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
By Colin Hartke
Update: Read the comments that Toxic-Free Future, Healthy Building Network, and Natural Resources Defense Council submitted to the Department of Commerce Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard Team.
From PFAS to toxic flame retardants, dangerous chemicals harmful to health are in the materials used to build housing, including affordable housing. These chemicals don’t stay put in flooring, insulation, and other materials; they get into indoor air and dust. This means that families and communities are exposed to toxic chemicals even at home. Continue reading
It’s time for immediate action to address the toxic chemicals harming orcas and people! That’s why over 40 organizations have come together to urge action on the Pollution Prevention for Our Future Act.
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Harmful toxic chemicals added to consumer products, like TVs or carpeting, can escape the product and contaminate our homes, food, breastmilk, and bodies. The same toxic chemicals, including toxic flame retardants, phthalates, and nonstick PFAS, are making their way into the environment and affecting the health of orcas, their young, and their food sources too. Continue reading
Five classes of chemicals in consumer products are emerging as particular concern for the health of both humans and orcas. Continue reading
Over the last month we’ve been glued to news reports about Tahlequah, the 22-year-old Southern Resident Killer Whale that carried her dead calf hundreds of miles for nearly three weeks. I had tears in my eyes more than once thinking about the baby orca that had deadly chemicals flowing from its mother to its body before it even had a chance to be born. We know that this is what happens with human babies too. Continue reading
Early childhood is a period of rapid development. Babies learn to crawl and then walk, speak in coherent sentences, and begin to develop self-control, all in just a few short years. It is a sad reality that our environment puts a lot of hurdles in the way of young children. Exposure to toxic chemicals in everyday consumer products is one of these hurdles that may impair kids’ ability to learn and reach developmental milestones. Continue reading
You may not find them included in the ingredient list, on the nutrition label, or anywhere on the food package. Yet they can impact your health just as sugar or hydrogenated oils can. They are hidden toxic chemicals and they’re contaminating our food. Continue reading
You may have seen the big news: hormone-disrupting chemicals called phthalates found in macaroni and cheese and other cheese products. The story was huge in print, TV, and on social media. Macaroni and cheese or any food shouldn’t be contaminated with industrial chemicals that can mess with hormones.
Mac n’ cheese is a simple dish, inexpensive, and most importantly, a kid-pleaser. It’s saved me many a lunch, and the occasional dinner, when my husband and I are too busy or exhausted to fix an elaborate meal for the family. But now I’ve learned that the powdered cheese can contain industrial toxic chemicals called phthalates that experts say could be harmful to young kids and developing fetuses. Knowing this, I’m rethinking my dinner choices until food companies clean up their act.