Want to say goodbye to those ever increasing parental worries about toxic chemicals? So do we!Here are some wonderful resources to help you learn more about environmental health.
Join our Safer Chemicals Campaign
We’re sick and tired of reading report after report about dangers associated with the products we use everyday: Biphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles, soda cans, and other everyday products; phthalates in toys and pacifiers; formaldehyde in baby shampoo. In fact, dangerous chemicals are found in everything from cosmetics to bedding to school supplies.
That’s why MomsRising has joined a growing movement of workers, scientists, fertility experts, and advocates for learning and developmental disabilities in supporting comprehensive reform for America’s chemical policy. As part of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families campaign, we’re calling for updated chemical regulations so that chemicals are proven to be safe before they are out on the market and in the products our kids use every day!
Send a letter to Congress urging a fix today! »
School Siting
A child’s school day is filled with exploration. From spending a science class inspecting the ecosystem outside of her classroom, to navigating the playground at recess, he or she interacts daily with her school environment in active, tactile ways. Wouldn’t it be tragic if these normal school activities put that child at risk for asthma, autism, and cancer?
Building or maintaining schools on or near contaminated and polluted land poses a great risk to the health of students and teachers. Children spend the bulk of their day in the classroom, and their rapid growth and development makes them more vulnerable than adults to exposure to toxins. A child absorbs about 50% of the lead to which he or she is exposed exposed, while and adult only absorbs 10-15%. It is not surprising that children who attend school within 10 -20 miles of a known toxic superfund site are almost twice as likely to have autism.
Learn more about school siting in toxic locations, and what your community can do to prevent it by downloading the Center for Health and Environmental Justice(CHEJ) School Siting Tool Kit.
PVC Free School Supplies
2009 PVC Free School Supplies Guide: Download here! »
PVC is a major source of phthalates; yes, the same dangerous plastic softeners we successfully banned from children’s toys last year. Phthalates have been banned in children’s toys, but they’re still legal in PVC school supplies our children come in contact with on a daily basis. Phthalates harm children’s health and development by interfering with natural hormone functioning and have been linked to birth defects in baby boys, testicular cancer, liver problems and early onset of puberty in girls-a risk factor for later-life breast cancer.
If you're searching for school supplies, find out which ones are PVC free by downloading this fabulous resource from CHEJ.
Over the past year, Administrator Jackson has pledged that her agency is back at work defending children’s health by ending environmental injustices, but when it comes to ending mountaintop removal, the agency is stalled.
In 1978, I discovered my child was attending an elementary school built on top of a 20,000 ton, toxic-chemical dump in Niagara Falls, New York. As a mom, I was outraged! That shocking discovery spurred me and my neighbors to lead a three-year struggle to protect our children and families from the [...]
…At some point, of course, I realized I wasn’t happy. I was trapped. I had money, but not time. It was like being surrounded by food, and dying of thirst.
It turns out that there is a way out of this mess. There are people all over this country–both women and men–who have made a conscious decision to value their time more than their money. Against the formidable current of popular culture, they have decided that this may be the only life they will ever have, and they’re going to live it fully.
