Addressing the Larger Problem: California's Green Chemistry Initiative
There are some chemicals and applications that warrant urgent action, such as phthalates in toys or carcinogens in cosmetics.
When a chemical is particularly harmful or used in products marketed to vulnerable age groups, the Breast Cancer Fund takes targeted action.
Unfortunately, there's a bigger issue at work: our entire chemicals management system is broken. Right now, chemicals linked to diseases like breast cancer can be used in everyday products without warning to consumers. That's where the California Green Chemistry Initiative was supposed to come in.
CLEAR SCIENCE
What kinds of products contain chemicals linked to breast cancer?
Explore by category >The foundation of this initiative is two state laws that the Breast Cancer Fund helped secure passage of in 2008. These laws granted the state the authority—for the very first time—to regulate the chemicals used in everyday consumer products and to create a public online database of health hazards associated with these chemicals.
The Breast Cancer Fund has been working for the last three years to ensure proper implementation of this important program. In October 2011, California issued a new proposal for how to implement the program.
While the proposal is not perfect, it represents a huge shift away from flawed previous versions and toward a program that has the potential to fundamentally change how products are made and used in California.
We will stay engaged and keep advocating for a robust program, including advocating for proper funding levels to ensure the state has the resources it needs to pay for this program.
Related Blog Posts
-
01.20.12
Kaiser Permanente detoxes AND saves money
Great news! Yesterday, health-care giant Kaiser Permanente announced it would stop using IV medical equipment made with the toxic chemicals PVC and DEHP.
-
12.08.11
Five Things You Should Know About Environmental Links to Breast Cancer (Forbes, 12/7/2011)
Amy Westervelt's Forbes.com piece does a great job of parsing through the intricacies of the Institute of Medicine's new report. Here's an excerpt, with a quote from our president and CEO, Jeanne Rizzo...
-
11.30.11
Campaign gets companies to make safer cosmetics (Associated Press, 11/30/2011)
More than 400 cosmetics companies have removed chemicals linked to disease from their products under the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics' seven-year effort to shift the market toward safer products, reports the Associated Press.
-
11.30.11
Market shift: hundreds of cosmetics companies fulfill safe-products pledge
Good news! The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics , a project of the Breast Cancer Fund, announced today that 321 cosmetics companies have met the goals of the Compact for Safe Cosmetics...
