The following Newsbriefs articles on issues related to children's environmental health and learning disabilities are available :
On August 14, 2008, President Bush signed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act into law. The Act bans lead from children’s toys, along with six types of phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics softer and more flexible. The U.S. House and Senate overwhelmingly passed the Act in early August.
Advocates for children’s health and the environment heralded the Act as a huge victory for children’s health and a first major step toward comprehensive chemical policy reform in the U.S. With this law, the federal government begins to shift the responsibility for testing of chemicals and products to the product manufacturers. The Act requires pre-market testing by certified third-party laboratories of children’s products for lead and for compliance with safety standards. Another provision of the legislation doubles the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to $136 million by 2014.
LDA consistently supported this legislation through participating in a national campaign led by the Breast Cancer Fund that urged lawmakers to enact legislation that included the ban on phthalates as well as the ban on lead. Individual state affiliate efforts on similar state legislation over the last two years also helped to “push” the federal government to take action to prevent certain toxic chemicals from use in children’s products.
The ban on lead in children’s products starts by limiting lead to 600 parts per million (ppm) within 180 days of August 14, but lowers the limit to 300 ppm within a year. Within three years the limit drops to just 100 ppm. There is an exception for component parts that are inaccessible to children.
For the phthalates, the new law states that within 180 days of the enactment of the Act, it is illegal to manufacture, sell, distribute or import “any children's toy or child care article that contains concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), or benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP).” For three other phthalates, there is an interim prohibition, pending the results of further study. Within 180 days, no one can manufacture, sell, distribute or import “any children's toy that can be placed in a child's mouth or child care article that contains concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), or di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP).”
Public and environmental health advocates report that legislators in at least 12 states are planning to introduce bills in 2009 that will seek to ban Bisphenol A (BPA) from children’s products. BPA is used to make clear, hard polycarbonate plastic for products such as baby bottles and sport water bottles. It is also used as a liner in food cans and as a dental sealant. More than two billion pounds of BPA are produced in the U.S. every year.
Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies suggest that BPA exposure even at very low levels can affect hormones, and is linked to a variety of health problems including cancers, obesity, altered immune system, low sperm counts and early puberty, as well as behavioral effects including impaired learning, hyperactivity, and aggression. BPA has been shown to alter the expression of several hundred genes and has been linked to the genetic defect that causes Down syndrome.
In some states, LDA affiliates are already playing an active role in supporting efforts to ban BPA from children’s products. In many other states, LDA affiliates may have new opportunities to participate with other organizations in supporting a ban. Please contact Maureen Swanson at mswanson@ldaamerica.org to find out more about children’s environmental health issues in your state and how to get involved.
This spring, LDA advocates for children’s environmental health were instrumental in several major advances in reducing toxic chemical exposures, especially among infants and children. In early April, Maine passed a law that truly reforms chemical policy, setting a precedent, along with Washington State, for a new, comprehensive approach to reducing toxic chemicals in children’s products.
Maine’s law will establish lists of chemicals known to harm children, prioritize the worst chemicals based on children’s exposure and require manufacturers to disclose the use of these chemicals in products. Perhaps most importantly, the law authorizes the state to phase out the use of dangerous chemicals when safer alternatives are available, effective and affordable. In the past, states including Maine have targeted specific chemicals or specific products, rather than establishing a process to assess and replace the most toxic chemicals.
Members of LDA-ME, a founding member of the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, worked tirelessly throughout the early months of this year to help pass the bill. Sandy Cort, an LDA board member and LDA-ME past president, stated in a press release, "Parents were alarmed last year when they discovered common toys contained lead, a toxin known to harm the developing brain. Upon closer inspection we’ve learned that lead is just the tip of the iceberg and that many chemicals that can harm healthy development are routinely used in consumer products. Wide gaps in our laws have failed to protect our kids. I applaud Maine Legislators for ensuring our state will now take action to ensure products are safe for our children."
Maine was just a few weeks behind Washington State, which in March passed a law that set strict limits on the amounts of lead, cadmium and phthalates allowed in children’s products. Phthalates are chemicals used to soften plastics used to make toys, teething rings, and other products. Phthalates are also used in personal care products, including children’s lotions and shampoos.
Altogether this spring, 29 states pursued some type of legislation addressing toxic chemicals in children’s products. Along with lead and phthalates, states targeted Bisphenol A, used to make polycarbonate plastic and found to leach from baby bottles and food containers into their contents, and brominated flame retardants, used in electronics, furniture, carpets and a variety of other products, and found to accumulate in household dust, people’s bodies and breast milk.
As of mid-April, at least eight LDA af- filiates were working to educate lawmakers regarding the consequences of toxic chemicals to brain development, cognition and behavior. In addition to LDA-ME, af- filiates involved in state legislative efforts included LDA-CA, LDA-CT, LDA-MI, LDA-MN, LDA-NJ, LDA-NYS and LDA-OR.
Most state legislative sessions end in late spring, so many LDA affiliates and their coalition partners are already gearing up for next year’s renewed battles to safeguard infants and children from toxic chemical exposures. A more detailed summary of state affiliate activity over the last six months, including several exciting new outreach and education initiatives, will appear in the next Newsbriefs. If you are interested in finding out about opportunities to participate in environmental health issues related to learning disabilities in your state, please contact Maureen Swanson at mswanson@ldaamerica.org.
Following last year’s recalls of millions of children’s toys and other products because of lead-tainted paint and choking hazards, many states are moving to pass legislation that will make children’s products much safer and less toxic. According to a March 25 article in the Wall Street Journal, 29 states are pursuing legislation to make children’s products safer and less toxic. LDA affiliates in Maine, New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, California and Oregon are actively involved in these efforts. LDA advocates such as Sandy Cort in Maine, Terry Cavanaugh in New Jersey and Sue Frievalds in Minnesota – to name just a few – are providing written and oral testimony on how toxic chemicals can impair brain development in the fetus, infants and children. LDA urges other state affiliates and members to join this crucial effort to safeguard children’s health now and for the future. There are unprecedented opportunities in Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Washington, Alaska, Rhode Island, Vermont, and many other states to greatly reduce children’s exposures to toxic chemicals. Coalitions of health and environmental organizations in these states say that the lead-based recalls have created an opportunity to more broadly address the issue of toxic chemicals in products, especially those intended for children and infants. From coast to coast, these coalitions are helping to push for bills that would require manufacturers to get toxic metals and chemicals including lead, cadmium, phthalates, Bisphenol A, brominated flame retardants (PBDEs) and mercury out of children’s products. The leading state in the swiftly expanding effort to safeguard children’s health is Washington, where legislators passed a far-reaching bill that would set the strictest standard in the country for lead in children’s products. The bill would reduce the allowable level of lead in toys and other products to 90 parts per million. The current federal standard is 600 parts per million, despite the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics that the standard be lowered to 40 parts per million. The LDA and other national advocates for healthy brain development say there is no safe level of lead exposure for children. The Washington state bill would also drastically limit the use of cadmium in children’s products, which is a metal used in paints and plastics, and would ban phthalates, which are chemicals found in polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC) and also in cosmetics and other personal care products. Phthalates are linked to reproductive and developmental problems. Children’s health advocates across the country are anxiously waiting for Washington’s Governor, Chris Gregoire, to sign the toxics in toys bill into law. Washington recently has provided strong leadership on environmental health issues, as the first state to ban all three categories of brominated flame retardants – which harm the thyroid gland, alter the neurological system and damage the immune system. Maine quickly followed suit. As more states introduce and pass similar legislation, the hope is that the strong state laws will push the federal government to enact national chemical policy reform, that would for the first time put the onus on chemical and product manufacturers to keep toxic chemicals out of children’s products. Please contact Maureen Swanson at mswanson@ldaamerica.org to find out how you can join LDA in helping to keep our kids free from toxic chemicals that impair learning and development.