Clean Water Action Alliance of Minnesota
Healthy Legacy
Minnesotans want to protect ourselves and those we love, preventing harm especially to babies and young children. Our homes and our bodies should be safe from unwanted and dangerous intrusion. But there's a toxic problem putting our health at risk.
Many manufactured products, and the processes used to make them, rely on thousands of dangerous substances and compounds that were unknown or little used as recently as fifty years ago. We're all involuntarily exposed to these toxics every day. We inhale them, eat them and drink them all the time.
Many of these substances accumulate in our bodies, and can harm developing infants and children. Some cause or contribute to diseases such as cancer and asthma. Nobody knows for sure how all the substances already in use are affecting us, but we do know that new ones are being added to a wide range of products every year.
Clean Water Action Alliance is determined to help Minnesotans achieve a health legacy. Working with partners from across the state in the Healthy Legacy coalition, we are calling for action to reduce dangerous toxic threats.
What Can Be Done?
Current policies and practices are failing us. To leave a healthy legacy for our children, we need safe products and safe ways to make them. We have to stop using some toxic substances, develop new processes and substances that prevent harm, and protect future generations by making a transition to safe products and production.
Many companies are already beginning to use safer substances to make products. Many cities and states are beginning to require them. Minnesota can take action too with laws phasing out toxic chemicals and with research investments that pave the way to safer products and a thriving economy.
Healthy Legacy promotes:
- Consumer power.
Healthy Legacy will educate and empower people to protect themselves and their children by encouraging them to support healthy businesses and practices. - Corporate responsibility.
Healthy Legacy will encourage businesses to protect our health and environment from toxic chemicals through the development and use of safe substitutes. Investing in clean technologies creates new jobs, profitable new markets for farmers and industry, and increases worker safety. - Protective policies.
Healthy Legacy promotes phasing out the most toxic chemicals and those that persist and build up in our bodies and the environment. We support safe substitutes and solutions.
Take Action for a Healthy Legacy: the Minnesota Legislature
Clean Water Action Alliance needs your help in educating state legislators to take action this year to assure a health legacy.
- Pesticide Right-to-Know and Notification. Pesticides are powerful poisons that can damage not just their targets, but also human health and neighboring properties. All citizens have a right to know what pesticides are being applied in their communities. Minnesota should pass laws to require notification of farm workers and neighbors before pesticides are applied, and require existing records of pesticide use kept by private applicators to be filed with the state and become public records available for inspection and copying.
- Phasing out Toxic Flame Retardants. Some flame retardants (known as PBDEs) in furniture, computers and other products contain dangerous toxic chemicals that can harm the development of children. These compounds have properties like the now-banned highly toxic PCBs. Levels of these chemicals in Minnesota's environment and the breast milk of women are too high. Minnesota should join other states that have passed laws phasing out the sale of products with these harmful substances.
- Healthy Kids: Safe Baby Products: Recent toy recalls have left a lot of parents wondering, what else is in my kids' toys? Infants and toddlers are being exposed to two chemicals -- phthalates and bisphenol-A -- that are particularly toxic. Both of these plastic additives cause hormone disruption, leading to a number of serious health problems. Children can be exposed directly through the skin, inhalation and leeching. Bisphenol-A is commonly used in baby bottles and “sippy” cups. Phthalates are often found in teething rings. Young children are particularly vulnerable to hormone disruption, especially during periods of intense growth. Thankfully safer alternatives are available. Bottom line -- you shouldn't have to be a chemist to find a safe toy. Clean Water Action and our allies in Healthy Legacy encourage the Legislature to phase out the sale of products intended for children that contain phthalates and bisphenol-A. Safer alternatives are available for children's plastic products. We have a responsibility to protect our children and their health.
Take Action for a Healthy Legacy: Close to Home
You can protect your family's health and your own health by becoming an educated consumer and finding and purchasing safer products for use in and around your home. Learn more about what you can do around the house.
The Healthy Legacy Campaign
Healthy Legacy supports healthy lives by supporting the production and use of everyday products without toxic chemicals. We advocate for consumer power, corporate responsibility and protective policies to advance safe policies in Minnesota. Campaign partners include Arc Greater Twin Cities, Clean Water Action Alliance, Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota, Indigenous Environmental Network, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Learning Disabilities Association of Minnesota, Minnesota Nurses Association, and Women's Environmental Network.
Find Out More
- Pollution costs Minnesota an estimated $1.5 billion each year in costs related to childhood disease, according to a 2006 study (pdf) released by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
- Minnesota Department of Health's frequently asked questions about children's environmental health
- How to reduce toxic chemicals in your home
PVC: The Poison Plastic Lurking In Your Shopping Cart
Are Your Family's Products Safe?
Did you know your child's new toy or shower curtain may be made from chemicals linked to cancer? Unfortunately many common consumer products today are made out of or packaged in polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the poison plastic. These products are dangerous to our health and environment from start to finish - in the factory, at home, and in the trash - releasing poisonous chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects.
Download our factsheet (pdf) and learn about PVC and what you can do to urge manufacturers and retailers to phase out the use of these chemicals.
