NPAC: action updates

NPAC URGES YOU TO CONSIDER SUPPORTING MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATION

Several bills that would benefit both our health and the environment are before the Massachusetts legislature. The following two would reduce toxic-chemical use statewide:

1) An Act to Promote Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals (“The Safer Alternatives Bill”) would set up an ongoing program to identify safer alternatives to various toxic chemicals, potentially including some pesticides, that are known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to development or reproduction, and require that safer alternatives be used whenever they are available. While the bill does not ban any specific chemical, it encourages the use of safer alternatives and would reduce the amount of toxic chemicals used. The bill, sponsored by Senator Steven Tolman (Belmont) and Representative Jay Kaufman (Lexington), passed the Senate on January 29, 2008.

Please visit www.healthytomorrow.org if you’d like to take action in support of this bill and for updates. To read the full text of the bill, go to www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/185/st02/st02481.htm.

2) An Act to Reduce Asthma and Other Health Threats from Cleaning Products would require that no cleaning product be used in schools, hospitals, and other health care facilities unless it is included on the “Healthy Cleaning Products” list maintained and expanded by the Department of Public Health. This bill, sponsored by Senator Dianne Wilkerson (Boston) and Representative Frank Smizik (Brookline), received a favorable report from the Joint Committee on Public Health.

Please visit www.healthytomorrow.org if you’d like to take action in support of this bill and for updates. To read the full text of the bill, go to www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht02pdf/ht02246.pdf.