Now is the Time to Stand Up for the Safe Chemicals Act

 — 

Kelli Barber, RN, MN, Co-chair Nurses Workgroup

Take Action Now!

As Congress enters its final days of business for 2012 with historic health-protective legislation awaiting action on the Senate floor, I’m brought back to my early days as a graduate student of occupational and environmental health nursing. I still remember the shock I felt when I first learned about the tens of thousands of industrial chemicals used in commerce today. More shockingly was the realization, through blood and urine studies, that these chemicals were drifting unchecked and unnoticed into our bodies and showing up by the hundreds in the umbilical cords of newborn babies. These chemicals are strongly linked to a whole host of diseases in the United States– many of which are continually on the rise:

1) Asthma rates have doubled over the last 20 years. (1)
2) One in 88 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
3) A woman’s risk of breast cancer has risen from one in 22 (1940’s) to 1 in 8 today.

My first reaction was to go home and sort through all of my dishware, cosmetics, and cleaners, trying to rid my house of the known offenders—an endocrine disruptor in my medicine cabinet, a carcinogen under the kitchen sink. Soon, I began to suspect everything in my house as being potentially harmful to my health, all because of the dawning realization that our current chemical laws were doing nothing to protect us, least of all children and workers. Nurses, in particular, are disproportionately exposed to a slew of toxic chemicals while on the job: cleaners, disinfectants, medical device chemicals, flame-retardants, formaldehyde, and an endless array of pharmaceuticals. The list goes on…

Then came the stage of feeling guilty when I missed something…. I still need to replace my Teflon pans, my vinyl shower curtain…. is this paint OK? Soon, I was completely overwhelmed. My mom told me, “Kelli, you can’t worry about every little thing…” I was reminded of Kubler-Ross’s five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, & acceptance.

While I’ve never learned to accept this current state of affairs, I did eventually learn to stop feeling guilty for things that were out of my control. I realized that despite my best efforts, the system was so broken that there was no way I could be assured of the safety of many of the products in my home. The frustrating part is that we have the science to vastly improve the situation and yet the chemical industry is fighting hard against regulations that would require us to use it. Now I no longer blame myself, but those who stand to profit from the use of manmade chemicals in our daily lives, despite the costs to human health.

With a health care system in crisis, I wonder how many of the patients we’re treating would never have gotten sick in the first place if the system wasn’t externalizing these costs to the public.

I have come to accept, through years of working with others who are dedicated to this issue, that we must do whatever it takes to pass the Safe Chemicals Act in order to reduce the undue burden that toxic chemicals have on our health (our federal chemical policyhas not been updated since 1976!).

As a nurse, I realize that stressing about the chemical soup in which we live is also harmful to my health. Thankfully, I am also daily inspired by the tireless work of many individuals and organizations who are committed to this cause not only because it’s critical to our health and the health of future generations, but because it just makes sense.

I am continually energized by all the work Health Care Without Harm and the Nurses Workgroup have done to address these critical issues in our hospitals. The Precautionary Principle of Environmental Health states, “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. “ (4) This week is a critical time to stand up for the Safe Chemicals Act. Please join Health Care Without Harm and the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition in asking Senator Reid to bring it to a vote so we can finally fix a system that has been broken for too long.

Take Action Now!


Resources
1. Meyers, N, & Raffensburger, C. (Eds.). (2006) Precautionary Tools for Reshaping Environmental Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012). Why Are Autism Spectrum Disorders Increasing?
See article here

3. American Cancer Society (2012). What are the key statistics about breast cancer?
See article here

4. The Science & Environmental Health Network (2012). Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle. January 26, 1998.
See article here

Heath Care without Harm, an international coalition of more than 500 organizations in 53 countries, is working to transform the health care sector, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. To learn more about HCWH's work, visit our website at www.noharm.org, our YouTube channel at HCwithoutharm, and our twitter feed at hcwithoutharm.