Liz Hitchcock

Acting Director

26 entries posted
Liz Hitchcock
Liz Hitchcock is Acting Director of Safer Chemicals Healthy Families. She oversees staff, coordinates our work with partner organizations, and manages the campaign’s advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and at EPA and other federal agencies. She joined the campaign after four years as the public health advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. In that capacity, she led U.S. PIRG’s campaigns on environmental health issues including product safety, chemical policy reform, chemical facility security and food safety. She coordinated PIRG’s successful campaign to win landmark federal standards for toxic lead and phthalates in children’s products in the 2008 reform of Consumer Product Safety Commission, and was PIRG's lead lobbyist on the food safety campaign that resulted in the 2010 passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Prior to becoming public health advocate, she served as U.S. PIRG's Communications Director for eleven years, working with the state PIRGs' advocacy and field staffs to educate the national and local media on such issues as product safety, clean water, toxic chemical accidents, safe energy alternatives and air pollution. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and a native of Schenectady, NY.

Posts by Liz Hitchcock

EPA paint stripper rule will leave workers’ lives at risk

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final rule on methylene chloride in paint strippers. The Trump administration’s final rule will ban consumer uses and sales of these dangerous paint strippers while continuing to allow commercial sales to contractors and other professionals.

in Policy & Regulation

What the Trump EPA should do to tackle the PFAS pollution crisis

Tomorrow morning, the EPA will release its first federal PFAS management plan.

in Policy & Regulation

This week in DC: PFAS chemical crisis in the spotlight

Many communities have been calling on the federal government to help address the PFAS drinking water crisis. And this week Congress is working to address it in a couple of ways.

in Policy & Regulation

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle show concern about PFAS water contamination crisis at hearing

hearing

This week the House Energy and Commerce Environment Subcommittee held a hearing on perfluorinated (PFAS) chemicals in the environment. Millions of people across the United States are exposed to drinking water contaminated by toxic PFAS chemicals.

in Policy & Regulation

Why is everyone tweeting about a SNUR? For that matter, what is a SNUR?

The outside of a dwelling contaminated with asbestos

The SNUR creating more buzz and media coverage than any in memory is EPA’s proposed SNUR for asbestos “for certain uses identified by EPA as no longer ongoing.”

in Policy & Regulation

TSCA reform: The terrible twos edition

We recently marked two years since the enactment of the Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. The law, more commonly known as TSCA reform, was the much heralded and long-awaited bipartisan update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a 1976 law that never really got off the ground as a public health […]

in Policy & Regulation

Three moms on a mission to ban the chemical that killed their sons

We have spent the past few days with three courageous moms, who have taken the unimaginable grief of losing their sons and turned it into tenacious advocacy. They’re working to get the deadly chemical their sons were all exposed to off store shelves and out of workplaces.

in Policy & Regulation

Let’s say it again: Dangerous paint strippers don’t belong on store shelves

Methylene chloride has killed more than 50 people across the country but so far E.P.A. and home improvement retailers have failed to act.

in Mind the Store, Policy & Regulation

E.P.A.’s “interesting” holiday gift: delaying bans on hazardous chemicals

This week the news broke that EPA had moved rules to ban certain uses of three dangerous chemicals from the “pending” column into the “long-term action” column in its regulatory agenda.

in Policy & Regulation

Victory! EPA nominee Michael Dourson withdraws

In a year like 2017, it’s more important than ever to celebrate the victories. This week we learned that Michael Dourson has withdrawn from consideration for Assistant Administrator of the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. This great news followed a persistent campaign to defeat his nomination by numerous environmental health organizations and […]

in Policy & Regulation