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Join the National Day of Action on PVC in Albany , NY

TARGET UNCOVERED: The Poison Plastic Lurking In Your Shopping Cart...

On October 11th, Let Target Know It’s Time to Phase Out PVC, the Poison Plastic.

Join Citizens' Environmental Coaliton on Wednesday, October 11^th and tell Target it’s time to clean up their act and phase out PVC, the poison plastic. Target may have the latest hip designs, but their aisles are filled with products made from chemicals linked to cancer. They sell many common products such as shower curtains, children's toys and baby products made out of or packaged in polyvinyl chloride, the poison plastic. PVC products are dangerous to our health and environment from start to finish -- in the factory, at home, and in the trash -- releasing poisonous chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects.

WHEN: October 11th, 12:45-2:00pm

WHERE: Colonie Northway Target, 1440 Central Ave , Colonie , NY 12205-5118 US

We will be meeting beforehand in the Citizens Bank parking, which is on the left when entering the mall parking lot.

Join us in sending a message to Target and let them know PVC plastic is out of style and

encourage them to develop a plan and timeline to phase out PVC.

Want more information or to get involved? Contact: Christian Werwaiss ((C) 917-526-2413 (O) 518-462-5527 )

Target and PVC: Target sells many products made out of or packaged in polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the poison plastic. The production of PVC products requires toxic chemicals, including cancer-causing vinyl chloride monomer and ethylene dichloride. Target’s chic PVC products are useless without the addition of toxic additives. Children chewing on vinyl toys can be exposed to chemicals linked to reproductive harm. These chemicals are so bad they’ve been banned from use in toys in Europe . The familiar new shower curtain smell is poisonous chemicals being released from the curtain in your home. PVC products sold by Target cannot be effectively recycled due to the many different toxic additives in the product, which can contaminate the recycling batch. Just one PVC bottle can contaminate a recycling load of 100,000 recyclable bottles!

The good news is safe and cost effective alternatives exist. Unfortunately, Target lags behind other retailers in taking action on PVC. Last year, Wal-Mart committed to phase out private label PVC packaging in two years. Other companies phasing out PVC include Nike, Microsoft, Ikea, H&M, and Johnson and Johnson.

Learn more by visiting: http://www.besafenet.com/pvc

For a copy of the flyer right-click and select save as:
PVC Day of Action Flyer

Support Environmentally Responsible Purchasing!

Its time for New York to embrace a safer, more sustainable economy! Both houses have introduced legislation requiring the state to purchase healthy, environmentally friendly products and services. You can urge such resolutions in your local government as well.

There are many benefits:

There will be reduced impacts from landfills and incinerators by encouraging the use of recycled/recyclable materials.

Buying less-toxic alternatives reduces the exposure of employees to toxic chemicals during their production, use and disposal.

The tremendous purchasing power of the government will be used to create an economy of scale, shifting the market toward safe and sustainable products.
These governments will be setting a positive example to other states, cities and towns.

90% of Persistent Bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs) leave factories in the products themselves. It’s time buy safer, more sustainable products for a greener healthier New York !

Call your city/town leaders today and urge them to support environmentally preferable purchasing where you live!

Call the leaders of the legislature today and tell them to support safe, sustainable, purchasing legislation! Senator Bruno: 518-455-3191, Speaker Silver: 518-455-3791

For more information, contact Laura at Citizens’ Environmental Coalition @ 518-462-5527 or www.cectoxic.org

Keep Toxic Release Inventory! Protect our Right to Know!

The EPA is placing corporations ahead of public interest by planning massive changes to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) program. There are three proposed changes to TRI, all of which infringe on our public right-to-know:

Changing the reporting requirement from yearly to every other year
Allowing corporations to pollute ten times as much before having to report it
Permitting corporations to hide information on low emissions of persistent bio-accumulative toxins

Tell EPA to call off this assault on TRI & tell your representatives in Congress to intervene if EPA won't put communities first and preserve the TRI program and our right to know. Make your voice count – EPA is mandated by law to consider public input before making any changes to this important program.

Act now! Go to http://www.ombwatch.org/protecttri to send a letter today.

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Green Building Updated Action Alerts

Everyone can help accelerate New York’s transition to the use of healthy building materials. The following are simple actions you can take to move this process forward.

Call your Assemblymember, Senator, and Governor George Pataki at (518) 474-8390 and urge him to support the PVC pipe restriction law in order to prevent toxic chemical exposures and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for millions of workers, firefighters and residents across the state. A 11660/S 7577
In New York State the Green Building Tax Credit provides a financial incentive for the use of environmentally sensitive building materials. Call the Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan at (518) 402-8540 and urge her to include additional PVC exclusions in the Green Building Tax Credit.
The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a comprehensive framework created to assess buildings using a common standard of measurement. Contact the U.S. Green Building Council President and CEO S. Richard Fedrizzi at (202) 82-USGBC and urge him to resist pressure from chemical industry trade groups to weaken the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards.
Ask retailers such as Lowes, Home Depot, and Sears to display the Guide in their stores and urge them to train their employees to respond to customer queries about safe alternatives to toxic building materials.

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Every year, thousands of children across the state are exposed to a dangerous pesticide commonly known as Lindane, used to treat head lice and scabies. Unfortunately, many parents don’t know Lindane is a possible carcinogen that may be absorbed into the skin, digestive system, and respiratory tract and may result in seizures. The World Health Organization reports a six-fold increase in non-Hodgkins lymphoma in farmers after exposure to Lindane, and recent case studies report high rates of childhood brain cancer due to treatment with Lindane. In addition, after Lindane is applied and patients rinse shampoos and creams down the drain, one dose can pollute as much as six million gallons of water! The good news is safe and effective alternatives are widely available, leaving no viable reason to keep this deadly poison on the consumer market. In fact, eighteen countries world-wide have already banned the use and distribution of Lindane.

Now that the Assembly is back in session, a bill to protect children from Lindane has been introduced, Assembly bill 4162, which bans the sale, use, and prescription of any product containing this dangerous pesticide. Please contact your Assemblyperson and urge them to support A. 4162. Please also contact your Senator and ask them to sponsor, S.5619,this critical bill.