The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) is an American non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) organization working to protect children and families from harmful chemicals in air, food, water and in everyday products. Its vision and mission are "(A) world where everyone lives, works, learns and plays in a healthy environment; we protect people from toxic chemicals by working with communities, businesses, and the government to demand and support business practices that are safe for human health and the environment." CEH is headquartered in Oakland, California, in the United States, with East Coast offices in Washington, D.C. and North Carolina.
CEH was founded in 1996 by Michael Green, who previously worked for the U.S. Department of Energy. [1] The group brings litigation under a California law, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, which was enacted as a citizens' ballot proposition and is often referred to as the state's "Prop 65" law. Prop 65 requires companies to provide warnings when their products expose Californians to a chemical or chemicals that are known to cause cancer or serious reproductive health problems. [2]
In one of its early legal cases, CEH tested 16 home water filters and found 6 that were leeching lead into filtered water, above California safety limits. [3] CEH brought Prop 65 lawsuits against the 6 companies. One company withdrew one filter model from the market and offered customers who had purchased the product a refund. [4]
Beginning in 2000, CEH joined by the California Attorney General, sued 34 companies that made playground equipment or picnic tables from wood treated with an arsenic-based preservative. [5] Until 2003, most wood sold in the U.S. for outdoor use was treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), an arsenic-based preservative. [6] By late 2001, three national manufacturers of children's backyard play sets agreed to a CEH legal settlement calling for them to stop using arsenic in pressure-treated lumber within three months. [7] By 2003, all of the companies had agreed to stop selling arsenic-treated wood in California and nationwide. [5]
In addition to legal work, early on CEH was involved in support of groups fighting for environmental justice. In 1999-2001, CEH collaborated with local environmental justice community groups working to close East Oakland's Integrated Environmental Systems (IES) medical waste incinerator. [8] The incinerator was considered an environmental justice issue, because it burned waste from all over California and released the toxic byproducts mainly into an African-American and Latino community. [9] The IES incinerator, the last medical waste incinerator operating in California, was closed in December 2001. [10]
In 1999, CEH filed suit against pharmaceutical companies and retailers, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Rite Aid Corp., Safeway, Walgreens and others for sales of baby powders that the group alleged contained harmful levels of lead. The suit noted that the baby powders contained zinc oxide, which can contain lead, and that babies can be exposed if they inhale the compounds, and/or can absorb them through irritated skin, and/or could ingest them if they get the powder on their hands or mouth. [11] Ultimately, several manufacturers agreed to significant reductions in the lead in the products, up to 80% less for the products that had tested highest for lead. [5] In a similar suit, CEH and the California Attorney General sued makers of Kaopectate for high lead content in its products; the company agreed to reduce the levels of lead in its children's Kaopectate by 95%, and by 80% in its adult variety. [5]
In 2004, CEH and other groups filed lawsuits against manufacturers and distributors of Mexican candies. [12] In 2006, the California Attorney General, along with CEH and the Environmental Health Coalition reached a legal settlement with the companies, including subsidiaries of Mars and Hershey, calling for the companies to reduce the lead levels in their products. [13]
Later in 2004, CEH again joined the Attorney General in a lawsuit against companies, including popular mall stores such as Claire's Boutique, Hot Topic and Zumiez, and department stores such as Target, Macy's and Nordstrom, that sold costume jewelry marketed to children, teens and adult containing high levels of lead. [14] In 2006, seventy-one companies, including Target, Kmart, Macy's, Nordstrom, Sears, Disney Stores and others, agreed to a legal settlement with the Attorney General and CEH that created the nation's first legally binding standards for lead in jewelry. [15]
In 2007, CEH testing found high levels of lead in a Curious George doll and other toys, leading to the organization's lawsuit against Marvel and other companies, including Toys R Us Inc., Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart, K-B Toys, Target, Costco, and others for selling toys containing lead. [16] At the time, there was no federal law limiting lead in children's products, other than for paint on products. [17] In 2008, CEH leveraged the California Prop 65 law to help win passage of the federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, designed to establish the first-ever comprehensive federal lead safety standards for children's products. [18]
In 2009, CEH filed a lawsuit after tests showed high lead levels in purses sold by 16 retailers. [19] By 2010, the group had tested purses from 100 top retailers, finding many with high lead levels. [20] In June of that year, CEH reached a legal settlement with more than 40 companies who agreed to stop selling items containing lead in excess of safety levels. [21] But ABC World News reported in 2012 that even after signing legal agreements to meet the lead limits, some companies continued to sell lead-containing purses. Their report says that CEH testing found 43 of the 300 purses tested with lead. [22] In 2013, The New York Times reported that the group found a steady reduction in lead contamination from accessories over all, but continued to find lead contamination in some fashion accessories sold to budget-conscious teenagers and young women at some retailers. [23]
Cola companies, including PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, were reportedly using caramel coloring for their colas that contain a carcinogenic chemical called 4-MEI. The companies pledged to switch to a reformulated coloring without 4-MEI, but NPR reported in 2013 that CEH testing found 10 Pepsi products bought outside of California still contained high levels of the chemical, while 9 of ten Coke products contained just trace levels or no 4-MEI. [24] In 2015, CEH reached a legal agreement with Pepsi requiring the company to limit the levels of 4-MEI in its products sold in California to no more than 100 parts per billion. In the legal settlement, Pepsi asserted it had been compliant with California regulations all along. [25]
After California listed the flame retardant TDCPP (chlorinated Tris) as a cancer-causing chemical, testing commissioned by CEH found 15 baby and children's products containing high levels of the chemical, above the state safety standard. In 2012, the group brought legal action against companies selling the products, including Walmart, Babies-R-Us, Target, and others. [26] The following year, CEH filed suit against companies for selling children's nap mats that contained the chemical. [27] In 2014, CEH reached a legal settlement with 14 companies, calling for the companies to discontinue sales of certain products containing the chemical or provide warning labels. It also called for future products to be made without TDCPP and other flame retardants. [28] CEH also co-sponsored California legislation to require furniture makers to disclose whether furniture sold in California contains flame-retardant chemicals. [29] The bill was signed into law in September 2014. [30] By December 2014 story, companies including Facebook, Kaiser Permanente, Staples and others signed a CEH pledge to stop purchasing furniture treated with flame-retardant chemicals. The companies and government entities signing the pledge reportedly spend a combined $520 million on furniture every year. [31]
An October 2014 study co-authored by CEH's Research Director Caroline Cox found levels of eight volatile chemicals in air samples around fracking sites exceeded federal air pollution guidelines in some circumstances. [32] In December, another study, whose lead author Ellen Webb works for CEH, found potential developmental and reproductive health problems for women and children living near fracking sites. [33]
Due to lead pollution risks, the use of leaded auto gas began to be phased out in the mid-1970s. But most small airplanes, including piston-engine aircraft and some smaller jets, still run on leaded fuel, known as "avgas". In December 2014, CEH reached legal agreements with 26 avgas providers in California requiring them to not use or sell gasoline with a lead content greater than 0.56 grams per liter, which is significantly lower than many fuel mixes. The settlement called on the companies to sell avgas "with the lowest concentration of lead approved for aviation use that is commercially available", and required them to post warning signs around airports. [34]
In February 2015, CEH sent legal notices to nearly 40 companies it alleged were selling e-cigarettes without warning labels, as required by California law. [35] In September of that year, the group released a report showing that the majority of the 97 e-cigarette products it tested could expose users to one or both of the cancer-causing chemicals formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. [36] A test on one e-cigarette found the level of formaldehyde was more than 470 times higher than the California safety standard. [37]
The "vaping" products tested by CEH were produced by leading tobacco companies including RJ Reynolds, ITG Brands and NJOY [38] and were purchased from major retailers including RiteAid, 7-Eleven and other outlets between February and July 2015. Almost 90% of the companies whose products were tested (21 of 24 companies) had one or more products that produced hazardous amounts of one or both of the chemicals, in violation of California law. The testing found high levels of the chemicals even in some nicotine-free e-cigarette varieties. [39] CEH launched legal actions against more than 60 companies for failing to warn consumers about exposure from e-cigarettes to nicotine and/or to formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, as required by California law. In one legal settlement with CEH, the e-cigarette company Sapphire Vapor agreed to legally binding restrictions on sales and marketing to teens and prohibitions on the use of unverified health claims in their marketing. [37]
CEH has long worked for strong federal rules to protect children and families from harmful chemicals. [40] In March 2015, as Congress was developing new federal rules for regulating toxic chemicals, CEH and other health and environmental advocacy groups criticized the proposed bill for falling far short of what's needed to protect the public from hazardous chemicals. [41] In an opinion article, CEH's Michael Green (with co-author Christopher Gavigan) stated that the bill co-authored by Senator Tom Udall "would roll back hundreds of state laws, replacing them with a weaker federal rule that could put Americans at risk from toxics in our air, water, food and every day products for years to come." [42] After the bill was signed by President Obama in June 2016, CEH's Ansje Miller criticized the "incredibly slow" timeline for assessing potentially harmful chemicals under the legislation, but noted that the bill allowed states to continue some chemical regulation, including under California's Proposition 65 law. [43]
In March 2016, California regulators proposed an exception to the Proposition 65 law for canned foods that could expose consumers to the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA). The state argued that the warning labels on cans could confuse consumers and cause poor people to eat fewer fruits and vegetables. But CEH and other groups opposed the proposal, with a CEH spokesman warning that "[T]he proposal will make things worse for poor people because they'll be denied the right to know what's in their food." [44] When the state's proposal went forward, CEH's Caroline Cox noted that the exception to Prop 65 could weaken the law going forward. [45] When the state proposed extending the exception, an opinion piece by CEH's Michael Green (co-authored with Sam Mogannam) stated that "It is time for consumers to join health advocates and responsible businesses to demand that this unprecedented and irresponsible policy not go forward." [46]
In 2007, CEH Chief Executive Officer Michael Green was granted the Compassion in Action award by the Missing Peace project, a joint project of the Committee of 100 for Tibet and the Dalai Lama Foundation. [47] In 2010, CEH was awarded a "Green Champion" by the San Francisco Business Times. [48]
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but the word is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette or a herbal cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, different smoking method, and paper wrapping, which is typically white.
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC, short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union.
Proposition 65 is a California law passed by direct voter initiative in 1986 by a 63%–37% vote. Its goals are to protect drinking water sources from toxic substances that cause cancer or birth defects and to reduce or eliminate exposures to those chemicals generally, such as in consumer products, by requiring warnings in advance of those exposures, with the intended goal being that companies choose to reformulate their products without the substances rather than simply providing notice of such substances in their product.
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs, are a class of organobromine compounds that are used as flame retardants. Like other brominated flame retardants, PBDEs have been used in a wide array of products, including building materials, electronics, furnishings, motor vehicles, airplanes, plastics, polyurethane foams, and textiles. They are structurally akin to polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other polyhalogenated compounds, consisting of two halogenated aromatic rings. PBDEs are classified according to the average number of bromine atoms in the molecule. The life-saving benefits of fire retardants led to their popularization. Standards for mass transit vehicles continues to increase as of 2021.
Flame retardants are a diverse group of chemicals that are added to manufactured materials, such as plastics and textiles, and surface finishes and coatings. Flame retardants are activated by the presence of an ignition source and prevent or slow the further development of flames by a variety of different physical and chemical mechanisms. They may be added as a copolymer during the polymerisation process, or later added to the polymer at a moulding or extrusion process or applied as a topical finish. Mineral flame retardants are typically additive, while organohalogen and organophosphorus compounds can be either reactive or additive.
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is a United States law, passed by the 94th United States Congress in 1976 and administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that regulates chemicals not regulated by other U.S. federal statutes, including chemicals already in commerce and the introduction of new chemicals. When the TSCA was put into place, all existing chemicals were considered to be safe for use and subsequently grandfathered in. Its three main objectives are to assess and regulate new commercial chemicals before they enter the market, to regulate chemicals already existing in 1976 that posed an "unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment", as for example PCBs, lead, mercury and radon, and to regulate these chemicals' distribution and use.
Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are organobromine compounds that have an inhibitory effect on combustion chemistry and tend to reduce the flammability of products containing them. The brominated variety of commercialized chemical flame retardants comprise approximately 19.7% of the market. They are effective in plastics and textile applications like electronics, clothes, and furniture.
A fire retardant is a substance that is used to slow down or stop the spread of fire or reduce its intensity. This is commonly accomplished by chemical reactions that reduce the flammability of fuels or delay their combustion. Fire retardants may also cool the fuel through physical action or endothermic chemical reactions. Fire retardants are available as powder, to be mixed with water, as fire-fighting foams and fire-retardant gels. Fire retardants are also available as coatings or sprays to be applied to an object.
Electronic waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. It is also commonly known as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or end-of-life (EOL) electronics. Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Informal processing of e-waste in developing countries can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution. The growing consumption of electronic goods due to the Digital Revolution and innovations in science and technology, such as bitcoin, has led to a global e-waste problem and hazard. The rapid exponential increase of e-waste is due to frequent new model releases and unnecessary purchases of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), short innovation cycles and low recycling rates, and a drop in the average life span of computers.
The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1960. CFC campaigns for state and federal laws and appears at the California state legislature in support of consumer-focused regulations. The Consumer Federation of California is led by Executive Director Robert Herrell and President Richard Holober.
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control is an agency of the government of the state of California which protects public health and the environment from hazardous waste. DTSC is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, with one thousand employees, and is headquartered in Sacramento. As of 2023, DTSC has regional offices in Berkeley, Chatsworth, Clovis, Commerce, Cypress, El Centro and San Diego and environmental chemistry laboratories in Berkeley and Pasadena. Meredith Williams has served as the director of DTSC since 2019.
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, commonly referred to as OEHHA, is a specialized department within the cabinet-level California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) with responsibility for evaluating health risks from environmental chemical contaminants.
Electronic waste or e-waste in the United States refers to electronic products that have reached the end of their operable lives, and the United States is beginning to address its waste problems with regulations at a state and federal level. Used electronics are the quickest-growing source of waste and can have serious health impacts. The United States is the world leader in producing the most e-waste, followed closely by China; both countries domestically recycle and export e-waste. Only recently has the United States begun to make an effort to start regulating where e-waste goes and how it is disposed of. There is also an economic factor that has an effect on where and how e-waste is disposed of. Electronics are the primary users of precious and special metals, retrieving those metals from electronics can be viewed as important as raw metals may become more scarce
The California Green Chemistry Initiative (CGCI) is a six-part initiative to reduce public and environmental exposure to toxins through improved knowledge and regulation of chemicals; two parts became statute in 2008. The other four parts were not passed, but are still on the agenda of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control green ribbon science panel discussions. The two parts of the California Green Chemistry Initiative that were passed are known as AB 1879 : Hazardous Materials and Toxic Substances Evaluation and Regulation and SB 509 : Toxic Information Clearinghouse. Implementation of CGCI has been delayed indefinitely beyond the January 1, 2011.
Pesticide regulation in the United States is primarily a responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In America, it was not till the 1950s that pesticides were regulated in terms of their safety. The Pesticides Control Amendment (PCA) of 1954 was the first time Congress passed guidance regarding the establishment of safe limits for pesticide residues on food. It authorized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban pesticides they determined to be unsafe if they were sprayed directly on food. The Food Additives Amendment, which included the Delaney Clause, prohibited the pesticide residues from any carcinogenic pesticides in processed food. In 1959, pesticides were required to be registered.
The health effects of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) include a range of potential risks such as exposure to toxic chemicals, the possibility of increased likelihood of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and concerns about their possible role in cancer development. Upon their introduction, there were marketing claims that they were a safer alternative to traditional tobacco products.
Silent Spring Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to studying and reporting primarily on breast cancer prevention, although its research covers other health-related topics as well.
Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE) is a feminist, women-led, North American environmental organization that specializes in research and advocacy regarding toxic chemicals used in products that disproportionately impact women's health, including cosmetics, menstrual care products, professional salon and cleaning products. WVE is a non-profit organization whose mission is to amplify women's voices to eliminate toxics that harm communities and health. With its inclusive vision of environmental work WVE has become a hub for visionary feminist environmentalism that recognizes the systemic connections between health, class, race, and the environment. Addressing the inter-connectivity of these various channels of exposure to toxic chemicals has been key to WVE's approach which is multi-scalar: targeting consumer behaviors, corporate practices, and government policies.
The chemical composition of the electronic cigarette aerosol varies across and within manufacturers. Limited data exists regarding their chemistry. However, researchers at Johns Hopkins University analyzed the vape clouds of popular brands such as Juul and Vuse, and found "nearly 2,000 chemicals, the vast majority of which are unidentified."
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