Laura Spark – Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow

WBUR: Massachusetts Firefighters and their families are on the front lines of a battle with “forever chemicals”

April 19, 2023

By Gabrielle Emmanuel April 18, 2023 It looks like a knitting room, with wicker baskets and soft yarns. But Diane Cotter calls it her war room. “This is where the research is done and the strategies come into fruition,” she said, looking around the small room off her kitchen. “There was a long time that I wasn’t knitting because I was so immersed in the war.” Cotter’s war started late one night in 2014. Her husband, a longtime firefighter in Worcester,…

WBUR: “Report by BC researchers calls for plastic regulation to protect people’s health”

March 27, 2023

Laura Spark

Toxic Chemicals, Uncategorized

WBUR’s Lynn Joliceur reported on a major new report by the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health. Formed by the United Nations, the Commission states that plastics are harming human health. During production, use, and disposal, plastics harm people and the planet. And, according to WBUR, single-use plastics make up 1/3 of plastics in use today. Joliceur quotes Boston’s Dr. Philip Landrigan of Boston College, who chaired the commission, who said: “I’m a pediatrician, and I trained at Boston…

Major Mount Sinai study links PFAS to significant

March 27, 2023

Laura Spark

PFAS, Toxic Chemicals

Researchers at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital have found that exposure to PFAS reduces female fertility by 30-40%, significantly lessening the chances of pregnancy and birth among women of child-bearing age. Mount Sinai study was published in Science of the Toal Environment and showed a link between higher blood concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and reduced fertility. See full study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36801327/Press release here : https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroom/2023/exposure-to-chemicals-found-in-everyday-products-is-linked-to-significantly-reduced-fertility “

New York Times: Many personal care products contain harmful chemicals

February 17, 2023

Laura Spark

General, Personal Care Products, PFAS

New York Times, February 16, 2023 By Knvul Sheikh Every day, we use soaps, lotions, deodorants, hair products and cosmetics on various parts of our bodies. But in recent years, an increasing number of reports have raised concerns about many of them. Researchers have found dangerous levels of mercury in skin lightening and anti-aging creams; they’ve linked chemicals in hair dyes and straighteners to breast and uterine cancer; they’ve traced fragrances in soaps and shampoos to poor semen quality and fertility issues. Most American children are…

Propublica: “Why the U.S. is losing the fight to ban toxic chemicals”

December 15, 2022

Laura Spark

Flame Retardants, PFAS, Toxic Chemicals, Uncategorized

Why the U.S. is losing the fight to ban toxic chemicals by Nell Bedi, Sharon Lerner, and Kathleen McGrory When ProPublica published stories this fall cataloging new evidence that American chemical workers are being exposed to asbestos, readers reacted with surprise over the most simple fact: Asbestos, the killer mineral whose dangers have been known for over a century, is still legal? Asbestos is only one of many toxic substances that are linked to problems like cancers, genetic mutations and…

Report recommends blood testing, medical monitoring for people exposed to PFAS.

September 6, 2022

Laura Spark

PFAS, Uncategorized

Barbara Moran, WBUR, “Report recommends blood testing, medical monitoring for people exposed to PFAS” A new report from the National Academies recommends blood tests and medical monitoring for people likely to have high exposure to the toxic chemicals known as PFAS. The report offers the first comprehensive summary detailing links between PFAS levels in the blood and specific health concerns. It concludes there is now “sufficient evidence” of association between PFAS exposure and kidney cancer in adults, decreased infant and fetal growth,…

Environmental Health News: Washington State Fastest Timeline Banning PFAS by 2025

April 8, 2022

Laura Spark

PFAS

New Washington state bill is the “fastest timeline in the nation” for phasing out PFAS The bill aims to remove “forever chemicals” from many consumer products by 2025. Grace van Deelen A new Washington state bill, signed into law last Thursday by Gov. Jay Inslee, aims to phase out PFAS in select consumer products by 2025.Other states have taken action as well. In California, PFAS will be banned in paper food packaging as of 2023. A Maine law passed last…

Burger King out of PFAS in packaging by 2025

April 8, 2022

Laura Spark

Mind the Store, PFAS

Clean Water Action and Toxic Free Futures, two partners in the Mind the Store campaign, recently announced that Burger King had decided to remove all PFAS from its food packaging by 2025 at https://cleanwater.org/releases/burger-king-announces-global-ban-toxic-forever-chemicals-food-packaging WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Restaurant Brands International (RBI) announced that it will ban toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in food packaging globally by 2025. RBI—which owns Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons—is one of the world’s largest quick service restaurant companies with 27,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. The…

Care about climate? Get PFAS out of food packaging

April 8, 2022

Laura Spark

Mind the Store, PFAS, Uncategorized

New investigation reveals U.S. chemical manufacturing facility released a potent climate pollutant equivalent to 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide in one year