Products & Pollution in Puget Sound
For Immediate Release: 2/14/08
For More Information Contact:
Mike Sato, People for Puget Sound, 206-229-2844
Heather Trim, People For Puget Sound, cell 206 351-0220
GIANT RUBBER DUCKIE CALLS FOR A TOXIC-FREE PUGET SOUND
Press Conference Highlights Threat of Toxic Chemicals to Marine and Human Health
The Washington Legislature should pass the Children's Safe Products Act of 2008!
Learn about the Children's Safe Products Act >
Take Action to Make Kid's Products Safe for Kids >
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About the Children's Safe Products Act
Supporters of the Children's Safe Products Act
Take Action to Make Kid's Products Safe
Fact Sheets on the Children's Safe Products Act
Lax Laws on Toxic Ingredients in Kid's Products
"What's in the Toy Box?" fact sheet
"Rx for Prevention: Children's Products" fact sheet
Developmental Impacts of Chemical Exposures
Seattle, WA – At a press conference today on Seattle’s waterfront, a 20-foot yellow rubber duck waved in the wind to publicize the threat toxic chemicals from children’s toys, personal care products and industrial waste pose to Puget Sound marine life, the aquatic food web and the health of the region’s children.
At the Toxics in Puget Sound press conference sponsored by People For Puget Sound and the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition, Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin and People for Puget Sound Executive Director Kathy Fletcher spoke about the impacts of lead, cadmium and phthalates – harmful chemicals commonly found in personal care products, and toys and other children’s products – on Puget Sound and the health of children.
Richard Conlin, who also serves as chair of the Seattle City Council’s Environment, Emergency Management and Utilities Committee, has been a longtime advocate for the cleanup of toxic chemicals in Seattle’s waterways. “ Saving the Sound requires the participation of partners across the region including the state. We need decisive action at the state level, and the Children’s Safe Products Act is an excellent step in the right directions, ” said Conlin.
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Lead and cadmium are found at elevated levels in freshwater and marine sediments, as well as in fish tissue in some areas of Puget Sound Basin, according to studies by the Department of Ecology and the United States Geological Survey. Lead inhibits growth in aquatic organisms and can damage the nervous system and kidneys in humans. Cadmium concentrates in the kidney, gills and liver of organisms and impacts growth and reproduction. It is a known human carcinogen and has been associated with lung and prostate cancer.
Phthalates, which are ingredients in many plastics and personal care products, are found in sediments in urban areas of Puget Sound. Phthalates are also known to accumulate in salmon, English sole, crabs and benthic (bottom-feeding) invertebrates (such as something we would eat). Phthalates disrupt the endocrine system and impact growth and reproduction in aquatic organisms and humans.
These and other toxic chemicals flow into Puget Sound from homes, lawns and roads through municipal stormwater and wastewater systems. “We have to change the way we think about pollution in Puget Sound. We need to stop it at the top—before its get into stormwater or into sewage,” says Kathy Fletcher, executive director of People For Puget Sound.
State legislators are considering the Children’s Safe Products Act (HB 2647/SB 5630), which will eliminate lead, cadmium, and phthalates from toys and other children’s products and require manufacturers to disclose the other chemicals in their products that can cause harm to children.
While the speakers said the legislation was an important first step, both acknowledged that a bigger solution is needed and called on the Puget Sound Partnership to include strong recommendations for pollution prevention in their Action Agenda, which is due out September 2008.
For more information about toxic chemicals in Puget Sound, visit www.pugetsound.org/
For more information about the Puget Sound Partnership, visit www.psp.wa.gov/
More about the Children’s Safe Products Act
Lead, Cadmium & Phthalates in Children’s Products and Our Waters
During the past year, millions of toys and other children’s products have been recalled because of toxic lead in paint. Lead has turned out to be just part of the problem, as testing of children’s products has revealed the frequent presence of other toxic chemicals, including cadmium and phthalates. These same toxic chemicals also flow into Puget Sound in stormwater and wastewater discharges.
Toxic Soup in Puget Sound
Toxic chemicals enter the Puget Sound Basin through many pathways threatening wildlife and building up in our food web. The Governor’s Puget Sound Partnership Initiative is assessing the sources and amounts of 15 different toxic chemicals of concern flowing into Puget Sound, including lead, cadmium, and phthalates.
Lead, Cadmium and Phthalates in Puget Sound.
In the Puget Sound Basin, lead and cadmium are found at elevated levels in freshwater and marine sediments, as well as in fish tissue in some areas, according to studies by the Department of Ecology and the United States Geological Survey. Phthalates, which are ingredients in many plastics and personal care products, are found in sediments in urban areas of Puget Sound. Phthalates have been and continue to be addressed in the sediments of 13 federal Superfund sites in Puget Sound. In the Duwamish River in South Seattle, phthalates were found in 81% of the sediment samples. Phthalates are also known to accumulate in salmon, English sole, crabs and benthic (i.e. bottom feeding) invertebrates.
The Impacts of Lead, Cadmium, and Phthalates on Wildlife
Lead, cadmium, and phthalates harm the Sound and the wildlife that live there. For example:
• Cadmium concentrates in the kidney, gills, and liver of organisms (or their equivalents) and impacts their growth and reproduction. At high concentrations, it affects respiratory functions, enzyme levels, and muscle contractions.
• Lead inhibits growth in aquatic organisms and at higher concentrations creates problems such as muscular and neurological degeneration, as well as destruction, mortality, reproductive problems, and paralysis.
• DEHP phthalate is an endocrine disruptor that impacts growth and reproduction. At high concentrations it damages the liver and kidney. In Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway, phthalates in the muds were found to cause survival and reproduction problems for aquatic organisms - including tiny mussel larvae and sand fleas - which make up the bottom of the food web.
How Are These Chemicals Getting Into the Puget Sound Basin?
Toxic chemicals enter the Puget Sound ecosystem from historic sources and now from our everyday human activities. Industrial wastewaters, air pollution and other sources are part of the problem. In addition, the products we use in our homes and on our bodies make their way into Puget Sound and other waterways. Many products can off-gas chemicals into the air and into house dust. Personal care products containing phthalates and other toxic chemicals get washed down the drain. These chemicals accumulate in wastewater from our homes and stormwater runoff. Phthalates, for example, have been found at high levels in the effluent from sewage treatment plants that discharge into the Puget Sound basin and in stormwater flows leading to recontamination of Superfund sites, especially in urban bays. Pollution prevention is the best solution because these chemicals are very difficult to clean up once they are in our environment.
Washington State Should Not Wait To Act
Washington State cannot and should not wait for the federal government to act. While there are thousands of toxic chemicals on the market and many are in products our children sleep on, put in their mouths, play with, and wear every day, there is no system to ensure that these products are safe. The same chemicals in these products end up as a waste problem in landfills and incinerators and a contamination problem in Puget Sound, the Columbia River and other waterbodies. We also know these same chemicals are building up in the food chain and in our bodies.
The Washington State Legislature must take action now to protect children from toxic chemicals in toys and other products by passing the Children’s Safe Products Act (HB 2647/SB 6530) which will:
• Prohibit the use of dangerous chemicals, such as lead, cadmium, and phthalates, in children’s products.
• Provide consumers with useful information to make safer buying choices. Manufacturers of children’s products should be required to test and disclose the chemical contents of their products.
• Put Washington on track to addressing the many other hazardous chemicals in children’s products.
Resources
Download our Products and Pollution in Puget Sound Fact Sheet
Download our Lead, Cadmium, Phthalates Fact Sheet
Learn more - Download our fact sheets
Read about Toxic Toys in the News
Learn about our Toy Testing and the Healthy Toys Database
