Green Chemistry--working for a less toxic future!

[Medical...@gmail.com]

Dear Medical Alliance members,

You may have heard about the recent bill passed in California
regarding "green chemistry" and the regulation of toxic chemicals...a
critical development in the national movement for chemicals policy
reform and better protection of the public's health! Click here to
read an article from the LA Times.

Green Chemistry is an innovative scientific movement aimed at
replacing toxic chemicals with safe materials. It provides an
overarching set of principles for chemists and others to develop
products, processes and services that curb pollution, waste, and
energy consumption. (more resources provided below).

Despite the clear links between pollution and health, our nation's
current laws created to protect the public and workers from toxic
substances are inadequate. Independent reviews of our nation's laws
to regulate chemicals has found that current policies:
*Fail to provide adequate testing of the health effects of existing
and new chemicals
*Fail to provide incentives for safer alternatives
*Fail to adequately regulate known hazards.

Current policies provide a broken, piecemeal approach to chemicals
regulation. The CA law is a step in the right direction! As
healthcare professionals, we have an obligation to advocate for better
protection of the public's health! Green chemistry and chemical
policy reform are important steps forward in our fight for a cleaner
future.
Stay tuned for information about an upcoming Med Alliance webinar on
Green Chemistry!

If you are interested in working on this issue, please contact us...we
can connect you with more resources, speaker contacts, event ideas,
etc.

Best,

The Med Alliance team (Lauren, Tova, Sonia, & Laicie)

A FEW RESOURCES TO GET YOU STARTED:

Clean Production Action promotes the use of products that are safer
and cleaner across their life cycle for consumers, workers and
communities: http://www.cleanproduction.org/Green.php


"Framing a Safe Chemicals Future": an overview of steps being taken
toward Green Chemistry around the world: http://www.mnceh.org/documents/safe_chem_future.pdf

The EPA's Green Chemistry Page: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/index.html

Organizations working on chemicals policy reform:
http://www.chemicalspolicy.org/organizations.shtml

Healthcare Without Harm: http://www.noharm.org/us/chemicalpolicy/issue