Breast Cancer Action Joins with its Coalition Partners to Cheer Three Environmental Victories
Sears Phases Out PVC
First, Sears Holding, Inc. (parent company of Sears and Kmart) announced in December that it plans to phase out the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in its packaging and merchandise, citing the "potential health and environmental risks tied to the manufacture, use and disposal of PVC."
The new policy, posted on the company’s web site, also calls on vendors to reduce or eliminate their use of PVC, promises to identify products that are PVC-free, and sets a long- term goal of “sourcing bio-based polymers that are sustainably sourced, have higher recycled content, and can be reused, recycled, or composted.”
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice, head of the coalition,“PVC Consumer Campaign,” hailed the action as a “huge victory.”
California Takes A Second Look at the Pesticide Chlorpyrifos
Also, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) ) voted unanimously to take the first step toward formally listing the neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos as a developmental toxicant. A formal listing will provide a key argument for the chemical’s ultimate ban.
Chlorpyrifos (brand name Dursban) has been banned for home use since 2001, but has been allowed for use in agriculture, where it is estimated that approximately two million pounds are applied to crops such as cotton, citrus and nuts every year. Symptoms of exposure range from dizziness and nausea to slowed heart rate and death.
Our coalition partner, Pesticide Action Network, is urging concerned Californians to contact the EPA and urge the agency to ban chlorpyrifos.
Bisphenol-A May Be Re-Classified
At the same meeting, OEHHA again voted unanimously to prepare hazard identification materials on the chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA, which is used in plastic food containers and baby bottles, as a first step in deciding whether to list BPA as a reproductive/development toxicant under California’s Proposition 65.
BCA was one of many organizations to sign a letter urging the committee to add BPA to the Proposition 65 list.