The Environmental Health Program

The Environmental Health Program aims to reduce or eliminate, wherever possible, toxic threats to the environment and human health. Our core strategy is to advance the precautionary principle approach to regulating chemicals. In other words require that the safety of every chemical be established before it is used in the production of any goods.

Vermont Children Remain Vulnerable to Health Hazards at Schools

As students settle back into school, a law designed to protect their health in the classroom received a failing grade in the first report card of Act 125. Act 125 was charged with reducing environmental health hazards in schools through the creation of a voluntary program called Envision: Promoting Healthy School Environments.  According to the report card released by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), Act 125 has failed to protect the majority of Vermont’s children and school personnel from polluted indoor air.

Under Act 125, the State was required to create a model school environmental health plan and award environmental health certificates to schools that voluntarily excelled in improving indoor air quality.  Passed by the Legislature in 2000, Act 125 established a goal of having at least 50% of schools qualify for an environmental health certificate by January 2005.  Only 7% of schools had received a certificate by the end of 2006.

VPIRG recommends that Vermont turn to new opportunities and solutions for creating healthy learning environments including: 1) implementing a comprehensive healthy schools program; 2) requiring schools to purchase environmentally preferable cleaning products; and 3) eliminating high-risk pesticides and establishing strong integrated pest management programs at schools.

To read the full report, click here. To read VPIRG's news release, click here.

Book Discussion with Will Allen and Local Leaders

Wednesday, May 28, join Will Allen, Representative David Zuckerman, and our own Paul Burns to discuss Allen’s new book, The War on Bugs, which details the dangers of modern pesticides and the safer alternatives we should be using. Details of both events are below.

VPIRG will be hosting a panel discussion on the history and hazards of pesticide use and what can be done to better protect our health, food, and kids from these toxic chemicals.  Please join us for an informative roundtable discussion about pesticide use in Vermont, and meet neighbors and friends who want to help make our environment and food safer and healthier for all.

The discussion will feature Will Allen, author of The War on Bugs and board member of the Organic Consumers Association and Rural Vermont.  In The War on Bugs, Allen describes the roles that advertisers, chemical companies, and others played in convincing farmers of the need for poisonous chemicals and the resulting struggle against toxic food. Allen will also be joined by Representative David Zuckerman of Burlington and Paul Burns, VPIRG’s Executive Director, in a broader conversation about the implications of pesticide use and steps Vermont can take to protect our citizens from exposure to these prevalent and dangerous chemicals.

When: Wednesday, May 28th, 6-7:30pm
Where:  The Great Room at Main Street Landing
1 Main Street, Union Station
Burlington, Vermont
http://www.mainstreetlanding.com/calendar/

Click the link for The War on Bugs poster or handbill.

Learn more through the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Vermont

VPIRG is a founding member of the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Vermont, a health-based coalition of citizens, children's advocates, health-professionals, housing groups, environmentalists, and others committed to protecting human health from toxic chemical exposure.

Our goal is to phase out the use of persistent toxic chemicals and to advance a precautionary approach towards the use and regulation of chemicals. We are working with business and government leaders to promote policies that protect public health and support the safest alternatives. Learn more about the coalition's work here.

All Vermont kids should be toxic-free. Unfortunately, they are not. Our children have become lab experiments because the chemical industry is not required to fully test the safety of their products. Consider the following:

Up to 2,800 Vermont kids suffer from lead poisoning each year;
Vermont’s waterways are so polluted with mercury that women and children are advised not to eat local fish;
Over 90% of Vermont schools continue to spray toxic pesticides;
75% of toys labeled “phthalate-free” tested positive for this toxic plastic in VPIRG tests;
Five states — including New York, California and Maine — have taken action to ban use of toxic flame retardants; Vermont has not.

These toxins appear in products used everyday in our homes — products we would normally assume to be harmless. Many of these toxins build up in the body and can cause: Lowered IQ; Birth Defects; Behavioral Disorders; Respiratory Distress; Reproductive Disorders; and Childhood Cancer.

The Chemical Industry Knows it's Poisoning Our Children

Remember in the 70’s when lead was still in our paint and gasoline? Most of us assume that since learning the dangers of lead, chemical companies have taken steps to eliminate its use. Sadly, this is not the case.

On February 22, 2006, a four year old boy in Minneapolis died of lead poisoning after swallowing a piece of a metal bracelet composed of 99% lead. The bracelet was sold as part of a promotion for Reebok children’s shoes, and the following month, federal authorities recalled 580,000 similar jewelry items from stores across the nation.1

While deaths attributed to lead poisoning are very rare, children’s exposure to lead in jewelry is not. A 2004 study reported that of 311 pieces of jewelry bought from retail stores in California, 123 contained more than 50% lead by weight.

The chemical industry has known for years that lead is dangerous. But they continue to use lead and other toxic chemicals because they can be less expensive. In order to protect our kids from toxic threats we need to demand that businesses replace them with safer alternatives.

VPIRG is Working to Protect Children

VPIRG is working with doctors, nurses, and legislators to reduce our children's exposure to toxic chemicals. These leaders want to adopt the “Precautionary Principle” to make sure that new chemicals are tested for safety before they are put on the market and into products. It is the chemical industry, not everyday citizens, that should prove that new chemicals are safe.

VPIRG is bringing organizations and individuals together around the state to protect our children from toxic hazards by adopting the Precautionary Principle. We’ll be working with public leaders to:

Require dentists to use safer alternatives to mercury fillings in kids and pregnant women;
Stop spraying pesticides in our schools;
Ban the use of lead in children’s products;
Post health-based warnings about mercury in fish in all grocery stores;
Follow Europe’s lead in phasing-out toxic plastics from children’s products;
Replace toxic flame retardants in children’s clothing with safer alternatives.

Take Action Now!

We all need to work together to protect our children from toxic exposures. Every voice counts and you can make a difference for children in Vermont. Here’s how:

Be part of the solution:
You can help by contacting your community leaders and legislators. Ask them to make Vermont’s children a priority by acting on the chemical safety issues we’ve mentioned.

Write a Letter to the Editor:
VPIRG can help you write a letter, email or opinion editorial for your local newspaper. We can also offer tips for making sure your letter gets printed.

Host or attend a local lobby meeting:
VPIRG is organizing meetings between constituents and legislators in towns all over Vermont. You can take part by contacting VPIRG's field staff at 223-8421.

Attend a lobby day at the Vermont State House:
VPIRG and our allies will be organizing one or more events at the Vermont State House in Montpelier to address toxic exposures threatening children. Stay in touch to find out details and join the campaign!