IPEN

IPEN has joined other NGO representatives, doctors and professors in a letter to the editor in support of Friends of the Earth (FoE) UK and in response to a pro-fracking article in The Times (UK). The article quotes Cuadrilla, an oil and gas exploration and production company with headquarters and operations in the United Kingdom, who disparages Friends of the Earth’s assertions that silica, which is sometimes used in fracking operations, has been shown to pose a silicosis and lung cancer risk.

Global Phase Out of Lead-Containing Paints by 2020 Supported by International Chemical Safety Group

(Gothenburg, Sweden) More than 80 organizations from all regions of the world are engaging this week in lead paint elimination activities as a part of International Lead Poisoning Week of Action, co-sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The activities follow and celebrate a historic decision at the end of September by governments from around the world in support of a global phase out of lead paint by 2020.

“It’s essential for our society to respond to this global challenge and make the phase out of lead paint a top public health priority.  We must act with urgency as the health of our children can be permanently and irreversibly damaged even at very low exposures to lead. Safe, cost-effective alternatives to lead in paint have been in use for more than 40 years in the United States, the European Union and other high income countries. There is no good reason that lead paint continues to be sold,” said Dr. Sara Brosché, International Lead Paint Elimination Project Manager at IPEN, a global civil society network pursuing safe chemicals policies and practices.

IPEN has joined NGOs and colleagues in an open letter to the Ocean Conservancy about its report “Stemming the Tide.” The report promotes incineration in Asia as a supposed "solution" to the problem of ocean plastics.