Please read through the following DIRECT
ACTION Items Below. Your immediate
response will help further these causes.
TAKE ACTION
SAY NO TO PVC!
IDENTIFY IT. The only way to avoid PVC is to identify it http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education . On packaging, look for the #3 or the letters "PVC," often found next to the three-arrow "recycling" symbol. For other PVC products, you’ll have to ask the manufacturers what materials were used.
SEEK ALTERNATIVES. It might seem like PVC is everywhere, but in all cases safer alternatives exist. As you learn more about the negative impacts of PVC you will likely find it easier to reject toxic products and seek options.
EDUCATE OTHERS. Use your knowledge of the hazards associated with PVC to persuade others to avoid it as well. This is not a personal problem, it is a public health and global environmental crisis.
INITIATE AND SUPPORT PVC-FREE RESOLUTIONS AND POLICIES. In your workplace, within your social groups or clubs, groups of faith, neighborhood association, school or university, or local government. Seek commitment to avoid PVC plastic and opt for non-toxic alternatives.
SCREEN BLUE VINYL! Host a community, faith-based, school or university screening of BLUE VINYL. Information and support resources for organizing a public or targeted screening of BLUE VINYL are available through Working Films. Contact mramey@workingfilms.org for more information.
DIRECT ACTIONS
Take the Clean Car Pledge.
There
are a variety of PVC uses common in today's automobiles
•Underbody
coatings, sealants and floor modules.
•Wire
harnesses (e.g. cable insulation and grommets).
•Passenger
compartment/ interior parts (e.g. dashboard, door panels and
arm rests).
•Exterior
parts (e.g. body-side protection strips, weather strips and window
sealing).
A number of automakers have committed to eliminating PVC use
in automakers where alternatives are available. For example,
General Motors Corporation committed to replacing PVC for all
of its vehicles' "interior panels" by 2004.
Read more
about PVC in Vehicles at www.cleancarcampaign.org/pvc.shtml,
then sign the clean car pledge www.cleancarcampaign.org/pledge.shtml challenging
automakers to clean up.
Tell Kodak's CEO to cut out dioxin pollution.
Hypothetically, if each New Yorker (over 17 million people) took
an equal share of just Kodak's dioxin emissions (7,726.17 pg/yr),
each person would receive approximately 30 times the EPA's "acceptable"
dose. If just the population of Western New York's Erie, Niagara
and Monroe Counties are considered, each
person in equal share would receive an annual dose of approximately
72,817 pg/year or 285 times the EPA's now outdated, "acceptable" dose
of dioxin. The time has come for Kodak to work towards zero dioxin
discharge. Visit www.kodakstoxiccolors.org/
to take action.
Make sure toys are safe.
Toys made of soft PVC plastic contain toxic additives that can
leak out and be ingested by children. These chemicals, which include
lead, cadmium, and toxic softeners, may cause permanent damage
to the brain, liver and reproductive system. After the Consumer
Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommended
ceasing the use of phthalates in toys, especially for younger
children, various retailers and toy manufacturers pledged to make
change happen. Unfortunately, it remains unclear in many cases
who has really done anything and, if they have, how much. Visit
www.generationgreen.org to take action.
Demand labels on phthalate-containing
products.
Send letters to tell the FDA to protect consumers from phthalates,
demand companies clean up their act and remove phthalates from
their products. Visit www.nottoopretty.org/action.html
and ww.nottoopretty.org/editor.htm
