PSR condemned the proposed Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA), saying “CICA fails to reduce exposures to hazardous chemicals in our air, water, and consumer products, and it does nothing to protect the health of vulnerable populations.” Read more »
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California, with the help of our PSR-LA chapter, has taken key steps to get tougher on toxics. Read more »

New data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show that the estimated number of children identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continues to grow. Read more »

In the wake of the Freedom Industry spill that poisoned the drinking water for thousands of West Virginians, and the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in TX, President Obama issued an executive order to improve chemical facility safety and security. He was right to do so. Read more »

We are all exposed to potentially harmful toxic chemicals on a daily basis, whether we recognize it or not. From the gasses emanating from our beautiful new wall paint to the pesticides on our produce, chemical exposure is virtually unavoidable. Read more »
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On January 10 in Charleston, WV, community members were told their water was contaminated with an industrial chemical used in coal processing. Read more »
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"The Toxies: Exposed" is a seven-webisode series that follows a daring investigative journalist as he chases down toxic chemicals and pollutants. Read more »
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Last week I wrote about the legislative hearing in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee of the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011. At the hearing, Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) said that he would be calling for a committee vote in the near future. Read more »
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We are really making progress on toxics policy. This week, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee held a legislative hearing on the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 847), introduced last spring by Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ). Read more »
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Picture a Hollywood theater with limos, paparazzi, primping, and acceptance speeches. But instead of honoring Hollywood’s stars and starlets, the Toxies awards honored “bad actor” chemicals in a satiric red-carpet awards show hosted by PSR-LA. Read more »

The National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures was initiated by the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June 2009 to make a plan to better protect the public from harmful chemicals. Read more »
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Last week we posted essays to the Environmental Health Policy Institute addressing the question: “How does our food production system drive our exposure to toxic chemicals?” Read more »

Last week, in a small Senate hearing room packed standing-room-only with spectators, Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey opened a session on reforming the outdated, 36-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA, or “Tosca”). Read more »

Last Wednesday more than 60 people joined us for the first in a series of Confronting Toxics webinars – this one was about the role of the healthcare professional in federal chemicals policy. We were lucky to have Richard Denison, PhD, Senior Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, as well as Lindsay Dahl, Deputy Director of the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families coalition, as presenters. Read more »

Federal chemical policy reform is a health imperative. In this Congress, reform bills were introduced in the Senate and the House addressing some of the most overt failures of our federal chemicals management system. Those bills never made it out of committee. Why didn’t these health-protective bills ever come up for a vote? Did Congress just run out of legislative energy and momentum after the healthcare reform marathon, and the debacle of a failed climate and energy bill? Read more »
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In recent years I have spent a lot of time considering what it is that drives change and in particular, what drives meaningful social and policy change. With the election of Barack Obama many Americans naively thought our country and our world would change overnight, that the policies of the past eight years or longer would be overturned and a new era of progressive thought and action would be initiated. Read more »

Recently I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Devra Davis, a member of PSR’s Environmental Health Policy Institute, speak about her new book, Disconnect: the truth about cell phone radiation, what the industry has done to hide it, and how to protect your family. In addition to learning about the potential health risks of exposure to non-ionizing radiation, I found myself struck with the familiarity of the story, if not the exact content. As cell phones have come into wider and wider use, a vested industry has tirelessly worked to ensure that scientists publish results favorable to its product. Industry attempts to discredit unfavorable results; meanwhile researchers who produce unfavorable results lose their funding, and their jobs. Read more »
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PSR is hosting a series of trainings for Environment and Health Ambassadors against toxic chemicals (link to training page) around the country. Participating chapters include Oregon, Boston, Maine, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington. The ambassador program aims to train physician and public health experts to be advocates for federal chemical reform. Read more »

If you’ve heard about proposed reforms of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), you may have also heard about a set of recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the nation’s top scientific experts, for assessing chemical safety. Health professionals, environmental groups, and scientific researchers, as well as local community groups around the country, affirm that incorporating the NAS recommendations into TSCA reform is an important step in crafting a chemicals management system that effectively protects human health. In today’s post, I try to explain why we’ve all been talking about this wonky NAS report. Read more »

Sometimes, telling the truth brings applause. That was PSR's experience when we testified before the EPA about the serious dangers to health from coal ash. Read more »