Healthy Communities In The News

Though not as sexy as fighting acid rain, global warming, or the desecration of rain forests, the environmental movement is turning its attention to indoor pollution, warning of dangers that may lurk in cleaning products used on living room furniture, in toilet bowls, and on desktops. "This is largely invisible to our eyes," says Janet Domenitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group. "They aren't obvious, like a toxic spill where the river has turned a different color and the banks are foaming with pollution."

Last week, hard plastic baby and water bottles were not considered harmful. Now, in the eyes of many users, they are toxic. Yesterday, CVS said it will join Wal-Mart, bottle-maker Nalgene, and other companies in pulling tens of thousands of the shatter-proof, transparent products off store shelves. Some parents are tossing hiking bottles into the trash, feeding their babies with glass containers, and searching for a safer alternative to see-through sippy cups.

ANYONE WHO walks the back roads of the state can attest that containers littering them are at least as likely to be from Poland Spring as Budweiser.

ALBANY, New York (ENS) — --> Governor George Pataki signed legislation Wednesday that protects children, teachers and all school personnel from toxic cleaning products used by many schools.

This year's recalls of dangerous toys — coated with lead paint, or equipped with potentially lethal magnets — alerted parents to an unsettling fact: Government oversight of the industry is so minimal that toy makers' compliance with safety standards is basically on the honor system. "When toys make it onto store shelves, parents assume that they've passed some rigorous standards," says James Swartz, director of WATCH (World Against Toys Causing Harm), a nonprofit advocacy group. "The very hard lesson of the past few months is that this is not so."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the eve of the holiday shopping season, Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), responded today to an annual toy safety report released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG). Rep. Markey, a consumer advocate and member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee which oversees the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), has been involved in crafting legislation to reform the product safety agency.

BOSTON -- Litterbugs and waste mongers would get a fresh incentive to take bottles and cans to recycling centers across the state under a series of amendments to the state's "bottle bill."