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Sarah Uhl, Clean Water Action Coordinator of the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut

Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging Protecting Health through Personal Actions and through Policy Change. Sarah Uhl, Clean Water Action Coordinator of the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut. The Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut.

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Sarah Uhl, Clean Water Action Coordinator of the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut

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  1. Environmental Threats to Healthy AgingProtecting Health through Personal Actions and through Policy Change Sarah Uhl, Clean Water Action Coordinator of the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut

  2. The Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut The Coalition is a growing alliance of over 50 organizations— health, labor, faith, scientific, environmental, and community groups. Together we are working to prevent harm to human health and the environment from toxic chemicals.

  3. CSHC continued • Science has Sounded the Alarm • Over 180 diseases and disorders linked to toxic chemicals, including many “diseases of the aging” • Newborn’s cord blood contains on average 200 synthetic chemicals • Aging begins at conception

  4. The Environment • Exposure to environmental chemicals and infectious materials • Physical activity • Social interactions • Nutrition • Education • Intellectual stimulation • Socioeconomic circumstances • Stress

  5. Time to Modernize our Safety Standards • Our federal law is outdated • U.S. is falling behind other countries • Safer alternatives approach

  6. Chemicals of Concern Pesticides Mercury Dioxin PCBs Flame Retardants Bisphenol-A Phthalates Perflurocarbons (etc.) (routes of exposure)

  7. Toxins linked to diseases of the aging • Neorodegenerative disorders • Alzheimer’s (air pollution, solvents, heavy metals, and other oxidative-stressors) • Parkinson’s (pesticides, oxidative-stressors) • The “Western disease cluster” • Diabetes (PCBs, pesticides, endocrine disruptors) • Cardiovascular disease (endocrine disruptors, air pollution) • Metabolic syndrome (endocrine disruptors, PCBs and other persistent organic pollutants) • Obesity (obesogens, endocrine disruptors, mutagens)

  8. Some Good News: Safer Chemicals • Green chemistry takes human and environmental health into consideration when designing new molecules • Leading companies are finding innovative new approaches and shifting to safer alternatives

  9. Our Campaign Goals • Immediate action on the worst chemicals • Require basic information for all chemicals • Protect the most vulnerable • Use the best science and methods • Hold industry responsible for demonstrating chemical safety • Ensure environmental justice • Promote safer alternatives • Ensure the right to know

  10. Out Strategies • Municipal Resolutions • State Policies • Executive Orders • Legislation • Corporate Policies • And ultimately…federal policies and international agreements

  11. 2009 Chemical Policy Legislation • Phase out Bisphenol A from food and beverage containers (HB 6572) • --passed! • Phase out Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers from Consumer Products (SB 919) –did not pass • Require Green Cleaning in Schools (HB 6496) --passed!

  12. 2010 Chemical Policy Legislation • Establish Chemical Innovations Institute • (HB 5126) --passed! • Enable our state agencies to phase out the worst-of-the-worst chemicals from children’s products (HB 5130) ) –did not pass • Phase out cadmium from children’s jewelry (HB 5314) --passed!

  13. What is happening at the federal level? The Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut is part of a new national campaign to reform federal chemical policy! (help by sending postcards to your members of Congress)

  14. Recent Fun Tactics

  15. Tactics Continued

  16. Tactics Continued Study finds toxic chemicals in health-care workers Posted: 8 October 2009 MERIDEN — A study released Thursday shows that, of 20 doctors and nurses tested across the nation, all of them have toxic chemicals in their bodies. Advocates say the results show there’s a need for more stringent regulation of chemicals found in everyday products... Blood Tests Show High Toxin Levels Doctors From Across Country Reveal High Levels Of Toxins POSTED: 3:23 pm EDT October 8, 2009

  17. Tactics Continued

  18. Tactics Continued

  19. How are People Getting Involved? • Inviting speakers to tea talks, luncheons, and forums • Sharing information with others in their community • Submitting letters to the editor • Writing and calling their legislators • Attending events • Providing testimony at public hearings • Giving Presentations • Speaking to the media • Telling their stories • Recruiting others to get involved

  20. Safe products, made safely

  21. Program Contact Sarah Uhl 860-232-6232

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