http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/state-to-probe-development-of-green-chemicals State to probe development of 'green' chemicals http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/state-to-probe-development-of-green-chemicals Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:37:18 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/protest-demands-ban-of-chemical-in-toys Governor hasn't said if he'll sign bill http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/protest-demands-ban-of-chemical-in-toys Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/protect-kids-from-toxic-toys  Exposure to tiny amounts of phthalates, found in many toys, can harm children; California should ban them. http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/protect-kids-from-toxic-toys Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/-lawmaker-wants-state-to-follow-city39s-lead-with-39toxic-toy39-ban Toys and child care products that contain certain chemicals would be http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/-lawmaker-wants-state-to-follow-city39s-lead-with-39toxic-toy39-ban Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/replace-bisphenol-a-or-a-childs-health When parents first hear that some plastics may be a threat to their http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/replace-bisphenol-a-or-a-childs-health Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/when-are-pesticides-sprayed-near-your-childs-day-care Parents have the right to know when pesticides http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/when-are-pesticides-sprayed-near-your-childs-day-care Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/whats-toxic-in-toyland They line the nursery section children's toy stores like brightly http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/whats-toxic-in-toyland Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/-san-francisco-prepares-to-ban-certain-chemicals-in-products-for-kids-but-enforcement-will-be-tough----and-toymakers-question-necessity Widely used chemicals with suspected links to cancer http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/-san-francisco-prepares-to-ban-certain-chemicals-in-products-for-kids-but-enforcement-will-be-tough----and-toymakers-question-necessity Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/pesticides-lurk-in-daycare-centers Millions of children get exposed to pesticides while attending daycare, concludes the first nationwide study of insecticide residues in U.S. daycare centers. The study, published today on ES&T’s Research ASAP website (DOI: 10.1021/es061021h), found low levels of organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides. Although the health impacts are unclear, the results raise questions about the risks children face from these chemicals. Jupiterimages More than 13 million children attend day care in the U.S. “We found at least one pesticide in every daycare center,” says lead author Nicolle Tulve, a research scientist with the U.S. EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory. Tulve says that the concentrations were quite low. She did not comment on whether these concentrations might be harmful but notes that no health advisories or national standards currently exist for such exposures. For the study, researchers selected 168 daycare centers across the U.S. At each site, a technician wiped samples from indoor surfaces, such as floors and tables, and collected soil from outdoor play areas. The manager of each facility was also questioned about cleaning and pest-management practices. Researchers tested for 39 pesticides, and 63% of the centers reported applying up to 10 different insectides. Organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides cropped up most often, and three of the four centers with the most pesticides detected were in the South, where warm weather brings out the bugs. This study provides a teaching opportunity in terms of training childcare workers to manage pests in the safest way possible, says Lynn Goldman, who is a professor of applied health at Johns Hopkins University and a former EPA official in charge of the agency’s pesticide program. “These chemicals should be avoided around children, and if needed, bait traps, which do not leave residues on the floors and surfaces, are preferable, as long as they are kept out of the reach of children,” she says. Goldman says that she was disappointed that the agency did not use the results to characterize how much exposure to pesticides children face. “These data are interesting but [could] be far more meaningful,” she says. Paul Lioy, the deputy director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute at Rutgers University, agrees. He says that aggregating the total exposures could help to identify individuals with sensitivity to these chemicals. In the past decade, more and more states have started regulating pesticides in daycare facilities. In 2000, Massachusetts passed a law requiring all schools to submit integrated pest-management plans to limit children’s contact with pesticides. And New York legislators recently introduced a bill to prohibit pesticide applications in daycare centers during business hours. Meanwhile, California is considering a bill to require daycare owners to notify parents when they are treating for pests. However, Lioy also notes that pesticides are not all bad. These chemicals kill roaches, which can cause allergies in some children. Prudence, he says, dictates wise use of insecticides and complete pest-management plans. —PAUL D. THACKER http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/pesticides-lurk-in-daycare-centers Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/house-eyes-national-toxics-law House Republicans are pushing new legislation that could wipe out the http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/house-eyes-national-toxics-law Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/supervisors-to-consider-ban-of-certain-plastics San Francisco supervisors are set to adopt the http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/supervisors-to-consider-ban-of-certain-plastics Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/unity-is-urged-on-chemical-policy-in-state By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/unity-is-urged-on-chemical-policy-in-state Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/greening-of-states-chemicals-suggested A University of California research team assembled by the Legislature http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/greening-of-states-chemicals-suggested Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/study-finds-toxins-gain-potency-when-combined By Douglas Fischer, STAFF WRITERChemical mixtures such as the soup of pesticides found in agricultural runoff can be vastly more toxic to humans and creatures than a single chemical, suggesting current efforts to assess health risks posed by such compounds significantly underestimate their danger, researchers have found.The threat comes not just from pesticides: The plastic in your soup can, the additives used to keep nail polish from chipping and beach balls from cracking, even the trace amounts of DDT found in your house dust all can have an effect when mixed with other chemicals far greater than any single chemical alone.And that means, scientists say, that safety tests used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration — where one compound is tested and regulated in isolation — miss the real effects of the chemical stew making up our world.The most recent finding came Tuesday from University of California, Berkeley professor Tyrone Hayes.His report, published in the online version of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found significant harmful effects on frogs given mixtures of pesticides commonly found in agricultural runoff — even though levels of the individual pesticides were thought not to cause harm and were 10 to 100 times below EPA standards:-Frogs treated with the mixture were, on average, 10 to 12 percent smaller than the untreated control group.-Nearly 70 percent of those frogs succumbed to a common pathogen that the control group successfully fought off.-In the control group, those frogs that spent the most time in the water as tadpoles were the largest. But tadpoles swimming in the treated water found the reverse — the longer they stayed tadpoles, the smaller they were as frogs.-Treated frogs developed holes, or plaques, in their thymus, an organ crucial for suppressing disease.-Those frogs also had high levels of corticosterone — a hormone, similar to one also found in humans, associated with stress and known to decrease growth and retard development.And in a related paper, also published Tuesday, Hayes showed these chemicals are quite efficient at switching testosterone to estrogen. Which means the testes of exposed male frogs do not produce sperm.They produce eggs."Metolachlor" — a common herbicide — "Doesn't do anything on its own," Hayes said Tuesday. "But mix it with something else and it becomes bad somehow. You add them all up and you get significant effects."Representatives of CropLife America, a trade group representing pesticide companies, had no comment Tuesday on the new findings. The group has long said, however, that there is insufficient evidence that pesticides harm frogs.Chemical manufacturers decry any effort to link extremely low levels of their chemicals to harm."The data are extensive. The exposure is quite low. It takes really high levels (to see effects)," said James Lamb, a former regulator who is now consulting for the American Chemistry Council. "We don't have a lot of data on children, but with data on adults, we don't see effects."But what alarms Hayes is that he sees effects in frogs at 0.1 parts per billion, far below any health threshold. The urine of a farm worker contains, on average, 2,400 ppb of some of these compounds. Hayes said he could dilute that urine and effectively castrate 720,000 frogs.It is not known what that means for humans, however. But Dr. Shanna Swan, a researcher at the University of Rochester, has found an association between low fertility in men and pesticide concentrations in urine as low as 0.1 ppb."All we know is that humans are exposed to large amounts of chemicals," Swan said. "Rodents are exposed to one chemical at a time."Swan has found similar problems in baby boys born to women with high levels of phthalates (THAAL-ates), a common additive used to make nail polish chip-proof, to dissolve fragrances in cosmetics and to soften plastics.That meshes with research by the U.S. EPA in North Carolina that finds phthalates, when added together at levels known to cause little or no problems individually, somehow afflict upwards of a quarter of the test animals with permanent reproductive damage.Levels of those phthalates in the amniotic fluid of the most highly exposed women in the United States are not too far from levels known to cause harm in rats.And, Hayes notes, a fetus in amniotic fluid is not all that different from a tadpole in a pond."It's like pregnancy: The longer you're pregnant, the bigger your baby. The longer the tadpole (stage), the bigger the frog," Hayes said.But for the tadpole, at least those in pesticide-laced runoff, that is no longer true."It's like, the longer she's pregnant, the smaller your baby's going to be," Hayes added. "That says the womb is not a nurturing place."The Oakland Tribune's investigation of our chemical "body burden" can be found on the Web at http://www.insidebayarea.com/bodyburden. Wire services contributed to this report. http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/study-finds-toxins-gain-potency-when-combined Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/push-to-ban-additives-in-toys-gains-legislative-momentum By http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/push-to-ban-additives-in-toys-gains-legislative-momentum Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/scientists-debate-bill-to-restrict-chemicals # Lawmaker seeks to ban compounds in plastic baby products that may pose health risks. By Marla Cone, Times Staff WriterScientists on Tuesday debated the health risks of two chemicals found in plastic baby products as California legislators consider a bill that would make the state the only place in the world to restrict one of the compounds, which has been shown in some studies to mimic female hormones and possibly interfere with boys' reproductive development.The bill, by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan (D-Alameda), would prohibit baby toys and feeding products from containing phthalates, used in the manufacture of vinyl, and bisphenol A, used in hard, clear polycarbonate plastic for an array of consumer products, including baby bottles.No other legislative or regulatory body has restricted use of bisphenol A, which is considered an essential ingredient of polycarbonate, a light-weight and shatter-free alternative to glass.The bill, AB 319, has sparked an intense scientific debate, as well as heavy lobbying by the plastics industry and environmentalists. If the Assembly doesn't approve the bill by the end of the month, the legislation will expire because it was introduced two years ago.Six scientists, including two sponsored by the plastics industry, testified Tuesday at a joint hearing of two Assembly committees overseeing health and environment issues. The purpose of the hearing was for legislators and the public to hear the evidence about the health risks of the compounds that would be banned under the bill.Evidence has been mounting that phthalates and bisphenol A could be altering the hormones and harming the reproductive systems of babies, but the results are not considered conclusive, and some studies have been controversial. While the compounds have been shown in hundreds of laboratory studies to mimic estrogen or block testosterone and feminize animals, the effects on humans are largely unknown.Environmental health activists and some scientists say California should take a better-safe-than-sorry approach, banning the compounds in teething toys, bath toys, baby bottles and other children's products because safer alternatives are available.But industry scientists and other representatives say California legislators would be acting with little evidence and would unnecessarily limit consumers' access to popular products."Human exposure is extraordinarily low," said Steve Hentges of the polycarbonate division of the American Plastics Council. "And there is no evidence that any human has been harmed by use of these products."At the hearing on Tuesday, Fred vom Saal, a reproductive biologist at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said the effects of low doses of bisphenol A, known as BPA, are clear in animal studies."Every aspect of maleness is disrupted," Vom Saal said, including the animals' sperm counts, prostate size and behavior, because it blocks testosterone production.He added that "high exposure of children is occurring and children are more sensitive than adults."But Lorenz Rhomberg, a former Harvard and Environmental Protection Agency scientist who is now a consultant paid by the American Plastics Council, told the legislators that most studies of bisphenol A have found no effects. He served on a panel of the Harvard Center for Risks Analysis, funded by the plastics industry, which concluded in 2004 that the "evidence is very weak" that the chemical mimics estrogen."If you go study by study … you see that in almost every case when there is a study that found an effect, there are four or more examples of studies that looked at the same end points and doses and found no effects," he said.But Vom Saal countered that 140 animal studies have found hormone-altering effects from low exposure to the plastics chemical. In a published review of the studies, Vom Saal reported that every one funded by industry showed no effects while more than 90% of the government-funded studies found effects.Regarding phthalates, Earl Gray, an EPA scientist who specializes in hormone-disrupting chemicals, said there is no debate in the scientific community that phthalates block male hormones, causing feminization of reproductive tracts in laboratory animals. Thirty to 40 studies on lab animals show the same thing, he said.Instead, Gray said, the debate is whether the doses that people are exposed to can cause the hormonal and genetic damage seen in animals.Industry scientists agree, saying that the animal studies are conducted with much higher doses of phthalates than people are actually exposed to.Several human studies have linked phthalates with changes in sperm, genitals and hormone production, including one that found baby boys are born with slight changes of their genitalia.Dr. Shanna Swan, a scientist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry who conducted the study of baby boys, said at the hearing that phthalate exposure is "widespread, silent and involuntary" and that safer alternatives should be used in children's toys and other products.But James Lamb, a former federal government toxicologist who is now a consultant representing industry groups, said the human studies are new, small and have many uncertainties.He told legislators at the hearing that he is "reasonably certain" that the chemicals in children's products are causing no harm.As a parent and grandparent, he said he is more worried about children swallowing items than being exposed to chemicals inside them."Let's worry about what matters. Let's not regulate, or especially ban, every perceived hypothetical risk," he said.Some phthalates, which are used to make plastic flexible, are banned or restricted by the European Union and at least 14 other nations, but they are not regulated in the United States.The environmental group Environment California reported Tuesday that it found phthalates in 15 of 18 baby bath books, teething toys and other baby toys it tested.Some U.S. toy manufacturers have already stopped using the chemicals after the EU banned them. But Joan Lawrence of the Toy Industry Assn. said the chemicals have been safely used in toys and other vinyl products for nearly 50 years and that banning them would mean major changes by all toy manufacturers.Toy sales amount to $7 billion in California. The Assembly bill would affect hundreds of companies and thousands of workers in California alone."It sets a dangerous precedent to stop using a product that has a proven safety record," Lawrence said. http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/scientists-debate-bill-to-restrict-chemicals Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/factions-argue-safety-of-toys  Some say chemicals used are dangerous; the makers disagree.By Peter Hecht -- Bee Capitol BureauFor most any toddler and doting mother, Elmo's Tub-Time Rhyme Bath Book is just a squishy plastic page-turner that is as delightfully chewable as it is readable. But according to environmental advocates and scientists brought in by a state Assembly panel on Tuesday, Elmo's Tub-Time is but one of scores of toddler toys and baby products, including play mats, soft rattles and teethers, that may contain allegedly dangerous plastic softening compounds called phthalates."These products are linked to a number of adverse health defects, reproductive and genital defects and behavioral problems," said Rachel Gibson, an attorney for the San Francisco-based Environment California Research & Policy Center. "The list goes on and on."On Tuesday, that was only one side of the argument as a joint Assembly health and toxics committee held an informational hearing on legislation to ban the manufacture and sale in California of toys or child-care products containing phthalates and a plastics hardening compound known as bisphenol-A.The other side came from chemical and toy industry representatives - and their own researchers. They charged that the legislation, Assembly Bill 319 by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Alameda, is both anti-business and an unfair assault on children's products that have been consistently proved safe for 50 years."This is a political fundraising campaign, not a human health campaign," charged Patrick Moore, a doctor of ecology and former Greenpeace activist who is now working alongside the American Chemistry Council and the Toy Industry Association to defeat the California legislation. "California is very chemophobic and they're basically whipping up this scare campaign against phthalates, even though all the regulatory agencies say they are safe."Chan, in introducing the legislation, pointed out that the European Union and 14 nations have banned the chemical compounds. So far, no U.S. state has banned their use, she said.In a morning press conference, Chan was flanked by two scientists, Shanna Swan, an environmental exposure researcher from the University of Rochester's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Fred vom Saal, a biologist from the University of Missouri.The two researchers argued that extensive animal testing has revealed that the chemical products used to alter plastics for toys and baby products - along with thousands of adult products from plastic goods to cosmetics - pose a particular peril to infants and toddlers.Swan recently published a government-funded study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives that claimed "a significant relationship" between human exposure to phthalates and "adverse changes in the genitals of baby boys."Swan and vom Saal argued that babies who chew on plastics containing the compounds may suffer health effects including genital shrinkage in boys, obesity, hyperactivity, diabetes and early puberty.In backing the legislation, which would ban the chemicals in the manufacturing of products targeting children under 3 years old, vom Saal said: "The logical place to start is with the most vulnerable people out there - our children."But Jim Lamb, senior vice president of the Weinberg Group, a Washington, D.C., research organization representing industries from pharmaceutical companies to consumer product manufacturers, attacked the methodologies of scientists backing AB 319.Lamb claimed research indicating toxic dangers from plastic softening and hardening compounds has been based primarily on tests on rats and other rodents using much higher concentrations of chemicals than is found in most consumer products. He said such tests revealed health effects that constitute "a rat syndrome - but not a human syndrome."But Chan praised some manufacturers, including the baby products company Evenflo, that have phased out the use of phthalates in baby bottles and other products in favor of polypropylene compounds that are considered less toxic. She said some of the new products are labeled as "PVC free," meaning that they don't include flexible polyvinyl chloride plastics that contain phthalates."There must be some danger," Chan said. "No company would phase them out if they weren't dangerous."Lamb, asserting that the chemical compounds have been consistently proved safe, attacked Chan's bill for requiring that manufacturers remake products with the compounds considered the "least toxic alternative." He said alternate products may not have been thoroughly tested."When manufacturers find the 'least toxic alternative,' the reality is that they are going to use the least tested alternative," Lamb said.  http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/factions-argue-safety-of-toys Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/-bill-seeks-ban-on-chemical-in-toys-bottles  Sacramento -- http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/-bill-seeks-ban-on-chemical-in-toys-bottles Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/california-lawmakers-hear-testimony-about-toy-safety By PETER HECHTSACRAMENTO, Calif. -- For most any toddler and doting mother, Elmo's Tub-Time Rhyme Bath Book is just a squishy plastic page-turner that is as delightfully chewable as it is readable.But according to environmental advocates and scientists brought in by a state Assembly panel on Tuesday, Elmo's Tub-Time is but one of scores of toddler toys and baby products, including play mats, soft rattles and teethers, that may contain allegedly dangerous plastic softening compounds called phthalates."These products are linked to a number of adverse health defects, reproductive and genital defects and behavioral problems," said Rachel Gibson, an attorney for the San Francisco-based Environment California Research & Policy Center. "The list goes on and on."On Tuesday, that was only one side of the argument as a joint Assembly health and toxics committee held an informational hearing on legislation to ban the manufacture and sale in California of toys or child-care products containing phthalates and a plastics hardening compound known as bisphenol-A.The other side came from chemical and toy industry representatives _ and their own researchers. They charged that the legislation, Assembly Bill 319 by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Alameda, is both anti-business and an unfair assault on children's products that have been consistently proven safe for 50 years."This is a political fund-raising campaign, not a human health campaign," charged Patrick Moore, a doctor of ecology and former Greenpeace activist who is now working alongside the American Chemistry Council and the Toy Industry Association to defeat the California legislation. "California is very chemophobic and they're basically whipping up this scare campaign against phthalates, even though all the regulatory agencies say they are safe."Chan, in introducing the legislation, pointed out that the European Union and 14 nations have banned the chemical compounds. So far, no U.S. state has banned their use, she said.In a morning press conferences, Chan was flanked by two scientists, Shanna Swan, an environmental exposure researcher from the University of Rochester's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Fred vom Saal, a biologist from the University of Missouri.The two researchers argued that extensive animal testing has revealed that the chemical products used to alter plastics for toys and baby products _ along with thousands of adult products from plastic goods to cosmetics _ pose a particular peril to infants and toddlers.Swan recently published a government-funded study in Environmental Health Perspectives that claimed "a significant relationship" between human exposure to phthalates and "adverse changes in the genitals of baby boys."Swan and vom Saal argued that babies that chew on plastics containing the compounds may suffer health effects including genital shrinkage in boys, obesity, hyperactivity, diabetes and early puberty.In backing the legislation, which would ban the chemicals in the manufacture of products targeting children under 3 years old, vom Saal said: "The logical place to start is with the most vulnerable people out there _ our children."But Jim Lamb, senior vice president of the Weinberg Group, a Washington, research organization representing industries from pharmaceutical companies to consumer product manufacturers, attacked the methodologies of scientists backing AB 319.Lamb claimed research indicating toxic dangers from plastic softening and hardening compounds has been based primarily on tests on rats and other rodents using much higher concentrations of chemicals than is found in most consumer products. He said such tests revealed health effects that constitute "a rat syndrome _ but not a human syndrome."But Chan praised some manufacturers, including the baby products company Evenflo, that have phased out the use of phthalates in baby bottles and other products in favor of polypropylene compounds that are considered less toxic. She said some of the new products are labeled as "PVC free, meaning that they don't include flexible polyvinyl chloride plastics that contain phthalates."There must be some danger," Chan said. "No company would phase them out if they weren't dangerous."But Lamb, asserting that the chemical compounds have been consistently proved safe, attacked Chan's bill for requiring that manufacturers remake products with the compounds considered the "least toxic alternative." He said alternate products may not have been thoroughly tested."When manufacturers find the 'least toxic alternative,' the reality is that they are going to use the least tested alternative," Lamb said. "You don't replace something that is safe and then ban it with something else that may be dangerous."(Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service, http://www.shns.com.) http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/california-lawmakers-hear-testimony-about-toy-safety Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:14:24 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/toxic-toys http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/toxic-toys Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:02:25 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/chemical-stirs-up-controversy A group of obscure chemical compounds with the http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/chemical-stirs-up-controversy Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:02:25 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/editorial-states-ban-on-phthalates-sets-healthy-precedent http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/editorial-states-ban-on-phthalates-sets-healthy-precedent Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:02:25 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/california-to-ban-phthalates-in-baby-products http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/california-to-ban-phthalates-in-baby-products Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:02:25 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/a-nationwide-toxic-toy-ban-likely-to-follow-state-lead One http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/a-nationwide-toxic-toy-ban-likely-to-follow-state-lead Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:02:25 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/california-bans-use-of-toxin-in-toys http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/california-bans-use-of-toxin-in-toys Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:02:25 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/governor-rushes-to-clear-bills http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/governor-rushes-to-clear-bills Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:02:25 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/california-oks-phthalates-ban-on-children39s-products http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/california-oks-phthalates-ban-on-children39s-products Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:02:25 -0600 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/editorial-californias-green-chemistry-initiative There is such a thing as better living through http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/editorial-californias-green-chemistry-initiative Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:01:36 -0500 http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/editorial-concerns-about-bpa-plastic Anybody worried about the potential danger from plastic bottles and cups, http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/in-the-news/environmental-health/environmental-health/editorial-concerns-about-bpa-plastic Tue, 20 May 2008 12:28:41 -0500