To keep this bill moving, we need your help to recruit co-sponsors. Since elected officials listen to their constituents, we need you to email your Representative today telling them to co-sponsor.

Click here to ask your US Representative to co-sponsor the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act, H.R. 5820.

The current law is so toothless that the first Bush Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could not even use it to ban asbestos. Since its enactment, tens of thousands of untested chemicals have come into use, and more appear almost daily. Recent studies show that babies are being born polluted by nearly 300 industrial chemicals, some suspected to contribute to cancer, obesity, autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, infertility and birth defects.

Not only will the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act shift the burden of proof to chemical manufacturers, it also will give the EPA the ability and authority to have companies test chemicals for safety, to restrict or prohibit toxic chemicals and to put an end to the overbroad confidentiality claims made by industry.

Now your Representative needs to hear from you. Please stand up today.

Full-Day event: ‘Infrastructure and Process for Sustainability in Health Care’ Information & Registration

• Chicago on September 21 <http://www.practicegreenhealth.org/tools/services/training/infrastructure-and-process-for-sustainability-in-healthcare—chicago>

• Boston on October 19 <http://www.practicegreenhealth.org/tools/services/training/infrastructure-and-process-for-sustainability-in-healthcare—boston>
• Houston on November 4 <http://www.practicegreenhealth.org/tools/services/training/infrastructure-and-process-for-sustainability-in-healthcare>

Learn how to make the business case for sustainability in healthcare

• Selling sustainability to the C-Suite

• How sustainability can make tasks more efficient and effective and save money

Learn how to build a sustainability infrastructure

• Organizing a sustainability team

• Developing goals & priorities
• Building a sustainability baseline
• Benchmark your success

Develop your personal leadership skills

• Influencing and engaging colleagues at all levels

• Build your competence as a sustainability professional

Tools you can use – at your fingertips

• Sustainability tools and resources across the sector

• Exclusive Tools available from Practice Greenhealth,
• including Step-by-Step Guides, Energy Impact Calculator,
• Greenhealth Tracker, EcoCheckList, and more!

Practice Greenhealth has been working with hospitals to develop customized sustainability programs for more than a decade – come and learn from our experience. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) available! * Fees for this full-day seminar are $199 for Practice Greenhealth member hospitals, $249 for non-member hospitals, and $149 for students. Contact Cecilia DeLoach Lynn <mailto:cdeloach@practicegreenhealth.org> , Director of Sustainability Education & Training, or call: 866-995-1110 Practice Greenheatlh Sustainability Training Series sponsored by:

The Get Ready Video launch is part of a nationwide effort to encourage Americans to participate in Get Ready Day, an annual observance that takes place on the third Tuesday of September and coincides with National Preparedness Month. This year, Get Ready Day is Tuesday, Sept. 21.

Download and share the video

Download the new Get Ready Video to play at your own Get Ready Day event, local clinic, exhibit booth or classroom. We also encourage you to promote Get Ready Day by sharing important emergency preparedness information with your friends, colleagues and family.

Download/share video >>

Download print materials >>

Learn more about APHA’s Get Ready campaign and resources on emergency preparedness by visiting our Get Ready website.

Questions? E-mail us at getready@apha.org.

That’s why we’re asking you to sign onto CHEJ’s letter to First Lady Michelle Obama, asking her to help us address this critical children’s health issue.

Tonawanda isn’t alone in serving up toxic air pollution along with Pizza Fridays to our students.  Thousands of children across the country attend schools built near industrial polluters or even toxic waste sites.  And it’s all perfectly legal.

With few local laws and no federal law to protect children’s health from schools built on toxic sites, communities like ours need your help to make Washington take action.

Michelle Obama is leading an effort to get more kids playing out of doors.  But what about the students here in Tonawanda?  What about other kids at schools where air pollution puts them at risk for developing diseases like asthma, learning disabilities or cancer?

Schools Chemical Cleanout Webinar

Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 1:00 PM ET.

Attend this webinar to:

*        Learn about the importance of performing a chemical cleanout at your school.
*        Gain insight on how to establish a chemical management plan as part of your
comprehensive IAQ management program.
*        Discover effective steps all schools can take to responsibly manage chemicals and
reduce the likelihood of chemical incidents, including spills and fires.
*        Develop guidelines to systematically and aggressively manage common IAQ issues
faced by schools, including eliminating sources of pollution and unnecessary
hazards.

Register today for this free webinar!

The ancient Egyptians and Romans used mercury to lighten the skin and in a variety of ointments, and the Greeks and Egyptians used it to treat skin infections (Environ. Health Perspect. 2002;110:11-23). While versatile and used for diverse purposes for many years, such as in thermometers and in dental amalgams, mercury and its related compounds have long been known to be extremely toxic and should be avoided in food and skin care. Indeed, the wide-ranging adverse health effects of mercury-containing skin-lightening products have been known since the early 1970s (Arthritis Rheum. 2007;56:1721).

While mercury has been banned in skin care products sold in the United States since 1990, it is found in numerous skin-lightening agents sold elsewhere. In Europe, such a ban was enacted in 1976. Recently, some of these products have made their way onto U.S. shelves and, to the surprise of many, have been reported to contain toxic levels of mercury. This column reviews some of the latest data on mercury-containing skin products and describe the current emerging controversy.

Read the column here.

(From www.grist.org) ”Today we explore the cycle of life of this curious creature, the plastic bag, on its migration to its home, the Pacific Ocean,” narrates the deep tones of Jeremy Irons (who lent his voice to Scar in The Lion King, of course).

Despite dangers lurking around every corner — Park Services employees, teacup Yorkies, tree branches, hungry dolphins — the persistent plastic bag finally takes its place in the marine millings of the great plastic herd known as the Pacific Garbage Patch.

The following cinematic jest is the work of environmental nonprofit, Heal the Bay, in its efforts to keep the non-native plastic bag from invading Pacific waters. It’s part of a campaign in support of a bill to ban the bags from California retailers, their primary vector for invading the salty seas.

Watch the awe-inspiring footage captured of this persistent creature here.

by:

Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health and the Ecology Center

The Price of Pollution

We held a press conference and event at a San Francisco cosmetology school (received a lot of other press coverage-see below) where we provided toxic trio free mani’s and premiered a short film featuring nail salon workers that we worked on with Brave New Films (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUps3BTv1Lo), which is now on the Huffington Post! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-greenwald/sick-for-beauty-protect-t_b_652090.html. Please share the u-tube link with your friends on facebook, etc so we can more folks to sign the on-line action!

Earlier this week HSN released a special edition NewsSlice focusing on the Gulf Oil Spill, which can be viewed at: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Gulf-Oil-Spill-Special-Edition.html?soid=1102605793971&aid=mLStnh2i5Jo