Active Conscience ~ January
News, alerts, upcoming events, and opportunities to take action.
1. News Flash! Safer Products is launched!
2. Energy and Peace
3. Nuclear Risks in WA ~ Hanford Action Update
4. Healthy Washington ~ Eliminating Toxic Chemicals
5. Media Recommendations
6. Calendar
7. Quote of the Month
1. News flash!
No more toxic bottles for babies! Sign our health professionals' letter to Governor Gregoire to ban Bisphenol A in baby bottles.
WPSR and the rest of the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition have launched our Safer Products in Washington Campaign. Join us by signing our letter to our legislators asking for only the safest products to be in our products and our bodies.
Our Holiday Wishlist
There are many ways that you can make a holiday gift to WPSR, and one of those ways is in-kind donations. We are specifically in need of newer computers, some soft-lighting floor lamps, and matching chairs. Please consider an in-kind donation to WPSR this holiday season. Details of our wishlist are here. Thanks for all you do!
Thurs January 22, Hope for a Heated Planet
Bob Musil, past Executive Director of PSR presents his book. Details on our Calendar of Events
2. Energy and Peace
Repower, Refuel and Rebuild America and Washington State!
PSR is part of Save Our Environment -- a coalition of groups working toward clean energy solutions. Our country faces unprecedented challenges. In November, unemployment reached 6.4%-- the highest level in 14 years. America is still addicted to oil. The global warming crisis goes unabated. Now is the time to Repower, Refuel and Rebuild America.
Get working now -- sign the petition to President-elect Obama!
Learn more about how to Repower, Refuel, and Rebuild America here.
Get working now - at the State Level: Join WPSR's Energy and Peace Committee in educating medical professionals on the health benefits of energy security and stopping global warming. Contact Margaret Kitchell, MD to join this committee. Support WPSR's Energy and Peace Committee by making a donation, or request a WPSR speaker to address your group. Support the 2009 Environmental Priorities
The 2009 Environmental Priorities focus on promoting a vibrant and growing green economy. To this end, three of the Priorities propose critical next steps for state-level action to meet our climate change goals. You can help by attending the Environmental Priorities Legislative Workshop, and by attending the Environmental Priorities Coalition Lobby Day, February 19.
Nuclear winter & car sales - A Letter to the Editor of the Seattle Times
The Obama administration has a "golden" (or a much rarer metal "plutonium-en") opportunity to reverse decades of denial and hubris in the US auto industry, which has led to "nuclear winter" for auto sales (Seattle Times CloseUp for December 2, 2008). US automakers have been ignoring all the road signs since the OPEC crisis of 1973 and now scramble to the taxpayer for a fat loan. What caught my eye was the comparison of this self-inflicted wounding of the auto industry to the apocalyptic blacking out of the sun in a nuclear war. Both events are or would be man-made. The discord is in scale. Comparing a predictable meltdown in auto sales to the blacking out of the sun for weeks to months as would occur with nuclear winter is something like comparing the 911 tragedy to the Nazi Holocaust. We are talking about hugely different scales of human deceit and depravity.
Hopefully the Obama adminstration will address both head-on: 1) help the auto industry become competitive again with truly environmentall friendly vehicles based on renewable, non-food fuel sources and 2) help the American and world-wide public realize the dream of eliminating the weaponry that would cause nuclear winter.
David C. Hall MD
Add your voice to the call for a world free of nuclear weapons:
We're joining with the Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World, to call for the global elimination of nuclear weapons. These signatures will be delivered to the next president, so please sign on today, to help create a safer and healthier future for out children and the planet.
Invitation to MLK Day 2009 Vigil , Friday January 19
Honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by standing against nuclear weapons and war!
Join WPSR and Ground Zero in a vigil at the gates of Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor - the site of the largest concentration of nuclear weapons in the world. Event details available on our Calendar of Events.
3. Nuclear Risks in Washington - Hanford Update
WPSR's Hanford Task Force members publish in Remediation Journal!
Hanford remediation at 20 years: A glass half-empty
John Abbotts, PhD and Charles Weems, MD
The U.S. Department of Energy's (US DOE's) responsibilities for its former national nuclear weapons complex include remediation of the Hanford Site in Washington State. In 1989, the site's primary mission shifted from nuclear weapons material production to cleanup of the extensive radioactive and chemical contamination that represented the production legacy. Cleanup is governed by the Tri-Party Agreement (TPA), between the US DOE, as responsible party, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State Department of Ecology, as joint regulators. Nearly 20 years have passed since the TPA was signed, but the Hanford remediation is expected to require decades longer. This article covers the cleanup progress to date and challenges that remain, particularly from millions of gallons of highly radioactive liquid wastes and proposals to bring new wastes to Hanford. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Remediation Journal, Volume 19 Issue 1,Pages73-86
Protect Washington
From Hanford Being Used as a National Radioactive Hazardous Waste Dump
With the "Clean-Up First" Bill
Stop Hanford from being a national radioactive hazardous waste dump for nuclear weapons and power. Tell your legislators and the Governor to support Clean-Up First this Session! More info at www.hoanw.org.
4. Healthy Washington - Eliminating Toxic Chemicals
Please direct comments or questions for this section to Cherie Eichholz.
WPSR and the rest of the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition launches the Safer Products Campaign!
WPSR urges Washington legislators to say NO to Bisphenol A (BPA)!
BPA is a hormone disrupting chemical that is linked to developmental effects in children and heart disease and diabetes in adults. When it leaches out of products, it contaminates our bodies and the environment. Studies have detected BPA in adults, in the cord blood of newborn children, and in the environment. BPA is found in baby bottles and other food containers and is a huge health risk to children and infants. This chemical has no place in children's products! Only the safest chemicals should be in the products we use in our homes.
Joining the Campaign:
1. Health Professional's Sign-on Letter
Our Sign-on letter to Governor Gregoire and Washington State legislators asks them to support legislation this session to ban Bisphenol A (BPA) in key products. You can read the letter and sign it here.
The voice of health professionals on this issue is crucial. Please sign this letter, and then forward it to colleagues. We've succeeded in banning PBDE's, and passed the strictest standards in the country last year on protecting kids from lead, cadmium, and phthalates exposure from their toys. BPA is a toxicant we need to get rid of as well. We need your help to make the Sign on letter campaign a success. Please sign on, and then pass it on.
2. Email your legislators: Eliminiate BPA from baby bottles!
Send an email to your legislators and the Governor today
3. Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition Lobby Day March 5, Olympia, WA
Join doctors, nurses, and concerned families from around the state as we rally at the capitol to pass new laws to eliminate bisphenol-A (BPA), a toxic plastic chemical used in kids' products. During lobby day you will be trained on how to lobby, learn about the issues, attend a rally on the steps of the Capitol, and meet in-person with your state legislators to urge them to support legislation to phase out BPA and pass the rest of our Children's Environmental Health Agenda. Bring Your Kids... And Their Toys. We will have free toxic toy testing in the morning, a kid’s rally on the steps of the Capitol at noon, fun kid’s activities throughout the day.
Register now!
4. Join WPSR for an informational forum on BPA and the health risks of exposure ~ February
BPA is a hormone-disrupting toxicant found in plastic products including many baby bottles, sippy cups, food containers, and consumer products. BPA leaches out of plastic into food and liquids that we put into our bodies. Low-level BPA exposure during early stages of development is linked to increased susceptibility to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and developmental problems. Devastatingly, those most at risk are those whose very lives depend on us for protection: developing fetuses, infants and young children. This forum will explore the health linkages shown in recent studies between BPA and developmental problems, sources of exposure and practical tips for preventing exposure, and steps towards safer chemical policies in Washington State. Stay tuned for event details at wpsr.org.
A number of studies have found BPA to be linked to cancer, heart disease, obesity, reproductive failures and hyperactivity in laboratory animals. Bisphenol A is a hormone disrupting chemical and as such can have health effects at extremely low exposure levels. Read more...
A new study “Baby's Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles,” released by environmental health groups in the U.S. and Canada demonstrates the toxic chemical bisphenol A leaches from plastic baby bottles when heated.
Plastic pollution threat to health and environment. Many chemical ingredients used in manufacturing of plastic goods including benzene, vinyl chloride, ethylene oxides, xylems and bisphenol A. are linked with numerous health hazards and reproductive problems.
Bookshelf:
Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children
by Philip and Alice Shabecof
Hope for a Heated Planet: How Americans Are Fighting Global Warming and Building a Better Future by Bob Musil, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility from 1992 – 2006. Bob will be presenting this excellent book at Park Place Books in Kirkland on January 22, 2009. See our calendar of events for details on his January 22 presentation.
Rejecting cries of gloom and doom, Hope for a Heated Planet shows how the fight against global warming can be won by the grassroots efforts of individuals. Robert K. Musil, who led the Nobel Peace Prize–winning organization Physicians for Social Responsibility, explains that a growing new climate movement can produce unprecedented change—in the economy, public health, and home—while saving the planet. Read more...
Rick Steves' Iran: Yesterday and Today
On PBS! Seattle's KCTS will broadcast this on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Visit http://www.ricksteves.com/iran to find out when Rick Steve's Iran is showing in your area.
Join Rick as he explores the most surprising and fascinating land he's ever visited: Iran. In a one-hour, ground-breaking travel special on public television, you'll discover the splendid monuments of Iran's rich and glorious past, learn more about the 20th-century story of this perplexing nation, and experience Iranian life today in its historic capital and in a countryside village. Most important, you'll meet the people of this nation whose government so exasperates our own.
Monday January 19, MLK Day Vigil ~ Abolish nuclear weapons, bring the troops home now!
Join WPSR and Ground Zero in honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a vigil at the gates of Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor - the site of the largest concentration of nuclear weapons in the world. RSVP at 206-547-2630 or idill@wpsr.org so we can coordinate carpools to Bremerton. More details available on our Calendar of Events.
Thurs January 22, Hope for a Heated Planet: How Americans Are Fighting Global Warming and Building a Better Future
Bob Musil, past Executive Director of PSR presents his book
7 pm, Park Place Books, 348 Park Place Center, Kirkland, WA 98033
Details on our Calendar of Events.
March 5th, Olympia, WA, Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition Lobby Day
Join doctors, nurses, and concerned families from around the state as we rally at the capitol to pass new laws to eliminate bisphenol-A (BPA), a toxic plastic chemical used in kids' products. During lobby day you will be trained on how to lobby, learn about the issues, attend a rally on the steps of the Capitol, and meet in-person with your state legislators to urge them to support legislation to phase out BPA and pass the rest of our Children's Environmental Health Agenda. Bring Your Kids... And Their Toys. We will have free toxic toy testing in the morning, a kid’s rally on the steps of the Capitol at noon, fun kid’s activities throughout the day.
March 11, The annual Healthy Food in Healthcare Roundtable
11-5 pm, Northwest Hospital
Presentations include sustainable food
procurement on a strict budget, Green Guide for Health Credits, and
strategies for waste reduction. For more information contact Holly Freishtat, WPSR Sustainable Food Specialist at holly@cultivatehealth.com.
7. Quote of the Month
"A world without nuclear weapons is profoundly in America's interest and the world's interest. It is our responsibility to make the commitment and to do the hard work to make this vision a reality. That's what I've done as a Senator and a candidate, and that's what I'll do as President."
~ President-Elect Barack Obama
Join WPSR's member physicians, nurses, health professionals and concerned citizens across Washington State!
Our work to create a more healthy, peaceful and sustainable Washington State and world is possible due in large part to individual supporters.
Will you make a donation to help us continue to protect the health of our children and Washington State?
If you have an event you would like to see in the next installment of the Active Conscience, please email information to idill@wpsr.org.
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