(Anchorage, Alaska, US): With a unanimous vote, the Anchorage Assembly passed Assembly Ordinance 2019-15(S), an ordinance prohibiting certain consumer products containing flame retardant chemicals at the March 19 regular assembly meeting. This landmark public health ordinance now stands among the strongest laws in the nation.
“One of the core values of ACAT is the elimination of chemicals that harm environmental and human health and to replace them with safe alternatives,” said Pamela Miller, Executive Director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) and Co-Chair of IPEN. “There is considerable peer-reviewed scientific information about the adverse health effects of flame-retardant chemicals including cancer and neurodevelopmental and reproductive toxicity. This ordinance moves our city one step closer to eliminating the unnecessary use of harmful flame retardants in all household products. We appreciate the work of the Anchorage Assembly to achieve its passage,” she said.
The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has released a report titled, ‘Plastic and Health: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet,’ exploring human health impacts of plastic. The report concludes that each stage of the plastic lifecycle poses significant risks to human health on a global scale.
High levels of toxic substances have been found in over 32% of children’s toys tested in a recent analysis of toxic heavy metals and chemicals in toys on the market in the Philippines. None of the samples, including a toy with 198,900 ppm of lead, provided a list of chemicals that make up a toy nor provided text or graphic warnings. The study, released on the Universal Children’s Day on November 20, the day when the UN General Assembly adopted the “Declaration of the Rights of the Child” in 1959 as well as the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” in 1989, underscores the need to expedite the enactment of the proposed Safe and Non-Toxic Children’s Product Act in the Philippines. The Act seeks to regulate the manufacture, importation, distribution and sale of children’s toys, school supplies, childcare articles and other related products containing toxic chemicals beyond the permissible limits. The study was conducted by the EcoWaste Coalition, a public interest NGO in the Philippines, and IPEN, a global network of public interest health and environment NGOs.