The Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act of 2007 (S. 2045) has passed out of committee and been placed on the U.S. Senate's legislative calendar. Last month, Public Citizen released an action alert calling for the bill's passage and for the recall of CPSC chairperson Nancy Nord. To sign a statement in support of the bill and in support the recall effort, see here.
The Detroit Free Press and other Michigan media outlets are reporting of a potentially far reaching scandal of epic proportions. In a news story today, Free Press reporters write:
With the state's complicity, Dow Chemical Co. has delayed cleanup and misled the public about the dangers of dioxin it dumped decades ago into rivers downstream of its Midland plant, Environmental Protection Agency officials charged in a confidential August internal report...
For related articles on this growing travesty, see here, here, and here.
State regulators have noted significant numbers of neurological illnesses occurring among workers at pork processing plants in Minnesota. The cause of the illnesses and risk to the public is under unknown and under investigation by state officials. See Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune news story here.
The Center for Health, the Environment & Justice (CHEJ) reports that Target Corp. has agreed to reduce and phase out the sale of products containing PVC in its stores. The CHEJ states:
The victory comes as a result of several coalition events led by CHEJ, including over 230 press conferences, protests, and events at Target stores across the country. A total of 40,000 people contacted Target about PVC, including a coalition of 16 investors....Because of these efforts, Target has agreed to reduce its use of vinyl, also known as PVC - the poison plastic...
See here for related news story and here to subscribe the CHEJ's newsletter.
For more information on the hazards of PVC's, see the Health Building Network's webpage on the product or spend a night watching a great documentary film, Blue Vinyl.
