Additional Resources for Taking Action
A number of organizations have developed excellent resources for taking action on individual, community, and national levels. Here is just a sampling:
The Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow is a coalition of citizens, scientists, health professionals, workers, and educators that seeks preventive action on toxic hazards.
Breast Cancer Action carries the voices of people affected by breast cancer to inspire and compel the changes necessary to end the breast cancer epidemic. Breast Cancer Action’s website offers a range of ideas for taking action.
The Breast Cancer Fund has partnered with Luna Bar to launch Pure Prevention, a campaign to raise awareness about the environmental causes of breast cancer and to empower women to reduce their risk. Visit the site for more ideas on taking action. We also encourage you to download State of the Evidence 2008: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment, a comprehensive report on the environmental exposures linked to increased breast cancer risk.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition working to protect health by calling for the cosmetic industry’s elimination of chemicals that have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and other health problems.
CHEM Trust, also known as the Chemicals, Health and Environment Monitoring Trust, works to raise awareness of the problem of our exposure to environmental toxins, to improve chemicals legislation, and to protect future generations of humans and wildlife.
Commonweal is a nonprofit health and environmental research institute that conducts programs that contribute to human and ecosystem health. Among the many initiatives it supports are the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, Health Care Without Harm, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and Women’s Health and the Environment.
Health and Environment Alliance, or HEAL, the Chemicals Health Monitor counterpart in Europe, has launched a website on chemical contaminants and health. (Chemicals Health Monitor is a project of HEAL in collaboration with CHEM Trust, the Collaborative on Health and Environment, and other partner organizations across Europe.)
Clean Production Action promotes the use of products that are safer and cleaner across their lifecycles for consumers, workers, and communities. Its Safer Products Project provides information on name-brand products and company policies on chemical use.
Environmental Working Group presents a range of in-depth articles and resources on the effects of toxins on human health. Read Toxic Fire Retardants in American Homes for a report on polybrominated diphenyl ethers in dust; explore the National Tap Water Quality Database to learn what’s in your water; and review the 10 Everyday Pollution Solutions for more in-depth information on a range of critical topics.
Health Care Without Harm offers a range of resources aimed at the health care industry, including Going Green, a resource guide for pollution prevention in health care, and Future of Fabric, a report on the toxicants, alternatives, and innovations in fabric used in health care settings.
Healthy Child Healthy World, formerly the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition, offers a range of ideas for protecting children from environmental health risks, including those in its downloadable 90 Tips for 90 Days.
The Household Products Database, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine, links more than 7,000 consumer brands to health effects from material safety data sheets provided by manufacturers and allows scientists and consumers to research products based on chemical ingredients.
The Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition is dedicated to challenging all obstacles to the eradication of breast cancer, with an emphasis on teasing out links to environmental toxins.
MOMS is a national grassroots movement of mothers working to create a healthier, safer environment for children. Its members engage in education, advocacy, and corporate campaigns aimed at eliminating the presence of toxic chemicals in the environment, our bodies, and breast milk.
The National Library of Medicine website offers Tox Town, an interactive presentation of information on environmental health concerns and toxic chemicals where you live, work, and play.
The Natural Resources Defense Council offers a detailed Green Living Toolkit, which includes guidelines for protecting your family’s health. The council’s “journal of sorts,” This Green Life, also offers articles on such topics as nonstick cookware and mothballs. For tips on protecting your water supply, review How to Clean Up Our Water. And visit the council’s Simple Steps website for information on making healthy decisions for yourself, your home, and the planet.
Pesticide Action Network International is a network of over 600 participating nongovernmental organizations, institutions, and individuals in more than 90 countries working to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives.
Pesticide Action Network North America, or PANNA, works to replace pesticide use with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives.
Rachel’s Friends Breast Cancer Coalition offers ideas for limiting personal and community exposure to carcinogens.
REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), the European Commission’s law on the safe use of chemicals, places the onus on industry to generate safety data on chemicals and to identify the measures needed to manage the risks.
Scorecard gives detailed reports on chemicals being released from more than 21,000 manufacturing plants, as well as summary reports for any area of the country.
Skin Deep is the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic safety database. It pairs ingredients nearly 25,000 products with 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind.
The Green Guide, a quarterly publication of National Geographic, offers such practical articles as “10 Ways to Avoid Reproductive Hazards” and “Seven Steps to Safer, Healthier Food.”
The Toxics Use Reduction Institute, or TURI, seeks to protect employees, consumers, and the environment by finding safer alternatives aimed at reducing toxic chemical use. TURI offers online tools to search for technology alternatives, testing data about safer cleaning solvents, and regulated toxic chemicals.
The United Nations Environment Programme seeks to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. The UNEP offers information about persistent organic pollutants and their alternatives.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides tips for safeguarding your indoor air in an extensive report, The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality.
Women in Europe for a Common Future, a network of women’s and environmental organizations in 30 countries throughout Central Asia and Europe, works toward a healthy environment for all through advocacy projects and partnership projects.
Women’s Health and the Environment, a website produced by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, offers a downloadable toolkit in three parts: “What We Know: New Science Linking Our Health and the Environment,” “What You Can Do: Everyday Actions to Protect Your Health,” and “What We Can Do: Community Efforts to Protect Our Health.”
The World Wildlife Fund Canada offers tips for reducing your exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals.