Anyone who knows me knows I love to cook. I love to do it with family and friends or what I call “my framily”. I have a solid core of framily in my life who also love to prepare fabulous food and share it to create amazing bonds and memories. And of course, we try our best to make food that is healthy and nourishing!
Healthy food helps us fight the diseases that we are facing with the increasing assault of harmful chemicals in our bodies. So when I read reports of the same chemicals we are fighting to ban in toys, cosmetics, and other stuff winding up in the very food we eat, it drives me nuts!
Just this month, two new studies found fluorinated chemicals that can leach into food in fast food packaging, take-out packages, and french fry boxes, and in microwave popcorn bags.
These two studies add to a growing body of research finding harmful chemicals hidden in our food supply. These chemicals include cancer-causing perfluorinated chemicals and hormone-disrupting phthalates. Even toxic flame retardants can end up in food.
Some of these chemicals get into the food because they are purposely applied to food packaging or are in the equipment used to process the food. Some may enter the food supply because they are in the soil, water or air used to grow the food.
We have more than enough to worry about these days. We should absolutely not have to worry about nasty chemicals unnecessarily contaminating our food and making us sick.
That’s why Toxic-Free Future is expanding our issue focus to fighting for toxic-free food! Companies who sell us food have a responsibility to keep unwanted harmful chemicals out of their products and policymakers should restrict the presence of toxic chemicals in food.
Already this year, we supported a bill in the state legislature to ban perfluorinated chemicals in food packaging. The bill received a public hearing but unfortunately won’t be advancing this year.
We’ll also be launching some exciting initiatives over the next few months that we can’t wait to tell you about. In the meantime, read about what else we’ve been up to on this blog.
Thanks for all you do to support Toxic-Free Future,
Laurie Valeriano
Executive Director
Executive Director
Laurie Valeriano is Toxic-Free Future's executive director. Laurie has worked at Toxic-Free Future for over 25 years, working to advance precedent-setting state environmental health policies that protect people and the environment.
