Publications
Books
Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home
A user-friendly and practical lifestyle guide about how to reduce toxic exposure in our homes, our new book is a perfect resource of credible and easy steps to creating a healthier environment and lifestyle for all stages of parenting. It’s sure to be a hit on Earth Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and everyday - with information on pregnancy, cleaning, foods, toys, and even green baby showers, healthier air fresheners, gardening, beauty care, and much more!
Besides the up-to-date health content, what sets this book apart are the long list of health experts and notable parents contributing their essay. These contributing "voices" and stories are selectively added to the book to build on the approachable and fresh tone.
Buy the Book Now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Better World Books.
Reports
Using REACH Outside Europe
Published by International Chemical Secretariat
During the last years ChemSec has actively pushed the new EU legislation on chemicals, REACH, to protect health and the environment by raising the requirements on chemical manufactures and importers to deliver safer products. When REACH is now in place the REACH SIN List helps spurring its implementation. But REACH can also be used in NGO campaigning to help strengthening chemicals regulation in other parts of the world. To inspire and facilitate the work of other NGOs ChemSec has compiled this guide. It includes the basics principles of the new regulation, how to access substance data available through REACH, and how REACH can be used as a model to enhance national regulations.
Download guide/campaigning tool.
Disinfectant Overkill (January 2009)
How Too Clean January Be Hazardous To Our Healthy
A Report by Women's Voices for the Earth.
A new report from Women's Voices for the Earth argues that it is unnecessary to disinfect one’s homes to the degree that advertisers and manufacturers would have consumers believe.
Download report.
Poisons on Pets II (January 2009)
Toxic Chemicals in Flea and Tick Collars.
Written by Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, MPH and Gina Solomon, MD, MPH
Published by NRDC
Americans spend more than $1 billion each year on products designed to kill fleas and ticks on household pets, especially dogs and cats. While some of these products are safe, others leave harmful chemical residues on our pets’ fur and in our homes. These chemicals are highly hazardous to animals and humans, can damage the brain and nervous system, and cause cancer. A first-of-its-kind study by NRDC shows that high levels of pesticide residue can remain on a dog’s or cat’s fur for weeks after a flea collar is put on an animal. Residue levels produced by some flea collars are so high that they pose a risk of cancer and damage to the neurological system of children up to 1,000 times higher than the EPA’s acceptable levels.
Download report.
Download appendix.
Seeking Safer Packaging (January 2009)
Ranking Packaged Food Companies on BPA
Authored by Green Century Capital Management and As You Sow.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used in the epoxy lining of canned foods and beverages and in polycarbonate, a hard, clear plastic. The chemical mimics estrogen in the body and researchers have found links between BPA and numerous health problems including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and metabolic disorders.
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found BPA in the urine of over 90% of Americans tested.
Download report.
No More Toxic Tub (March 2009)
Getting Contaminants Out of Children's Bath & Personal Care Products
Published by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
Despite marketing claims like “gentle” and “pure,” dozens of top-selling children’s bath products are contaminated with the cancer-causing chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, according to the March 2009 Campaign for Safe Cosmetics report, "No More Toxic Tub."
This study is the first to document the widespread presence of both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane in bath products for children, including baby shampoos, bubble baths and baby lotions. Many products tested contained both chemicals.
Download report.
Girl, Disrupted: Hormone Disruptors and Women’s Reproductive Health (January 2009)
A Report on the Women's Reproductive Health and the Environment Workshop
Written by Julia Barrett, Shelby Gonzalez, Heather Saranties MS and Julia Varshavsky
Produced by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE)
Chemicals can impact female reprodcutive healthy by interfering with hormones that regulate reproductive system development.
A woman’s body goes through a wide range of changes throughout her lifetime. Each stage of her life, from fetal development through her post-menopause years, involves a direct relationship between her hormones and how her body develops and functions. When this relationship is in balance, it helps create the conditions for good health. When this relationship is out of balance, it can lead to a range of health problems that can be painful and devastating.
Download report.
Clean Highways and Water! (August 2008)
An End to Lead Wheel Balancing Weights in California.
Written by Caroline Cox
Published by Center for Environmental Health.
This report announces a ground-breaking agreement to end the use of a common but not well-known lead product in California — wheel balancing weights.
Lead is a stunningly toxic metal. A long list of problems has been linked to lead exposure: lowered intelligence, behavior problems, cancer, strokes, high blood pressure, kidney problems, anemia, cavities, and delayed puberty. Children are particularly susceptible to lead’s toxic effects.
Download report.
Plastics that January Be Harmful to Children and Reproductive Health (January 2008)
Written by Environment & Human Health, Inc.
The plastics problem is growing in scale and complexity due to a collision of factors, including government neglect of the importance of endocrine disruption; the explosive growth of the U.S. and international plastics industry; the absence of any plastic ingredient and source labeling requirements; nearly complete recycling failure for PVC and polycarbonate plastics; environmental contamination of air, water, soils, oceans, fish and wildlife; nearly universal human exposure to BPA and DEHP from food and beverages in high income nations; the dependence of the plastics industry on petroleum; and government failure to require health and environmental testing prior to chemical production, sale, and disposal. Collectively, these pose a serious challenge to the environment and human health.
Download report part 1.
Download report part 2.
Volatile Vinyl: The New Shower Curtain’s Chemical Smell (January 2008)
New laboratory tests reveal the familiar “new shower curtain smell” may be toxic to our health. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic shower curtains purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond, Kmart, Sears,
Target, and Wal-Mart all contain avoidable toxic chemicals including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phthalates, organotins and metals.
The release of this report is sponsored by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice’s (CHEJ) PVC Campaign and the Work Group for Safe Markets.
Killer Cribs (January 2008)
Protecting Infants and Children from Toxic Exposures
Written by Sara Schedler with contributions from Russell Long Ph.D., Arlene Blum Ph.D., Jen Holzer, Bob Badgley, Bart Broome and Mary Brune.
This report demonstrates that commonly used baby and children’s products, and upholstered household furniture, contain dangerous levels of toxic chemicals called halogenated fire retardants.
In hundreds of peer-reviewed studies and animal experiments, halogenated fire retardants have been linked to serious health disorders such as cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption, neurological and reproductive dysfunction and learning disabilities such as ADHD, mental retardation, and hyperactivity. Human testing suggests that most Americans now have halogenated fire retardants in their bodies, with babies and children showing the highest levels.
Download report.
Killer Couches (March 2008)
Protecting Infant and Children from Toxic Exposure
Written by Sara Schedler
New data collected by Friends of the Earth demonstrates that a high percentage of California’s furniture contains toxic chemicals called halogenated fire retardants.* In hundreds of peer-reviewed studies and animal experiments, halogenated fire retardants have been linked to serious health disorders such as cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption, neurological and reproductive dysfunction and learning disabilities such as ADHD, mental retardation, and hyperactivity. Today, Californians who undergo testing are finding halogenated fire retardants stored in their bodies at increasing rates, with babies and children showing the highest levels.
Download report.
Face to Face with Toy Safety (January 2008)
Understanding an Unexpected Threat.
Written by Charles W. Schmidt
Published by Environmental Health Perspectives
VOLUME 116 | NUMBER 2 | January 2008
Until March 2007, thousands of kids around the country could be found playing with toy trucks, helicopters, and soldiers sold under the Elite Operations brand name. The toys were fun, and they looked great with their thick coat of glossy paint. Trouble was, that paint was loaded with 5,000 ppm lead, a potent developmental neurotoxicant with no known safe exposure level.
Download report.
Baby’s Toxic Bottles (January 2008)
Written by WORK GROUP FOR SAFE MARKETS
The test results of this study indicates that the United States’ current lack of regulation of bisphenol A exposes infants and children to potentially dangerous levels of this unnecessary toxic chemical. The study confirms the findings of the 2007 Environment California study that tested Avent, Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo, Gerber and Playtex baby bottles. All five brands of the popular polycarbonate bottles tested in Environment California’s study leached bisphenol A the range of 5–10 ppb.3 This report is the first dual-nation study to measure BPA leaching from baby bottles purchased from U.S. and Canadian retailers.
Download study.
Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging (2008)
Written by Jill Stein MD, Ted Schettler MD MPH, Ben Rohrer, Maria Valenti
Published by Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility and Science and Environmental Health Network
This report primarily examines the lifetime influences of environmental factors on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and their underlying pathologic mechanisms. Our close look at the science of these diseases shows they are related to a number of features of modern society and that Alzheimer’s disease especially is linked to other serious health problems of modern times, which we call the "western disease cluster."
Downloadable version is available on GBPSR's website.
Toxic Baby Bottles (2007)
Scientific study finds leaching chemicals in clear plastic baby bottles
Written by Rachel L. Gibson
ENVIRONMENT CALIFORNIA RESEARCH AND POLICY CENTER
This study analyzes the extent to which five popular brands of baby bottles leach bisphenol A, a developmental, neural, and reproductive toxicant, into liquids coming into contact with them.
They found that all five brands leach bisphenol A at dangerous levels found to cause harm in numerous laboratory animal studies.
Download study.
Household Hazards (January 2007)
Potential Hazards of Home Cleaning Products
Written by Alexandra Gorman
A look at the potential hazards of chemicals in household cleaning products and their association with asthma and reproductive harm.
Download report.
Bad Chemistry (Winter 2006)
Hundreds of man-made chemicals - in our air, our water, and our food - could be damaging the most basic building blocks of human development.
Written by Gay Daly
NRDC On Earth
A large, uncontrolled scientific experiment has been in progress for the last 60 years, and the questions now is: Can we figure out what the results are? And if those results show we are in danger, what we can do about it at this late date?
Download report.
Recipe for Change (2006)
One Lunch Lady's Fight for Our Children's Future
Written by Chef Ann Cooper
ORGANIC VALLEY FAMILY OF FARMS
Read Ann Cooper's Journey from "white tablecloth" celeberty chef, never cooking for kids nor even knowing what they ate, to an unlikely advocate for childhood nuturition.
Download report.
Fathers for Organic (2005)
Written by Alan Greene, M.D.
ORGANIC VALLEY FAMILY OF FARMS
Dr Greene's personal experience as a father and a husband adding to his understanding as a physician and being for organic foods.
Download report.
Guide to Plastic Lumber (January 2005)
Written by Brenda Platt, Tom Lent and Bill Walsh
Published by The Healthy Building Network
This Healthy Building Network report compares and evaluates different plastic lumber types from an environmental and public health perspective, and offers advice on how to choose a plastic lumber product based upon its health hazards and recycling impacts. The Healthy Building Network rates the environmental preferability of 55 plastic lumber products manufactured by 44 companies based on three criteria:
- Materials used
- Recycled content
- Potential recyclability
This information is intended to inform those who are interested in understanding the range of environmental and public health impacts associated with different plastic lumber products.
Download report.
The Right Start: The Need to Eliminate Toxic Chemicals from Baby Products (January 2005)
BY ENVIRONMENT CALIFORNIA RESEARCH AND POLICY CENTER
A child’s first few years are an exciting time for parents who hope, if for nothing else, that their child starts his or her life happy and healthy. Unfortunately, not all products marketed for children and babies are completely safe for their use. Many contain toxic chemicals that may have detrimental health impacts for children exposed during critical stages of development.
Download study.
Growing Up Toxic (January 2004)
Chemical Exposures and Increases in Developmental Disease
Written by: Travis Madsen, Yana Kucher, Teri Olle
ENVIRONMENT CALIFORNIA RESEARCH AND POLICY CENTER
This study focuses on the most recent science surrounding several emerging chemical hazards—a growing body of evidence showing that chemicals found in the home and in common consumer products may hinder normal development.
Download study.
Body Of Evidence (January 2004)
New Science in the Debate Over Toxic Flame Retardants and Our Health
Written by: Yana Kucher and Meghan Purvis
U.S. PIRG Education Fund and ENVIRONMENT CALIFORNIA RESEARCH AND POLICY CENTER
New evidence indicates that the chemical flame retardant decabromodiphenyl ether (Deca) may threaten the health of Americans.
Manufacturers of common household products add Deca to plastics or fabrics to make them resist the spread of fire. A growing body of evidence shows that exposure to Deca may cause adverse health effects in developing children, including damage to the nervous system and impaired motor skills.
Download study.
The Organic Manifesto of a Biologist Mother (2003)
Written by Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.
ORGANIC VALLEY FAMILY OF FARMS
From the life of a gypsy biologist to an environmental writer with two kids, Sandra Steingraber writes on the benefits of being organic.
Download report.
Get Answers
View AllI know there are probably a lot of alternative names for formaldehyde used in products. Do you know or have a list of the other names?
I am pregnant and my new carpet has a chemical odor. Is it possible that the chemicals in the new carpet can be dangerous to the fetus and my young son? If, so what should I do?
Is there Lead in my reverse osmosis spigot?
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