Today Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., introduced the Cleaning Product Right-to-Know Act (H.R. 3457), which requires full disclosure on the product label of the ingredients in cleaning products used in home and commercial settings. The bill also creates a public right-to-know petition, where any person may file a petition with the Consumer Product Safety Commission alleging that a cleaning product is not in compliance with the labeling requirements of the legislation.

“The word ‘home’ should connote a sense of warmth and safety,” said Janet Nudelman, director of program and policy at the Breast Cancer Fund, which supports the bill. “But unfortunately our homes are also sources of exposure to endocrine-disrupting and cancer-causing chemicals. Representative Israel’s bill will give consumers the information they need to feel good about the products they are buying to clean their houses.”

Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and Timothy Bishop, D-N.Y., joined Israel as original co-sponsors of the legislation. Because more and more consumers are doing their shopping on the Internet, the bill will require manufacturers to make available on their websites a list of their products’ ingredients and identify any known adverse health effects of each ingredient. The bill directs the CPSC to create a website that aggregates the information disclosed on manufacturer websites, which will allow for product comparison by ingredient.

Today, Women’s Voices for the Earth released a report, “Dirty Secrets: What’s Hiding in your Cleaning Products,” which found through independent lab testing that a number of everyday cleaning products contain hidden chemicals that can be harmful to one’s health. The report found that products such as Tide Free & Gentle detergent, Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner with Bleach and Original Pine-Sol contain chemicals linked to cancer or reproductive toxicity—none of which are listed on product labels.

Current law does not require manufacturers to disclose the ingredients in cleaning products to consumers. As a result many chemicals remain hidden, particularly those that are found in fragrances. The word “fragrance” on a product label can conceal dozens of chemicals, some of which have been linked to cancer, birth defects and other adverse health effects. The International Fragrance Association lists more than 3,000 fragrance ingredients, some of them carcinogens such as benzene (and dozens of benzene derivatives), formaldehyde and styrene, in addition to chemicals that can cause reproductive harm, such as phthalates and synthetic musks.

“This legislation is just common sense,” said Nudelman. “All of us have a right to know what’s in our cleaning products.”

A new report released today by the Breast Cancer Fund documents the presence of the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in canned foods used to prepare a typical Thanksgiving meal.

The report, “BPA in Thanksgiving Canned Food,” tested Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, Campbell’s Turkey Gravy, Carnation Evaporated Milk (by Nestle), Del Monte Fresh Cut Sweet Corn (Cream Style), Green Giant Cut Green Beans (by General Mills), Libby’s Pumpkin (by Nestle), and Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce. Single servings of almost half of the products tested had levels of BPA comparable to levels that laboratory studies have linked to adverse health effects.

“Preparing your Thanksgiving dinner with these products can deliver a concerning level of BPA,” said Jeanne Rizzo, president and CEO of the Breast Cancer Fund. “How many more Thanksgivings will families have to worry about this uninvited guest before manufacturers finally decide to take it out of cans?”

BPA is used to make, among other things, the epoxy-resin linings of metal food cans. The lining forms a barrier between the metal and the food which helps to prevent bacterial contamination. However, the toxic chemical can leach from the resin and make its way into food. BPA has been linked in laboratory studies to adverse health effects such as breast and prostate cancer, infertility, early puberty in girls, type-2 diabetes, obesity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

For this report, the Breast Cancer Fund sent 28 canned food items—four cans of each product tested—to Anresco Laboratories, an independent testing laboratory in San Francisco. The testing revealed tremendous variability among cans of the same product made by the same company, which is consistent with other product testing data.

For instance, BPA levels in Del Monte creamed corn ranged from non-detectable to 221 parts per billion, and levels in Campbell’s Turkey Gravy ranged from 5 to 125 ppb. According to scientists at the Breast Cancer Fund, these inconsistencies might be explained by variations in the canning processes across facilities and batches, as well as storage and transportation conditions.

“Consumers have no way of assessing BPA levels just by looking at cans on supermarket shelves,” said Gretchen Lee Salter, policy manager at the Breast Cancer Fund. “The findings of this report highlight the urgent need to remove BPA from food packaging so that shoppers can be confident that the food they are purchasing is safe for their families—not only on Thanksgiving, but every day.”

The tests detected no BPA in any of the four cans of Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce. The company has stated that while it does use BPA in its cans, independent tests also indicate no leaching of BPA into the food.

“We know from recent research that a BPA meal creates a spike of this estrogenic chemical in the blood,” said William Goodson, M.D., a breast cancer surgeon and senior clinical research scientist at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, who in September published a study showing that BPA causes non-cancerous cells to grow and survive like cancer cells. “Natural hormones work by spikes, so this is exactly what you don’t want, especially in young kids, who shouldn’t have any estrogenic spikes at all.”

As part of the Breast Cancer Fund’s Cans Not Cancer campaign, consumers have sent more than 50,000 letters to canned food manufacturers urging them to get BPA out of canned foods and replaced with a safer alternative, and many are beginning to pay attention. A number of companies including some of the can manufacturers featured in this report, such as General Mills and Nestle, have announced that they are working toward alternatives to BPA in canned foods. However, not all of the manufacturers are disclosing the alternative they are exploring. It is imperative that manufacturers are transparent about these alternatives and ensure they are safe.

At the public policy level, 11 states have banned BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups, and three of those states have also banned it from infant formula and baby food. The Breast Cancer Fund is also supporting pending federal legislationauthored by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that would ban BPA from all food and beverage containers including canned foods.

The immediate solution for those preparing Thanksgiving dinner is to seek alternatives to canned foods. Visit www.breastcancerfund.org/thanksgiving for easy recipes for a can-free Thanksgiving meal.

Also available at www.breastcancerfund.org/thanksgiving are the full report and Myths and Facts about BPA in Canned Foods, combating the common industry arguments in favor of BPA.

Celebrate Green Festival’s 10th Anniversary in a brand-new city AND return to the city where it all started in 2001. Attend the first-ever Los Angeles Green Festival October 29-30, and San Francisco November 12-13

Tell the world…
We have an amazing line-up of speakers, cutting edge issues, and lots of fun planned for the two events. Where else can you rub elbows with eco-celebs like Jesse Carmichael of Maroon 5 and Rev. Yearwood from HipHop Caucus…be inspired by Amy Goodman and Bill McKibben… have fun at the Green Kids’ Zone, and screen films? Don’t miss the Los Angeles Opening Ceremony with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Morning Star Foundation.

Check out the program…
Visionary speakers include Ed Begley Jr., Frances Moore Lappé, John Robbins, Jeffrey Smith, John Perkins, Amy Goodman, Dolores Huerta, Tom Hayden, Mark Hertsgaard, David Orr, Bill McKibben, Marianne Williamson, Miguel Luna, The Agape International Choir with Dr. Rickie Byars-Beckwith and Rev. Michael Beckwith and over 200 SF and LA activists and social justice leaders.

Come and have some fun…
Enjoy local, organic meals, relax in the organic beer & wine garden, listen to live music, check out the eco-fashion showcase and find the best green holiday gifts from local businesses. Also, test drive a new FORD electric or hybrid car right at the Green Festival!

Many ways to learn and DIY…
Non-toxic Homes
Cooking Demos
Urban Gardening
Green-Building and Renovations
Finding a Green Career
Greening your Business
Learn more…

Visit the Green Festival Website to learn more and make your travel plans – including low cost hotels!

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that bans the toxic chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, from baby bottles and sippy cups, making California the eleventh state to restrict BPA in infant feeding products. The new law represents yet another step in the governmental and market movement away from this synthetic estrogen linked to breast cancer and other serious health problems.

“Getting BPA out of baby bottles and sippy cups is an important first step in removing this toxic chemical from our food packaging,” said Gretchen Lee Salter, policy manager at the Breast Cancer Fund.

The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, D-Torrance, and Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Santa Monica, was modeled on similar BPA bills that the legislature failed to pass in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and that have been supported by the Breast Cancer Fund, Environmental Working Group, Physicians for Social Responsibility-L.A. and Consumers’ Union. The legislation is a response to mounting scientific evidence that exposure to even extremely low levels of BPA can negatively impact health. More than 200 scientific studies show that BPA exposure is associated with a wide range of adverse health effects, including breast and prostate cancer, birth defects, infertility in men, early puberty in girls, diabetes and obesity. The primary route of exposure is through the leaching of BPA from food and beverage containers. Once in food, BPA moves quickly into the body.

“BPA has no place in baby bottles, and it also doesn’t belong in any of our food containers,” said Salter. “We need to demand that manufacturers get BPA out of food cans. That’s the goal of the Breast Cancer Fund’s Cans Not Cancer campaign.” Learn more about the campaign at www.breastcancerfund.org/cansnotcancer.

A new report released today by the Breast Cancer Fund documents the presence of the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in canned foods marketed to children. Every food sample tested positive for the chemical, with Campbell’s Disney Princess and Toy Story soups testing the highest.

Exposure to BPA, used to make the epoxy-resin linings of metal food cans, has been linked in lab studies to breast and prostate cancer, infertility, early puberty in girls, type-2 diabetes, obesity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Childhood exposure is of concern because this endocrine-disrupting chemical can affect children’s hormonal systems during development and set the stage for later?life diseases.

“There should be no place for toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer and other serious health problems in our children’s food,” said Jeanne Rizzo, president and CEO of the Breast Cancer Fund.  “We hope this report will shine a spotlight on this issue and encourage companies to seek safer alternatives to BPA.”

The new report, “BPA in Kids’ Canned Food,” found BPA in the following canned food products (levels measured in parts per billion, or ppb, average of two samples):

• Campbell’s Disney Princess Cool Shapes, Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth, 114 ppb
• Campbell’s Toy Story Fun Shapes, Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth, 81 ppb
• Earth’s Best Organic Elmo Noodlemania Soup, USDA Organic, 38 ppb
• Annie’s Homegrown Cheesy Ravioli, USDA Organic, 31 ppb
• Chef Boyardee Whole Grain Pasta, Mini ABC’s & 123′s with Meatballs, 20 ppb
• Campbell’s Spaghettios with Meatballs, 13 ppb

“In all of these products—but particularly in the Campbell’s Disney Princess and Toy Story soups—a child-sized serving could result in BPA exposure at a level of concern,” said Gretchen Lee Salter, Policy Manager at the Breast Cancer Fund. “Consider the number of servings of canned foods—soups, pastas, vegetables, fruits—that a child eats in a week, in a year, and then throughout her developing years, and you start to see the urgency of getting BPA out of food cans.”

“This report shows the that we’re all part of a big experiment to see what BPA will do to our kids and us,” said William Goodson, M.D., a breast cancer surgeon and Senior Clinical Research Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, who just last week published a study showing that BPA causes non-cancerous cells to grow and survive like cancer cells. “We weren’t given any choice about being in this experiment, and it’s time for that to change.”

Research has also uncovered a relationship between household income and BPA exposure, showing that people with the highest BPA exposure are from the lowest income groups. This data may be attributed to the fact that canned foods are usually cheaper, last longer and are more readily available in low-income neighborhoods than fresh foods.

In response to these findings, the Breast Cancer Fund is launching a “Cans Not Cancer” campaign, urging manufacturers to replace BPA with safer alternatives. Sample consumer letters to Campbell’s and other companies highlighted in this report can be found at www.breastcancerfund.org/cansnotcancer.

“Every day, children are being exposed to BPA through canned foods marketed to them using slick advertising and their favorite characters,” said Salter. “The Breast Cancer Fund’s Cans Not Cancer campaign is about our health, our children’s health, and a safer future where breast cancer rates have dropped because we’ve reduced our exposure to toxic chemicals.”

Some canned food companies are already switching to a BPA-free can liner or changing their food packaging altogether. Eden Foods, for example, uses an oleoresinous c-enamel, which is a mixture of an oil and a resin extracted from plants, for some of its canned foods. While some other companies say they are using BPA alternatives, they are not transparent about the alternatives they are using.

At the public policy level, 10 states have restricted BPA in infant food containers. While these laws do not cover the kinds of canned foods tested in this study, they send a strong signal to the marketplace that states are taking action to protect children from harmful chemicals in food packaging. In addition the Breast Cancer Fund is supporting pending federal legislation authored by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that would ban BPA from all food and beverage containers.

The “BPA in Kids’ Canned Food” report also lists a number of convenient alternatives parents can use in place of canned food including dry or frozen pasta, boxed macaroni and cheese, soups in Tetra Paks (70 percent paperboard combined with thin layers of low density polyethylene and aluminum foil) and frozen or fresh fruits.

The report can be downloaded at www.breastcancerfund.org/bpakids.

Just Green It! by Ron and Lisa Beres is available at Amazon.com

Give a gift to your friends and family this holiday season that you know will give back to our oceans, waves and beaches.  The Surfrider Foundation Holiday Gift Membership is a fun, environmentally conscious package that includes all the great membership benefits, plus a few extras available exclusively this holiday season.

For $44, recipients of the Surfrider Foundation Holiday Gift Membership will receive a 100% organic cotton long-sleeve shirt, a Surfrider Foundation flat-knit beanie, and a foldable ReUsable tote made from innovative Eco Circle fabric, along with an annual Surfrider Foundation Membership, a subscription to Making Waves, and two membership stickers.

The Surfrider Foundation Holiday Gift Membership is 100% tax-deductible and a wonderful way to share your passion and support for our oceans, waves and beaches with friends and family.

Available online at www.surfrider.org

BOBO Wrap & Lyziwraps have a green answer to the holiday wrapping  issue… In the United States alone, an additional 5 million (an equivalent to 25% more garbage) tons of waste is generated during the winter holidays, according to the Clean Air Council. Four million tons of this waste is attributed to wrapping paper, shopping and gift bags.  In an effort to minimize these astonishing statistics are two emerging leaders, BOBO Wrap and Lyziwraps.

The Stanford University Recycling Center adds, ”if every American family wrapped just three presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover nearly 50k football fields.”  With that in mind, greener alternatives on how consumers can be gentler to the environment are crucial, particularly with the holiday season around the corner.

Dedicated to the production of top-quality merchandise that will encourage consumers to reduce unnecessary waste and be more environmentally conscious, both Lyziwraps and BOBO Wrap offer elegant reusable alternatives to paper and plastic.

Lyziwraps’ tubular fabric wrap is a wonderful alternative to wrapping paper. These adjustable wraps are easy to use and easy to pack. Like Christmas stockings they can be used over and over, every year. In fact these durable, washable wraps can be used all year long for any occasion. The company also repurposes obsolete marketing banners to create fashionable eco-friendly one-of-a-kind totes – a unique gift in itself.

BOBO Wraps, on the other hand, provide a different – but equally green – kind of solution for wrapping and carrying, inspired by the ancient tradition of “bojagi” (pronounced “BOH-jah-ghee).  Based on an idea that originated centuries ago in Korea and Japan as a way to wrap and transport items before the widespread use of paper and plastic, BOBO Wraps have developed into a multi-functional personal accessory that is an alternative to traditional gift wrap, but can also be used as a purse, wine carrier, home décor and so much more. Echoing the spirit of the original bojagis, which were often made from leftover fabric, BOBO’s are made in the U.S.A. from carefully selected fabrics that already exist in the world.

Passionate about reducing nonessential waste in their own lives, and motivated by the astonishing statistics about the environment, entrepreneurs Jocelyn Childs (Lyziwraps) and Patricia Lee (BOBO Wrap) founded the companies with an intent to go green – to minimize waste, while maximizing design, functionality, reusability and sustainability.

“Lyziwraps is one answer to our quest to save time, energy and money while reducing our impact on the earth,” said Jocelyn Childs, Founder and CEO, Lyziwraps. “One-use-only paper gift-wrap and gift bags are a habit of the past.”

“When the mountains of holiday waste finally became intolerable for me, I began my quest to evangelize the ancient tradition of wrapping with fabric,” said Patricia Lee, Founder and Creative Director, BOBO Wrap. “This beautiful, simple and eco-friendly alternative to wasteful gift wrap has existed for hundreds of years – it just needed to be rediscovered.”

Being sustainable and environmentally-friendly, BOBO Wrap and Lyziwraps are leading the trend of replacing paper and plastic with solutions that are eco-friendly, multi-functional, user-friendly and convenient.

For more information on this trend and the eco-friendly options available today, please visit www.BOBOWrap.com and www.Lyziwraps.com.

The U.S. government has historically relied on state and local governments to handle waste management in all of its forms, including recycling. Although there have been a few attempts to push legislation through Congress to mandate minimum national recycling rates, none have made it out of committee hearings. Federal lawmakers are loathe to take waste management regulatory powers away from individual states which have vastly different needs from one another. For instance, less populous western states with lots of extra land for siting landfills might not be as inclined to push for higher recycling rates as those crowded eastern states with less room to store their trash.

According to Chaz Miller, Director of State Programs at the National Solid Wastes Management Association, America’s very first federal solid waste law, 1965’s Solid Waste Disposal Act—itself an amendment to the original Clean Air Act—didn’t even mention recycling. “Eleven years later, Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which remains the cornerstone of federal solid waste and recycling legislation,” reports Miller. RCRA abolished open dumps and required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create guidelines for solid waste disposal and regulations for hazardous waste management, but had little to say about recycling except to call for an increase in federal purchases of products made with recycled content. The EPA also published manuals and workshops on implementing curbside recycling programs, although funding for such programs dried up by 1981.

Nevertheless, the seed had taken root. Pioneering programs in Massachusetts and elsewhere led to the development of curbside recycling programs in more than 600 municipalities throughout the U.S.—mostly in the Northeast and on the West Coast—by the mid-1980s. In addition, 10 states introduced “bottle bill” laws to encourage recycling of beer and soft drink containers. Two states, Rhode Island and New Jersey, both being small, densely populated and short on landfill space, implemented comprehensive approaches to recycling. They began requiring local jurisdictions to pick-up residents’ and businesses’ paper, metal and glass, and helped towns and cities set-up systems for pick-up, sorting and materials recovery. Most of the 8,600-plus municipal recycling programs in existence today are modeled on these early efforts.

Just a few decades ago, Americans recycled less than 10 percent of their solid waste. Multi-material and curbside collection programs were non-existent, paper was only collected sporadically when a local scout troop or similar group organized a paper drive, and family-owned scrap dealers would occasionally buy paper and metal scrap based on limited market demand for additional raw materials.

Today, the EPA estimates that Americans recycle some 32 percent of the 350 million tons of refuse they generate annually. While it still has no federal platform for doing so, the EPA, through its Resource Conservation Challenge program, is pushing for Americans to up that rate. Forty-two states now have their own recycling or waste diversion goals, and 18 are trying to divert upwards of half their waste via recycling or composting.

CONTACTS: National Solid Wastes Management Association, www.environmentalistseveryday.org; EPA Resource Conservation Challenge, www.epa.gov/osw/rcc.

Article courtesy of EarthTalk®, E – The Environmental Magazine

Article Courtesy of Breast Cancer Fund

Chemical industry steps in at last minute to stop ban on BPA in baby bottles, despite growing calls to restrict children’s BPA exposure

Today the U.S. Senate failed to consider a ban on the toxic chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, in baby bottles and infant feeding cups. Senator Dianne Feinstein, D- Calif., planned to offer the ban as an amendment to the Food Safety Modernization Act. As recently as yesterday, there was enormous support for the amendment from both sides of the aisle, but intense lobbying at the 11^th hour by the American Chemistry Council blocked its introduction.

“It’s a sad day when the chemical industry muscles out children’s health and safety,” said Janet Nudelman, policy director at the Breast Cancer Fund, which led a national coalition that advocated for the ban. “Once again we see the American Chemistry Council prioritize the profits of chemical companies over the public’s health.  It is not fair that our nation’s children are on the losing side of this equation.”

BPA is a synthetic estrogen linked to breast cancer and other serious health problems that is used in some plastic baby bottles and sippy cups, as well as in the lining of food cans and the lids of baby food jars. More than 200 scientific studies show that BPA exposure, particularly during infancy, is associated with a wide range of adverse health effects in later life. In addition to breast cancer, BPA has been linked to prostate cancer, birth defects, infertility in men, early puberty in girls, diabetes and obesity. The main route of human exposure is through the leaching of BPA from food and beverage containers. Once in food, BPA moves quickly into the body. Babies and young children are particularly vulnerable because their bodies are still developing.

Sen. Feinstein lamented the loss: “The evidence against BPA is mounting, especially its harmful effects on babies and children who are still developing.  I very much regret that the chemical industry puts a higher priority on selling chemicals than on the health of infants.  I will not cease in my efforts to remove BPA from products where it can harm human health, and I urge consumers to vote with their pocketbooks by refusing to purchase products that contain BPA.”

Sen. Feinstein’s efforts were supported in the House by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., along with organizations representing 40 million Americans, including the Breast Cancer Fund, National WIC Association, the Natural Resources Defense Fund, Consumer’s Union, Environmental Working Group, the Blue-Green Alliance, the American Nurses Association and U.S. PIRG. The amendment was a response to mounting scientific evidence that exposure to even extremely low levels of BPA can negatively impact health.

BPA has been banned from baby bottles and sippy cups in three countries and seven states, and at least six states plan to introduce similar legislation in the coming year. In the marketplace, chemical manufacturer Sunoco refuses to sell BPA to companies intending to use it to make products for kids under 3, six baby bottle manufacturers have pledged to stop using the chemical, and retailers including CVS, Kmart, Safeway, Toys R Us and Walmart have announced they will stop selling BPA-containing baby bottles. Still, many BPA-containing products remain on store shelves—especially in low-income neighborhoods and dollar stores.

“A growing number of scientists, legislators and businesses are joining with consumers to say that BPA has no place in infant food packaging,” said Nudelman. “Now, Congress must catch up. We need federal action to ensure that all children—regardless of where they live or where their parents shop—will be protected.”

The Breast Cancer Fund is the leading national organization working to identify and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer.www.breastcancerfund.org