With so much success at home – let’s take this show on the road! Next up: Washington D.C.

The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 would amend the federal Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA). The current TSCA law is widely understood to be ineffective. When TSCA passed, it “grandfathered” in 62,000 chemicals in use without restriction or testing. In the more than 30 years since then, the U.S. EPA has only required testing for 200 chemicals and only restricted some uses of 5 chemicals under TSCA.

We are urging Senator Snowe and Senator Collins to be leaders in protecting our health from toxic chemicals in  consumer products by supporting the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 847).

It is time we “make-up” for lost time and update our chemical safety laws.

Speaking of make-up… Existing law, which has not been revised in 70 years, allows companies to use toxic chemicals in products we use on our bodies every day. Fortunately, congressional leaders just reintroduced the Safe Cosmetics Act in the House of Representatives.

This bill, H.R. 2359, would give the  U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority it needs to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful substances like lead, 1,4-dioxane and chemicals linked to cancer.

Both our Senators and Representatives are busy considering chemical safety legislation – email them today and ask them to support common-sense laws to get toxic chemicals out of our everyday products.

Click here to email Senator Snowe and Senator Collins about the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 and your Representative about the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011.

There is a definite relation between toxic chemicals and the rise of serious health problems such as cancer and infertility in the state of Maine. Saying as much, I would like to thank Maine state senators for supporting strong public health laws in the past, but also encourage them to continue doing so as new issues arise. The proposed Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 would immediately help prevent chemical induced health issues by enabling a ban of harmful chemicals and requiring manufacturers to list basic safety information on their products.

As a young woman, I am greatly aware of the surplus of chemical products marketed constantly at society. Conscious of the harmful effects of these products, I try to make well-educated decisions about which products are safe to use, but that is not always a simple task. This is not a problem you can shop your way out of. Our government needs to step in and pass strong chemical safety reforms to protect my health and the health of Maine’s future generations. Children especially are most susceptible to the side-effects of these harmful ingredients; evidence shows that Maine’s rising rates of diabetes, asthma, and learning disabilities among children are directly linked to increased exposure to toxic chemicals. Unavoidably, countermeasures need to be taken to alleviate and eventually prevent the consequences of toxic chemicals in our consumer products.

For these reasons, I strongly urge Maine Senators Snowe and Collins to support real reform of the Toxic Substance Control Act in the 112^th Congress by co-sponsoring the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011. In order to be healthy, successful individuals, Maine people need control over the chemicals in their homes and in their environment.

That’s why I’m writing to you today.

Believe it or not, we have A LOT to celebrate. Thanks to you, and your calls, emails, and visits to the State House we have – together – successfully defeated (and in some cases diminished) a myriad of dangerous roll-back proposals.

Here’s the skinny:

Child Labor: L.D. 1346, a bill to implement a sub-minimum wage for teen workers and eliminate hour-caps on teen labor during the school week, was killed in committee. L.D. 516, a bill to increase the number of hours a week a teen can work, is currently awaiting action in the House, but with much less drastic language. We still must work hard to defeat this bill but this amendment points us in the right direction.

Safe Chemicals: Attempts to roll back Maine’s Kid-Safe Products act were defeated, as lawmakers reached an agreeable compromise. And, the ban on the toxic chemical BPA was passed with near-unanimous support from the legislature and without the Governor’s signature!

Human Rights: The Judiciary Committee voted Friday “ought not to pass” on a bill to roll back human rights protections for transgendered Mainers – leaving Maine’s Human Rights Act intact! We still need to work hard to hold the line on the floor vote.

Reproductive Freedom: On Friday, the Judiciary Committee also voted “ought not to pass” on four anti-choice bills: a bill requiring parental consent for contraception, one requiring parental consent for abortion, one requiring a 24-hour waiting period, and one that would require doctors to read a biased and coercive script to a patient 24 hours before she could obtain an abortion. This vote was a victory for Maine’s longstanding, bipartisan tradition of reproductive privacy.

So, we have a lot to celebrate, AND a lot of work left to do.

Despite the good news for reproductive freedom reported out of the Judiciary Committee on Friday, we expect a contentious floor debate on all four of these anti-choice bills. Believe me, our lobbyist is working hard, but she needs your help!

Please email your legislator now and tell them to vote NO on all four of these anti-choice bills.

Your calls and emails have gotten us this far, so keep them coming.

The time to protect Maine’s women’s reproductive freedom and privacy is now. ]]> http://www.mainewomen.org/blogs/2011/05/heres-the-skinny/feed/ 0 http://www.mainewomen.org/blogs/2011/04/great-piece-on-safe-cosmetics/ http://www.mainewomen.org/blogs/2011/04/great-piece-on-safe-cosmetics/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:36:12 +0000 asheldon http://www.mainewomen.org/blogs/?p=2513 Check out this great interview about toxic chemicals in personal care products with Mia Davis of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

The Maine Women’s Policy Center is Planning Safe Cosmetics awareness events at campuses across the state, email Asheldon@mainewomen.org to get involved.

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: MyFoxATLANTA.com

“LD 1129 is an anti-scientific, chemical industry wish list,” observed Mike Belliveau, Executive Director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center. “Industry lobbyists talk about this as a pruning of the Kid-Safe Products Act but what they’ve proposed is nothing short of a clearcut.”

Opponents identified 28 individual rollbacks in LD 1129 that would amount to a complete disabling of the law.  The most egregious of these impacts include the elimination of protection for the fetus and for teenagers, limiting action to only those products marketed specifically for young children, favoring industry-funded science over independent science, ignoring many chemicals already proven harmful to children, creating new and costly burdens for state experts, taking away the rights of Maine people to petition the government to take action, and surrendering Maine’s right to act independently from the federal government.

Opponents of LD 1129 included parents, scientists, physicians, nurses, business owners, and public health advocates.

Jim Wellehan, President of Lamey-Wellehan, stated, “As a Maine business, I can tell you that there is nothing more important than making sure our merchandise is safe for our customers.  The Kid-Safe Products Act supports us on two fronts: it helps us get good information about what’s in the products on our store shelves, and it helps drive down health care costs for all of us.  Let’s never forget that healthy families are the key to a healthy economy.  Weakening this important law doesn’t do a thing to help Maine businesses, or bring new business to Maine, but it would certainly take Maine’s economic recovery in the wrong direction.”

The Kid-Safe Products Act (KSPA) has been extremely popular among lawmakers and the public right from the beginning.  The law passed by a margin of 129-9 in the House and 35-0 in the Senate.  Of those who voted for the law in 2008, 74 are still in office (1 Independent, 32 Republicans and 41 Democrats).  In addition, a February 2011 poll showed 91% of Maine voters support the law.  Representative James Hamper, a Republican from Oxford was one of the nine who voted against KSPA in 2008 and is the sole sponsor of LD 1129.

Megan Rice, a mother of two from the town of China stated, “Friday’s vote on BPA shows that the Kid-Safe law is working exactly as you intended it.  The process was careful, methodical, and based on the best peer-reviewed science available today.  Why would you undermine Maine parents and take away the opportunities you’ve given us to protect our children from toxic chemicals?  I am appalled at LD 1129.  It simply makes no sense to put our kids at greater risk.”

Bettie Kettell, a nurse from Durham, spoke on behalf of the American Nurses Association and told the committee, “Exposure to toxic chemicals can lead to expensive chronic disease, including reproductive problems, developmental and learning disabilities, and cancer.  Exposure in the womb, during infancy, or in childhood can set the stage for a lifetime of health problems.  University of Maine research shows that just four childhood illnesses linked to chemical exposure result in at least $380 million in health-related costs.  This is a burden shared by every family and business in Maine.”

Efforts to dismantle the Kid-Safe Products Act started earlier in the year with LD 1, the Governor’s bill to eliminate many of Maine’s environmental regulations.  Because no Maine business testified against the Kid-Safe Products Act in 2008, the attacks were seen by many as the new administration’s attempt to carry out a wish list from the out-of-state chemical industry.

Maine is one of 18 states that have passed laws to protect children’s health from toxic chemicals in consumer products. After 3 years, progress under the Kid-Safe Products Act has been modest.  Just two priority chemicals have been named under the Kid-Safe Products Act in its first three years.  Only one specific use of a chemical has been proposed for phase out in favor of safer alternatives – the use of BPA in sippy cups and other reusable containers.

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Concerned about the attacks on the chemical industry on the Kid-Safe Product Act? Join us for the Alliance and a Clean and Healthy Maine Day at the State House! Thursday April 14th, 8:30 am – 1 pm, at the Augusta State House

RSVP here

In Washington Social Security has been in the spotlight. That’s why we’re pleased to cosponsor “Social Security and Maine’s Future: Keeping the Promise to All Generations” next Tuesday evening, March 22nd, in Portland.

The event will include an address by Nancy J. Altman, one of the nation’s foremost experts on Social Security, assistant to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, and the author of The Battle For Social Security: From FDR’s Vision To Bush’s Gamble.

I hope you can join us!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Hannaford Hall, University of Southern Maine,
88 Bedford Street in Portland.

There will be a 4:30 p.m. reception followed by Ms. Altman’s remarks beginning at 5:30 p.m. The event is open to the general public and free of charge.

We do recommend that you register in advance: Click here to register.

Visit the event’s facebook page here.

And here’s another opportunity to work toward protecting Maine’s future by ensuring the health and well-being of our children.

The Kid Safe Products Law is facing a new challenge in Augusta!

A newly introduced bill, LD 1129, sponsored by Rep. Jim Hamper (R-Oxford), would substantially weaken the bipartisan, common-sense Kid Safe Products Law – peeling back vital health protections for Maine children.

Let’s not gut critical health protections for kids!

The best way to register your concern is to join us at the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine Lobby Day – April 14th. The event is happening at the State House in Augusta. Click here for more details and to register.

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Let’s not gut the Kids Safe Products Act! The best way to register your concern is to join us for the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine Lobby Day – April 14th.

Click here to register

We all have our morning routines. My daily regimen includes an assortment of personal care products, including shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotion, a little bit of makeup; about a dozen products a day, which is exactly the national average for women in the U.S. In the process, women like me are exposed to more than 160 chemicals (men about half that), most of which would be considered unnecessary but “safe,” however, many others are well known toxins, carcinogens and pollutants.

Typical ingredients include things like bacteria-killing nanosilvers; 1,4 Dioxane (known cancer causing substance found in 22 percent of personal care and children’s products); Mercury and cow placenta (icky for sure, and chock-filled with hormones that can spark premature breast development in toddler girls) — the kind of substances that would earn you serious prison time if you dumped them into a local stream.

Read the whole article here

Governor LePage said: “The only thing that I’ve heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. So the worst case is some women may have little beards.”

Really. He did.

You can read the story here.

The story has been picked up by hundreds of media outlets across the country. Facebook is buzzing with concerns about what his stance means for Maine’s Kids-Safe Products lawl. And, my Twitter feed is … well, all-a-twitter.

Here’s the back story: Maine has recommended that BPA be listed as a priority chemical to be replaced with safer alternatives because BPA exposure is linked to a staggering array of health problems. There is a long and ever increasing number of scientific studies linking BPA endocrine disrupting qualities to harm to the reproductive system, learning disabilities, breast and prostate cancer, and early puberty in girls.

You get where I’m going with this, right?

Maine people have time and again stood up and said we want protection against these dangerous chemicals in the products that kids use. We don’t want them in our baby’s bottles or sippy cups. Maine’s Kid-Safe Products Law passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

No Maine business testified in opposition to the bill in 2008.

Now, Governor LePage - with his ‘beard’ comment and his proposal to roll back the Kid-Safe Products Law and the BPA rule – is putting the health of Maine kids and families in jeopardy.

Well, this isn’t funny.

Policy decisions must be made on the basis of sound science and information, not hearsay and anecdotes. Write to Governor LePage right now and tell him to keep BPA out of our bodies.

Please, take action right now – and then share on Facebook and Twitter – we cannot reverse years of scientific research and thoughtful public health protections.

Please send a message to Governor LePage right now.

Have a heart for Maine children – attend the hearing on L.D. 1 on Valentine’s Day.

Governor Paul LePage has released a set of proposed regulatory roll-backs that would eliminate or dramatically weaken a broad range of laws meant to protect the health of Maine people – including the Kids Safe Products law.

If enacted, the Governor’s “Phase I Regulatory Reform Proposals” would direct Maine to weaken its environmental safeguards to the lowest levels acceptable at the federal level.

Please join us on Valentine’s Day, Monday, February 14, and tell the Committee you are AGAINST allowing toxic chemicals in toys, baby bottles, and sippy cups!

The hearing on L.D. 1 will be in front of the Legislative Regulatory Fairness and Reform Committee and will start at 9:00 a.m. in room 208 of the Cross State Office Building. We expect a day-long hearing. Any part of the day you can attend would be terrific.

There is a press conference happening in the Hall of Flags at noon, so if you can only sneak away for your lunch hour, join us then!

Please RSVP if you can attend.

(That was the love part.)

… And, now marriage.

As you may know, the Maine Women’s Lobby has been working hard to reach full marriage equality for Maine people.

The most powerful tool we have to engage Maine people as advocates for marriage equality are the personal stories of people like you.

That’s why I’m excited to share with you a new project recently launched by our partners, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and EqualityMaine:

MaineTheWayLifeShouldBe.org.

As we work toward achieving marriage equality in Maine, we want to be able to share the personal stories of same-sex couples who need the protection and security that only marriage can bring, as well as those from the supportive family members, neighbors, and friends who believe in full equality.

Please take a moment to visit MaineTheWayLifeShouldBe.org, read the stories of other people in your community, and, most importantly, submit your own personal story.

I hope you will join us.