State Campaigns – Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow

Toxic Free Kids Gets Favorable Report

January 29, 2024

State Campaigns, Toxic Chemicals, Uncategorized

On January 25, the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee gave the Toxic Free Kids bill a favorable report, sending the bill to the Senate Ways and Means for further action. This is great news. Let your legislators know that you support action to get toxic chemicals out of things made for children 12 and under. Infants and children are especially vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals. That’s why things made for children should never contain chemicals that can…

CNN: “Toxic Chemical May be in Food Wrapper & Take out Containers, Report Says”

August 6, 2020

Laura Spark

Mind the Store, State Campaigns, Toxic Chemicals

On Aug 6, 2020, CNN covered the findings of a recent report on PFAS in food packaging. The Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families report, “Packaged in Pollution: Are food chains using PFAS in packaging?,” found toxic PFAS in food packaging at Burger King, Wendy’s and McDonalds. “As the largest fast-food chain in the world, McDonald’s has a responsibility to its customers to keep them safe. These dangerous chemicals don’t belong in its food packaging. I, for one, am NOT ‘lovin’ it,’”…

Common fire retardants killing firefighters UVic report says

June 11, 2020

Laura Spark

Flame Retardants, State Campaigns, Toxic Chemicals

by Stephen Hume, Vancouver Sun, May 15, 2020 Flame retardants routinely added to common household products are killing firefighters, putting children and pregnant women at risk and contaminating the environment while not significantly improving safety, says a new report.Raising the Alarm: The Case for Better Flame Retardant Regulation in Canada was prepared by the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre for Local 730 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, which represents firefighters at the Victoria Fire Department. It surveyed…

WBUR asks: What are PFAS and should I be freaking out about them?

December 1, 2019

Laura Spark

State Campaigns, Toxic Chemicals, Uncategorized

WBUR’s Senior Enviromental Reporter Barbara Moran explains what you need to know about PFAS, a class of thousands of chemicals that are ubiquitous in the environment and harmful in very small quantities. Read WBUR’s article on PFAS.

Toxic sludge from MWRA spreading PFAS throughout New England

December 1, 2019

Laura Spark

State Campaigns, Toxic Chemicals

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority has been selling its sludge for the past 30 years, piping biosolids to a Quincy wastewater treatment plant that dries out the slurry and packages it into bags of Bay State Fertilizer. MWRA sells and donates this fertilizer to farms, golf courses, and other properties throughout New England. On December 1, 2019, The Boston Globe reported that MWRA tests, conducted last March, found PFAS chemicals in sludge at levels of 18,000 per trillion. PFAS chemicals…