Toxic Chemicals

From before we are born until the time we die, we are repeatedly and regularly exposed to toxic chemicals with the potential to seriously harm our health. Toxic chemicals can be found in our homes, schools and workplaces – in products we use on a daily basis. We're fighting at local, state, and federal levels to fix our chemical laws and find safer alternatives to the chemicals in everyday products.

California

Keep Our Families from Being Lab Rats for the Chemical Industry

Despite the fact that toxic fluorinated chemicals have been linked to cancer, birth defects, liver problems, and decreased effectiveness of vaccines, they are still used in food packaging.

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Recent Actions

Massachusetts

Who deserves clean air and water?

Everyone deserves clean energy and a healthy environment, but many Massachusetts communities bear a greater health burden from fossil fuel pollution.

Take Action for Clean Energy

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, National, New Jersey

Tell America’s top retailers: Take action on toxic chemicals in your products!

Who's Minding the Store, the 2017 Retailer Report Card was released recently. It shows that while some retailers are making improvements in getting toxic products off their shelves, the industry as a whole is failing to protect consumer health.

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Let’s Stand Up To Dow and Shell For Public Health on 1,2,3-TCP

Don't let these deep-pocketed responsible parties prevent the state from setting standards that ensure our drinking water is safe!

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Connecticut

Take action to rid our homes of toxic flame retardants

Contact your legislators today and tell them to pass House Bill 5329, a bill that bans the sale of children’s products and residential upholstered furniture containing toxic flame retardants, this session

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Press Releases

June 7, 2018

Public Interest Groups Call for Release of Suppressed U.S. Study on PFAS Chemicals

A wide-ranging coalition of public interest groups is calling for the immediate release of a suppressed federal study that says perfluorinated chemicals in drinking water are hazardous at much lower levels than the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidelines state.

April 20, 2018

Clean Water Action Applauds Governor Murphy on Signing of Environmental Justice (EJ) Executive Order

"The time for talking is past," said Kim Gaddy, Environmental Justice Organizer for Clean Water Action. "This environmental justice (EJ) executive order starts the process and the governor cannot move fast enough to adopt mandatory EJ measures across multiple agencies. We need to significantly reduce the cumulatively be pollution burdens and health impacts on New Jersey is most vulnerable-low income communities and communities of color."

December 21, 2017

Clean Water Action Applauds McCabe as New NJDEP Commissioner

Clean Water Action is looking forward to having NJ’s next governor put Catherine McCabe in the driver’s seat as the new NJDEP Commissioner. She is a person who has made a career of being a science-based environmentalist.

Doing Something About EPA's Do-Nothing Plan

August 10, 2018

Imagine living near an industrial facility with aboveground storage tanks and not knowing what is in those tanks. What if hazardous chemicals were stored in those tanks and that leaks or spills could contaminate a lake where you fish or swim, or a river that is also your drinking water source. Wouldn’t you want to know that water in your community is protected?

Breaking down the Forever Chemicals –What are PFAS?

August 2, 2018

You’ve probably heard a bit about PFAS in the last year – the State of Minnesota settled a lawsuit against 3M, the EPA held a controversial PFAS summit (throwing out some members of the press), and the Trump administration attempted to suppress

Massachusetts State House - William Zhang

Massachusetts Senate Passes Flame Retardants Bill

July 17, 2018

This Children and Firefighters Protection act is important for the health and safety of all Massachusetts residents, especially to those two important groups who are most vulnerable to toxic flame retardant exposure!