Safer Chemicals, Healthy FamiliesA national effort to protect families from toxic chemicals.

Posts by Lindsay Dahl
Apple iPhones get (a little) less toxic
Five months after Green America launched their Bad Apple: End Smartphone Sweatshops campaign, the company agreed to remove toxic chemicals including benzene and n-hexane from its supplier factories in China.
New study: Lead abatement pays for itself in 3-6 years
A new report out of Michigan sheds light on why investing in lead abatement makes financial sense. For many of us who support removing lead from homes and products, it’s a no brainer, right?! But when it comes to making the case to state and federal lawmakers, numbers speak louder than words.
Notorious chemicals on Congressional chopping block
The Protecting American Families from Toxic Chemicals Act would allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify and phase out PBTs from commerce within the next five years.
New studies raise concerns about BPA/BPS

We’ve been educating the public about the concerning health effects of BPA for a while now; just this week three new studies have raised further concerns about the safety of the chemical and its replacement BPS. Without federal laws determining which chemicals are safe, and sending a clear message to the marketplace that equally unsafe replacement chemicals and materials won’t be tolerated, this concept of the “toxic treadmill” will continue.
New York state poised to make history

The chemical industry fights state legislators tooth and nail as they try to pass protective policies, pulling all of the dirty tricks out of their play books. The good news is public health leaders are standing up to the chemical industry in New York state. The New York state legislature has been considering important legislation, the Child Safe Products Act, that would protect New York families from toxic chemicals.
Get your foam products tested for flame retardants

The well-respected research team at Duke University has created a new program that lets you test, for the first time, products in your home for toxic flame retardants.
Lead exposure during pregnancy could affect brain development

We know that lead and pregnant women don’t mix. We know that lead and children don’t mix. We’ve known for decades that lead harms the brain and is linked to lower IQ levels. We’ve also discussed interesting research by Dr. Phil Landrigan in our Health Report showing the economic gains from regulating lead in gasoline. […]
How to find safer, less-toxic products

I intentionally didn’t title this “How to avoid chemicals completely” because that’s, well … impossible. We talk a lot about the need to be active and engaged citizens when it comes to tackling toxic chemicals. But at the end of the day, in between calling our members of Congress and asking retailers to phase out […]
National Call in Day for Real Reform

We’ve talked about this before: calling Congress seems old school, but it works. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee may soon vote, for the first time in nearly 40 years on reforming our federal chemical system. The problem is, the bill they are voting on, the Chemicals in Commerce Act, well… stinks. And for that […]
New study finds 102 common chemicals linked to breast cancer

A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives identified seventeen types of chemicals, 102 in total, linked to breast cancer. The study spearheaded by the scientists at the Silent Spring Institute, found areas in which policy and personal steps are a major opportunity for breast cancer prevention. As Silent Spring put it, “Every woman in America has […]