Editor’s Note: This post was written by Erika Schreder, Science Director, and Mike Schade, Mind the Store Campaign Director
Is your television releasing harmful chemicals that are building up in your body?
Washington Retailer REI Has the Opportunity to Lead the Outdoor Industry Away from PFAS
Washington state leads the nation with bold laws that prevent the use of dangerous chemicals in products. The Safer Products for Washington law targets the persistent class of PFAS for elimination, and our business community can lead by adopting safer solutions now. Apparel is a major use of PFAS—added for water and stain proofing. That’s why we’re asking REI to lead the outdoor industry away from the use of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Continue reading
FAA Must End the Use of Polluting PFAS Firefighting Foam
- Read our letter to the FAA.
- View our Congressional briefing.
- Read the Congressional sign-on letter to the FAA.
Here’s how a federal agency “meets” a deadline without actually doing what Congress wanted it to do by that deadline.
Why We Must Act Now to Adopt PFAS Drinking Water Standards
Access to clean drinking water is a basic human right. But, as a result of lax regulations on dangerous chemicals used in products, drinking water all around the country, including Washington state, has been contaminated with per and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS), impacting tens of millions of people. PFAS are highly persistent and toxic chemicals linked to immune suppression, decreased fertility, and even cancer. Continue reading
Washington State fails to protect low-income communities from toxic chemicals
By Colin Hartke
Community members living in affordable housing and construction workers building affordable housing in Washington State are left vulnerable to toxic chemicals under a recently updated regulation. The Department of Commerce (DOC) has released an update to the Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard (ESDS). It’s the state-wide regulation that must be followed for construction and remodeling of affordable housing that gets state funding, and the updated version lacks important protections from dangerous toxics. Continue reading
An ounce of prevention will save millions for taxpayers
If there needs to be any more evidence for why ending the use of PFAS in products is urgent, just look at this year’s 2021-23 budget adopted by the Washington state legislature.
How do Washington Retailers Rank When it Comes to Toxic Chemicals on Store Shelves?
By Jen Dickman, Senior Program Associate at Safer Chemicals Healthy Families
Seattle is known for innovation, big ideas, and bold solutions. The use of harmful chemicals in products that cause pollution of our homes, communities, drinking water, and wildlife is one problem some Seattle-area retailers are tackling head on, while others are lagging behind. Continue reading
Why is getting pregnant so difficult these days? An interview with Dr. Shanna Swan on her new book
Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race, by Shanna H. Swan, Ph.D., peels back the curtain on a hidden danger all around us: toxic chemicals that are wreaking havoc on our reproductive health. Continue reading
Washington state takes one step forward, two steps back, on PFAS in food packaging ban
The Department of Ecology (Ecology) recently took a first step in implementing the state’s PFAS ban in food packaging by issuing an alternatives assessment that identifies safer alternatives for some important applications, including wraps and liners, plates, food boats, and pizza boxes. Because of this assessment, a statewide ban on PFAS in these four food packaging categories will now go into effect in early 2023. Continue reading
Volunteer Spotlight: Gabe Andres
Gabe Andres came to Toxic-Free Future in the fall of 2019 as a placement for the Field Studies class he was completing at the University of Washington Bothell. We recruited Gabe to help pull together the information we obtained from participants in our breastmilk study. He did the initial work so fast that he was able to really dig in and help us with the data analysis on the project, all while learning a new statistical program from scratch! Gabe continued with us in independent study and as a volunteer long after his initial placement was over, and we are so grateful for all of his hard work.
Gabe graduated in June 2020 and recently sent us this update:
“As a Clinical Research Assistant, I work alongside research coordinators, doctors, regulatory bodies, and research sponsors in recruiting and conducting cancer research at Virginia Mason. In research, the list of responsibilities are non-exhaustive but include taking vitals, pharmacokinetics, bio-banking, consenting patients, and checking in with patients along their treatment journey and beyond. Becoming a Clinical Research Assistant not only exposes me to the intricacies of research, but it provides me more opportunities to make a positive impact on cancer patients and solutions in the future.”