A message to all Congressional candidates
I have always felt that getting a handle on toxic chemicals
is an urgent matter. But some news headlines in the last few weeks have underscored
that urgency. Boys are now facing early
puberty, just like their girl counterparts, breast cancer rates are rapidly
rising in female
firefighters and nearly one in six children have some form of learning or
developmental disability.
So why is it that we’ve heard very little this campaign
season about consumer protection, and protecting public health and the
environment? These are issues American families grapple with every single day. The
good news is in response, millions of Americans are taking action.
Today people across the country will be contacting all their
candidates for federal office to ask them to stand up for the Safer Chemicals
agenda. Will you join us in our Healthy
Families Day of Action?
The choice is really simple, candidates can either support
our efforts to increase protections from toxic chemicals, or they can side with
Big Chemical.
Here are several ways you can participate
in our day of action:
- Ask all candidates to stand up for the Safer Chemicals
agenda and say NO to Big Chemical. - Call all
candidates campaign offices and ask them to support the Safe Chemicals
agenda. - Share
action materials via social media. Visit our Facebook page or
follow us on Twitter and share
our action links and images that state “I stand with kids, not Big Chemical!” - When
candidates knock on your door, ask them where they stand on toxic chemical
regulation and other issues that are important to you.
- Write a
letter to the editor to your local newspaper calling on all candidates to
support protections from toxic chemicals. Tips
for writing a letter can be found here.
Here are some stats to inspire you to take action.
Just today we've learned some alarming numbers about the chemical
industry's spending. In the third quarter alone, the chemical industry
trade association spent $3.48 million dollars lobbying Congress to block
reform. And in the first six months of this year, Dow Chemical spent
$6.57 million dollars lobbying Congress. (According to the publicly available Lobby Discolsure reports.) We must fight back!
Our grassroots movement is powerful, and is making a
difference already. We must keep the momentum up and let candidates know we
stand for kids not Big Chemical!