Luckily, there are steps that pregnant women can take to avoid consuming more of these toxics than necessary.

Picking up the phone to call your Senators is still one of the most effective ways to break through Congressional gridlock and we need your help today! We’re hosting a National Day of Action and we’re saying no to phony reform of our toxic chemical laws! We’ve been working for years, building a national coalition […]

By Hannah Helsabeck, Wild Mint With Halloween decorations down and costumes boxed up for next year, it’s time to pawn off that extra candy to make room for all those comfort foods that make November so delicious! And I don’t know if you agree, but as soon as October is over, all I can think […]

The promise of prevention and the hope for healing By The Science and Environmental Health Network PDF available at www.sehn.org and www.healthandenvironment.org The Ecology of Breast Cancer: the promise of prevention and the hope for healing makes the case that breast cancer is a disease arising from diverse societal conditions. Although well-recognized risk factors and […]

I joined the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Stroller Brigade in DC to advocate for safer chemicals in honor of my twin boys, Micah and Zachary. After three years of struggling with infertility, my husband and I were ecstatic to have twins on the way. Unfortunately, our boys were born three months early and weighed less than 3 pounds at birth.

Today is the official 37^th “birthday” for our toxic chemical law the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The last time our primary law on toxic chemicals was update was 1976 and as you can image, we’ve learned a thing or two about the ways in which chemicals behave in our bodies and the environment.

When pregnant, I was lucky enough to receive excellent prenatal care. Still, I was bombarded – and frankly, sometimes overwhelmed – with messages about what to do and what to avoid during pregnancy.  And despite doing my best to comply with the prevailing guidance, my son was probably born – like most babies in the United States – with 200+ chemicals in his body.

No matter how careful a woman is, there is no way to avoid all BPA exposure. And you know what? It shouldn’t be our job! No one, especially a pregnant woman, should have to be a toxicologist to go to the grocery store.

As the US Senate begins consideration of the recently introduced Chemical Safety Improvement Act, I want them to think about the brain.

Most of us don’t think about our brains. It’s like thinking about our hearts beating or about the sun rising and setting each day.

The human brain develops in an incredibly intricate and elegantly orchestrated series of events. Brain cells (neurons) divide, migrate, differentiate and communicate. At birth, a baby’s brain has about 100 billion neurons that are in place and beginning to connect with each other, sending and receiving messages. The brain continues to grow and strengthen connections throughout childhood.

Wow. That’s a lot happening in just nine months. But that’s not the part I really want our Senators to think about.