce your exposure to cadmium and the other toxic additives commonly found in vinyl.
One way to be sure if the packaging of a product is made from PVC is to look for the number “3” inside or the letter “V” underneath the universal recycling symbol. If it is, that means it’s made out of the poison plastic. That’s why we say Bad News Comes in 3’s – Don’t Buy PVC!
Not sure? Call the manufacturer or retailer and ask them directly.
Have some PVC packaging? Return it to the manufacturer or retailer and demand they go PVC-free!
In a pair of troubling scientific announcements this week, researchers presented findings suggesting that exposure to phthalates – the common, unlabeled chemical additives found in a wide range of consumer products, including many made of PVC/vinyl – may be linked to eczema and obesity in children. Previous studies have associated phthalate exposure with endocrine disruption and asthma,early puberty in girls, and learning disabilities.
The findings underscore the need to phase phthalates out of consumer products and construction materials like vinyl flooring, especially in schools, where they pose a particular threat to children and teachers of childbearing age. CHEJ’s annual Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies outlines ways parents can choose safer alternatives for their children.
The obesity study, presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Houston by South Korean pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Mi-Jung Par, found that children with the highest levels of the common phthalate di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in their blood were nearly five times as likely to be obese as children with the lowest levels.
The eczema study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives by researchers from the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health in New York, found that prenatal exposure to the phthalate butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP) – commonly found in vinyl flooring – can increase a child’s risk of developing eczema, a skin condition characterized by red, itchy swelling of the skin. This comes at a time when another study found the very same phthalate can be absorbed into children’s bodies.
The evidence is overwhelming that reducing phthalate exposure, especially among children and womenof child-bearing age, is smart public-health policy and follows the precautionary principle. Click here to learn more about CHEJ’s work to phase PVC, in which over 90% of all phthalates are used, out of the NYC school system.
Mr. Mouton was an inspiration to me as a fighter for environmental justice.
A lifelong resident of Mossville, Louisiana, Mr. Mouton fought passionately and diligently against the PVC plastics and petrochemical industry in his community, which has been spewing poisonous chemicals into the air and water of his community. Cancer-causing chemicals like dioxin and vinyl chloride.
Words of an environmental justice hero.
Mr. Mouton was humble yet extremely persistent. He fought for his community for many, many years. He was outraged by the dioxin and vinyl chloride pollution that was getting into residents’ yards, chickens, homes, and their bodies. Portions of the community were relocated and demolished due to groundwater contamination from a nearby PVC plant.
He wouldn’t let them get away with this.
In 2000, Mr. Mouton and other leaders from Mossville traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to testify at a US EPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) meeting. At that meeting, he said:
“As I grew up in Mossville, I remember when the plants were built as a child. My father helped build a lot of those plants. It is terrible. We had beautiful green woods around us and we did all the fishing that we ever wanted. But they did not care anything about that. And that is the same thing today.
“People are sick and dying in our community because of the high levels of dioxins found in our blood…We have a lot of people sick. There’s a lot of people with some type of illness, lungs, or some with cancer that I know of. There’s a lot of sick people there that thedoctors don’t know what’s wrong with them.”
“They seem continually to stall, for some reason or another. They give us the impression that we do not know what our needs and wants are. They want to run the show; they want to take control.”
[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Mr. Mouton leading us on a toxic tour. Photo: Jay Burney
I met Mr. Mouton back in 2004 when PVC manufacturer CertainTeed was proposing to build a PVC plant on the Lake Erie waterfront in Buffalo, NY where I lived. We knew CertainTeed’s primary PVC plant was just outside Mossville, and that’s how I had the pleasure of working with and meeting Mr. Mouton.
I led a delegation of environmental health activists to travel from Buffalo to Mossville, to bear witness to the pollution the PVC plastics industry was leveling on this historic African American community. Mr. Mouton and other leaders of MEAN welcomed us into their community with open arms, introducing us to families, taking us on toxic tours, holding a joint press conference, and even throwing down with us at a crawfish boil. You can read about the trip in this newsletter article I wrote back in 2004 (see page 8).
I’ll never forget that trip visiting Mr. Mouton, Mossville and the Lake Charles area. It stays with me every day.
Broken promises, and the struggle continues.
“Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” – Mother Jones
I’ve always been inspired by these words of Mother Jones. And I like to think that Mr. Mouton would agree. He’d want to see the struggle continue, until justice is served.
“We’re being hit from the north, south, east, and west. Every time the wind changes, we get a lungful of pollution from some other plant. These chemicals end up in our water, our gardens, our children’s bodies. Each day we hear about someone in our community being diagnosed with cancer or another illness. We’re taking legal action so that we might live to see some improvements for ourselves and our community.” – Mr. Mouton, former President of Mossville Environmental Action Now (MEAN)
Over the past decade, MEAN, Earthjustice and other groups have taken EPA to court numerous times, and won! As a result of their work, the EPA agreed and promised to clamp down on pollution from PVC chemical plants like CertainTeed in Mossville.
Unfortunately, the EPA has now broken their promises to this community, which flies in the face of the EPA’s commitment to environmental justice. The EPA has set stronger emission standards for PVC plants in other communities, but weaker ones in Mossville, home to more than PVC plants than anywhere else in the country!
That’s why this week, MEAN, Earthjustice, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and other groups are fighting back once again. They’ve filed a petition and lawsuit demanding EPA reduce toxic pollution from the CertainTeed plant.
“After years of work to obtain the stronger air protection we need in Mossville, Louisiana, it was a shock to our community when EPA suddenly changed course and singled us out for weaker standards as compared to the rest of the nation. EPA should stay true to its commitment to environmental justice and correct this unfairness by setting stronger air pollution limits that will protect our health as we and all Americans deserve.”- Dorothy Felix, President of Mossville Environmental Action Now (MEAN)
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson owes this community justice. She owes it to Mr. Mouton’s family.
RIP Mr. Mouton. We will miss and never forget you. The struggle continues.
ts and health.
After years of defending PVC as an ecologically sustainable industrial material, 
