October, 06 2010, 04:02pm EDT
Consumers To Get Household Cleaner Chemical Info, But Questions of How and When Remain
Public interest groups back swift timetable, ‘one-stop shopping’ ingredient info for consumers
ALBANY, N.Y.
New York State is set to begin enforcing the state's household cleaner ingredient right-to-know law - the only one of its kind in the country. Today, the agency took an important first step, meeting with public health, consumer, and environmental
advocates and industry groups to discuss how and when consumers will get access to this crucial ingredient information.
Public interest groups are backing a swift timetable for ingredient disclosure as well as a convenient information hub for consumers to search and compare chemical ingredients among different brands and products.
"Consumers should not have to guess what is in their cleaning products," said Dr. Urvashi Rangan, Director of Technical Policy at Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. "People trying to avoid allergens and harmful chemicals need
to be able to get this critical information and one way would be through a 'one-stop shopping' information hub. We hope New York State will help make this the industry norm."
to be able to get this critical information and one way would be through a 'one-stop shopping' information hub. We hope New York State will help make this the industry norm."
Twenty-six groups representing a range of consumer, labor, health, environmental and good government groups signed on to a list
of recommendations for state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officials to consider as they begin enforcing the law, which requires manufacturers of household cleaners to reveal the chemical ingredients in their products and any
health risks they pose.
of recommendations for state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officials to consider as they begin enforcing the law, which requires manufacturers of household cleaners to reveal the chemical ingredients in their products and any
health risks they pose.
"Full ingredient disclosure is a critical step toward ensuring safer, healthier products," said Kathy Curtis, policy director from Clean New York. "The sooner we get this information to the public, the sooner consumers in New York and around the country
will benefit."
will benefit."
In letters sent last month to the companies and public health, environmental, and consumer groups, DEC Commissioner
Pete Grannis said that the State would begin requiring companies to disclose chemical information, as required by a set of 34-year-old regulations.
Pete Grannis said that the State would begin requiring companies to disclose chemical information, as required by a set of 34-year-old regulations.
"This is a long-overdue protection that consumers need and deserve," said New York State United Teachers Vice President Kathleen Donahue.
Independent studies show a link between many chemicals commonly found in cleaning products and health effects ranging from nerve damage to hormone disruption.
"Everyone knows somebody with breast cancer," said Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition President Karen Miller. "While researchers are connecting the dots between toxic exposure found in products we use every day, regulatory agencies must step up
the pace to provide consumers with the right to know what they are bringing into their homes."
the pace to provide consumers with the right to know what they are bringing into their homes."
Attendees at today's meeting included representatives from Procter and Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Arm & Hammer parent company Church & Dwight, Lysol-maker Reckitt Benckiser, American Chemistry Council, American Cleaning Institute, Fragrance Materials Association,
Consumer Specialty Products Association. Representing public interest groups are Clean New York, Consumers Union, Earthjustice, Environmental Advocates of New York, Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, Inc, Learning Disabilities Association of New York
State, Prevention Is the Cure, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, Silent Spring Institute, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE).
Consumer Specialty Products Association. Representing public interest groups are Clean New York, Consumers Union, Earthjustice, Environmental Advocates of New York, Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, Inc, Learning Disabilities Association of New York
State, Prevention Is the Cure, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, Silent Spring Institute, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE).
The last time these groups and companies were all in one place, it was in the courtroom. Last year, on behalf of WVE, Environmental Advocates of New York, New York Public Interest Research Group, Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, and American Lung Association
in New York, the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice sued household cleaning giants Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight and Reckitt-Benckiser for failing to submit required semi-annual ingredient reports. A judge dismissed the lawsuit this summer
without ruling on the merits of the groups' claims. But during the court case, the companies said they would file disclosure reports if asked to do so by the State.
in New York, the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice sued household cleaning giants Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight and Reckitt-Benckiser for failing to submit required semi-annual ingredient reports. A judge dismissed the lawsuit this summer
without ruling on the merits of the groups' claims. But during the court case, the companies said they would file disclosure reports if asked to do so by the State.
"By making the companies come clean about what is in their products, New York State is initiating an age of greater transparency and is empowering people to protect themselves and their families," said Earthjustice Managing Attorney Deborah Goldberg, who
will be handling a likely appeal of the case against the cleaning product companies, which have yet to file any reports.
will be handling a likely appeal of the case against the cleaning product companies, which have yet to file any reports.
New York's policy move could have national implications, as momentum builds here and abroad for toxic chemical reform. Congress is considering an overhaul to U.S. chemical policy that would require the chemical industry to prove the safety of a chemical
before it could be used in products. Internationally, companies are preparing to comply with a similar European law (known as REACH) already taking effect.
before it could be used in products. Internationally, companies are preparing to comply with a similar European law (known as REACH) already taking effect.
"It's high time that New York State enforce the law and protect consumers by holding cleaning product manufacturers accountable for the dangerous chemicals in their products," said Saima Anjam of Environmental Advocates of New York.
Cleaning product manufacturers are taking notice of the changing climate toward toxics in products. In response to a letter sent by the groups involved in the court case, several companies, including the California-based Sunshine Makers, Inc. (manufacturers
of Simple Green products), filed reports with the State for the first time. And three weeks after the disclosure lawsuit
was filed, household cleaner manufacturing giant SC Johnson announced that it would begin disclosing the chemical ingredients in its products through
product labels and a website.
of Simple Green products), filed reports with the State for the first time. And three weeks after the disclosure lawsuit
was filed, household cleaner manufacturing giant SC Johnson announced that it would begin disclosing the chemical ingredients in its products through
product labels and a website.
"We are incredibly pleased that the New York DEC is requesting this information from product makers. Consumers have a right to know what they are being exposed from cleaning products," said Erin Switalski, executive director of Women's Voices for the Earth.
"Making product ingredient information easily accessible to the public is a critical step towards protecting the health and well-being of all consumers."
"Making product ingredient information easily accessible to the public is a critical step towards protecting the health and well-being of all consumers."
Studies show links between chemicals in common household cleaners and respiratory irritation, asthma, and allergies. Occupational exposures to some ethylene glycol ethers, often used as solvents in cleaning products, are associated with red blood cell
damage, reproductive system damage, and birth defects. Some solvents in cleaning products are also toxic to the nervous system.
damage, reproductive system damage, and birth defects. Some solvents in cleaning products are also toxic to the nervous system.
"New York's cleaning product right-to-know policy promises to be great news for workers," said Joel Shufro, Executive Director of New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. "More transparency about these chemicals will lead to safer cleaning
products overall. That means safer working conditions for the people who keep our schools, hospitals, and office buildings clean."
products overall. That means safer working conditions for the people who keep our schools, hospitals, and office buildings clean."
"Many chemicals in cleaning products and air fresheners are endocrine disruptors which are suspected of having links to cancer, and which alter mammary gland development in animal studies. The public has the right to know if some of the potentially harmful
chemicals of concern, such as alkyphenols, terpenes, benzene, some antimicrobial agents and certain synthetic musks are in the products they use," said Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer! Program Coordinator Margaret Roberts.
chemicals of concern, such as alkyphenols, terpenes, benzene, some antimicrobial agents and certain synthetic musks are in the products they use," said Capital Region Action Against Breast Cancer! Program Coordinator Margaret Roberts.
"The State of New York's commitment to full disclosure of chemical ingredients is a significant step," said Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter Conservation Program Manager Roger Downs. "Now New Yorkers can make educated choices about the household products that
they use."
they use."
"With a New York law already in place to protect children at schools from the toxic chemicals in cleaning products, the enforcement of this disclosure requirement will give parents the opportunity to make their homes as safe as
schools," Grassroots Environmental Education Executive Director Patti Wood.
schools," Grassroots Environmental Education Executive Director Patti Wood.
"We commend the DEC for requiring manufacturers to 'come clean' about the ingredients in their products," said Laura Haight, senior environmental associate with NYPIRG. "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."
###
Reference Documents
For the list of recommendations outlined by groups at today's meeting please visit: https://www.earthjustice.org/documents/letter/pdf/household-cleaner-policy-recommendations
For a copy of the notice sent by the Department of Environmental Conservation announcing the policy decision, please visit: https://www.earthjustice.org/documents/letter/pdf/new-york-state-household-cleaner-announcement
For a copy of the lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, please visit: https://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/cleaning-products-disclosure-petition.pdf
For a list of the brands manufactured by the companies targeted in the lawsuit, please visit: https://www.earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/clean-up-their-act-companies-that-haven-t-disclosed-chemicals-in-cleaning-products
For a report by Women's Voices for the Earth detailing health effects of ingredients commonly used in household cleaners, please visit: https://www.womenandenvironment.org/campaignsandprograms/SafeCleaning/folder.2010-03-10.7450668740/HazardsReport.pdf
For a copy of the disclosure report filed by Sunshine Makers, Inc., please visit: https://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/simple-green-cleaning-products-report.pdf
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
800-584-6460LATEST NEWS
Joe Lieberman, Iraq War Cheerleader and Killer of Public Option, Dead at 82
"Joe Lieberman's legacy will live on as your medical debt."
Mar 27, 2024
While current and former officials across the U.S. political spectrum shared praise for and fond memories of former Sen. Joe Lieberman in response to news of his death on Wednesday, critics highlighted how some of his key positions led to the deaths of many others.
Lieberman's family said the 82-year-old died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital after a fall at his home in the Bronx. He served in the Connecticut Senate, as the state's attorney general, and in the U.S. Senate—initially as a Democrat and eventually as an Independent. He was also Democratic former Vice President Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.
"Up until the very end, Joe Lieberman enjoyed the high-quality, government-financed healthcare that he worked diligently to deny the rest of us. That's his legacy," said Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, which advocates for universal, single-payer healthcare.
As Warren Gunnels, majority staff director for Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.),
explained, "Joe Lieberman led the effort to ensure the Affordable Care Act did not include a public option or a reduction in the Medicare eligibility age to 55."
Noting that Lieberman also lied about the presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq—which was used to justify the 2003 U.S. invasion—Gunnels asked, "How many people unnecessarily died as a result?"
He was far from alone in highlighting the two defining positions.
The Lever's David Sirota declared, "RIP Joe Lieberman, Iraq War cheerleader who led the fight to make sure Medicare was not extended to millions of Americans who desperately needed the kind of healthcare coverage he enjoyed in the Senate."
The Debt Collective said on social media that "Joe Lieberman killed so many people when he killed the public option. Not to mention all the people he killed by cheerleading every war and every lie that led to war. A truly horrible person with a shameful legacy."
Journalist Jon Schwarz pointed out that Lieberman continued to lie about the WMDs long after the claims were debunked.
FormerMSNBC host Mehdi Hasan noted that Lieberman declined an opportunity to apologize for the disastrous war, sharing a clip from his on-camera interview with the ex-senator in 2021.
And please don\u2019t give me this \u2018don\u2019t speak ill of the dead\u2019 stuff - 1) I\u2019m not speaking ill, I\u2019m stating facts, and 2) public figures are public figures, and their obits reflect their legacies and so we should be honest in our accounts of their legacies. Not offensive but honest— (@)
"We lost a giant today. I often disagreed with Joe Lieberman but he was always honorable in the way he called for American troops to murder people abroad so he could get his jollies," said Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project in a series of sarcastic social media posts.
"Joe Lieberman balanced his love of other people fighting in immoral wars with a commitment to preventing Americans from getting healthcare," Stoller added. "Even after his Senate career, he showed his strong democratic values by lobbying for Chinese telecom firms. We will miss this man."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Enough Is Enough': Ireland Joins ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel
"What we saw on October 7 in Israel, and what we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale," said one top Irish official.
Mar 27, 2024
Citing Israel's "blatant" human rights violations in Gaza, Ireland's second-highest-ranking official said Wednesday that the country will join the South Africa-led genocide case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Irish Tánaiste Micheál Martin—the equivalent of a deputy prime minister in other parliamentary nations—said that Ireland decided to intervene in the case after analyzing the "legal and policy issues" pertaining to the case under review by the United Nations' top court.
"It is for the court to determine whether genocide is being committed," Martin—who also serves as Ireland's foreign and defense minister—said in a statement. "But I want to be clear in reiterating what I have said many times in the last few months; what we saw on October 7 in Israel, and what we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale."
Martin continued:
The taking of hostages. The purposeful withholding of humanitarian assistance to civilians. The targeting of civilians and of civilian infrastructure. The indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The use of civilian objects for military purposes. The collective punishment of an entire population.
The list goes on. It has to stop. The view of the international community is clear. Enough is enough. The U.N. Security Council has demanded an immediate cease-fire, the unconditional release of hostages, and the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale. The European Council has echoed this call.
South Africa's case—which is supported by over 30 countries, the Arab League, African Union, and others—incisively details Israel's conduct in the war, including the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children; the wounding of tens of thousands more; the forcible displacement of 90% of the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people; and the inflicting of conditions leading to widespread starvation and disease. The filing also cited numerous genocidal statements by Israeli officials.
On January 26, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and ordered its government and military to prevent genocidal acts. Palestinian and international human rights defenders say Israel has ignored the order.
A draft report
released this week by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council found "reasonable grounds to believe" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a move that came on the same day as the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the ongoing war.
"The situation could not be more stark; half the population of Gaza face imminent famine and 100% of the population face acute food insecurity," said Martin. "As the U.N. secretary-general said as he inspected long lines of blocked relief trucks waiting to enter Gaza during his visit to Rafah at the weekend: 'It is time to truly flood Gaza with lifesaving aid. The choice is clear: surge or starvation.' I echo his words today."
In a St. Partick's Day White House meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden—a staunch supporter of Israel—Irish Toaiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar, who announced earlier this month that he would soon step down, said that "the Irish people are deeply troubled about the catastrophe that's unfolding before our eyes in Gaza."
"And when I travel the world, leaders often ask me why the Irish have such empathy for the Palestinian people," he added. "And the answer is simple: We see our history in their eyes—a story of displacement, of dispossession and national identity questioned and denied, forced emigration, discrimination, and now hunger."
Keep ReadingShow Less
House Democrat Calls GOP Budget a 'Blueprint for a Dystopian Hellscape'
Rep. Don Beyer warns the plan "would see unbridled benefits flowing to a wealthy and well-connected few while tens of millions of Americans lose healthcare, housing, retirement security, and food security."
Mar 27, 2024
As Republicans on Wednesday set their sights on a key seat opening up in the U.S. House of Representatives, the chamber's senior Democrat on the congressional Joint Economic Committee put out a blistering takedown of a top GOP budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) took aim at the 180-page "Fiscal Sanity to Save America" plan released last week by the Republican Study Committee (RSC)—which includes about 80% of GOP House members—following proposals from Democratic President Joe Biden and House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).
"The Republican Study Committee budget is a blueprint for a dystopian hellscape," he warned. "The vision offered by this group, which counts 4 in 5 House Republicans as members, would see unbridled benefits flowing to a wealthy and well-connected few while tens of millions of Americans lose healthcare, housing, retirement security, and food security."
RSC proposals to "dramatically weaken healthcare," Beyer noted, include turning Medicare into a voucher plan and rolling back Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provisions that cut costs for seniors; repealing tax subsidies for the Affordable Care Act and the law's protections for people with preexisting conditions; and transforming Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program into block grants to states.
As Common Dreams has reported, in addition to seeking cuts to Medicare and Social Security—while claiming to do nothing of the sort—the RSC has also launched a full-fledged assault on reproductive healthcare and rights, promoting 42 bills that would ban abortions after 15 weeks or even earlier, require unnecessary ultrasounds and 24-hour waiting periods, prohibit the use of fetal stem cells for research, and threaten access to in vitro fertilization, among other restrictions.
In addition to attacking reproductive freedom and key programs for seniors and low-income families, Beyer highlighted, the RSC wants to "weaken public health, public safety, and environmental protections," while "cutting taxes for the wealthy, by a lot."
The RSC advocates ending green tax credits from the IRA and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as well as slashing money for Community Oriented Policing Services and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The committee also calls for permanently lowering taxes for the ultrarich, indexing capital gains taxes to inflation, repealing the estate tax, rolling back the IRA's corporate alternative minimum tax, and eliminating funding intended to help the Internal Revenue Service catch wealthy tax cheats.
"Democrats believe there is a better way to get our fiscal house in order without betraying our values," said Beyer. "That starts with making smart investments in our people and our future while demanding that the rich and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes. The contrast between the Democratic approach and this Republican budget could not possibly be clearer."
Biden's budget blueprint—released as he prepares for an electoral rematch against former Republican President Donald Trump, who infamously cut taxes for rich people and corporations—proposes a 25% minimum tax for individuals with wealth of more than $100 million, along with ending capital income tax breaks and closing other loopholes.
Polling results released Tuesday by Morning Consult show that a majority of voters across party lines in key swing states support raising taxes on people who make more than $400,000 per year.
Biden and the divided Congress this past weekend narrowly avoided a government shutdown by passing a long-delayed spending package. Fiscal year 2025 is set to begin in October, setting up another election-year fight over funding.
In what's been
dubbed the "Great Resignation," a growing number of House Republicans have announced that they are not seeking reelection or even exited their seats early—shrinking the party's already slim majority in the lower chamber.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular