Mother says policies give chemicals more rights than babies
As a mother nursing her first child, Angie Petro wanted to protect the
baby from toxins, but soon found that even her milk might contain
polybromated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used as flame retardants in many
products.
“Chemicals
have more rights than children. They are put into use before they have
been proven to be safe. PBDEs have been used for nearly 30
years,” she said at a workshop on environmental issues during the
recent Eastern Washington Legislative Conference, sponsored by the
Interfaith Council and ecumenical partners.
“It can be depressing to learn about chemicals in the environment, in
our food chain and in our bodies,” said Angie, who is on the board of
People for Environmental Action for Children’s Health (PEACH).
Five years ago, she listened to a talk about dioxins and PBDEs at a La Leche League group.
“I breast fed religiously. I was gung-ho about that and organic
food, but I learned that I had PBDEs and dioxins in my breast milk,
accumulated over my life. I was overwhelmed with anger and
determined to do something about it. I have been an activist
since,” she said.
PEACH has funding from the state legislature to provide education on the presence of PBDEs.
In the human body, these chemicals are stored in fatty tissues,
absorbed from mattresses, furniture, electronics, plastics,
automobiles, computers and other items, Angie said. They leak
into the environment—the soil, water and air—and are also in the bodies
of fish and animals that people eat.
“It’s critical to ban their use. Studies find that at low levels
they impair memory, learning and behavior in laboratory animals.
They affect thyroid hormones and other bodily functions, putting
fetuses, infants and young children at risk,” Angie said.
They persist in the environment, just as such chemicals as
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury and dioxins are still in the
environment 30 years after they were banned, she added.
Angie advocates safer, cost-effective alternatives that meet
flammability standards, choices that are available to consumers.
“We can use our purchasing power to tell industry what we want and what
we don’t want. We can ask before buying electronics if the
product has PBDEs in it,” she said.
Other means she recommended for keeping buildings, vehicles and products safe from fires and chemicals include the following:
• Wool, cotton and leather are naturally flame retardant.
• Plastics containing sulfur, preceramic polymers and aramid blends are also flame-retardant.
• Other safer flame-retardant chemicals are also available.
In addition, she hopes that the state legislature will consider a ban
on use of PBDEs, modeled on bans established in Europe and in
California.
Last year, Governor Gary Locke asked the Department of Ecology to
develop a phase-out plan for penta-, octa- and deca-PBDEs. The
DOE drafted legislation in October to ban the sale of new products
containing penta- and octa-PBDEs by 2006 and new consumer electronics
products and certain textiles containing deca-PBDE by the end of 2008.
“In countries that have phased it out, levels have declined rapidly,” Angie said.
A bill that would ban the manufacture and sale of products containing
PBDEs by July 2006 did not reach the Senate floor for a vote by the
March 16 deadline.
There are plans to attach the recommendation to ban PBDEs to the
budget, said Alice Woldt, advocacy organizer for the Washington
Association of Churches, in a follow-up interview.
That bill also provides for the Department of Ecology to study other
actions to address PBDE contamination and require state agencies to
lead by example, purchasing PBDE-free products.
For information, call 455-2552.
By Mary Stamp, Fig Tree editor
- © April 2005
Published by The Fig Tree, 1323 S. Perry St., Spokane, WA 99202
