Mike Schade

We tried recycling one of @starbucks’ “recyclable” plastic cups in a Queens store. Did it actually get recycled? No. It went straight to this incinerator in Westchester, NY. Tell Starbucks to ditch the plastic: actionnetwork.org/petitions/…  #StarbucksDitchThePlastic #Starbucks #BrianNiccol #plastic @WASS_Peekskill

That clear hard plastic packaging hanging on the shelves at @homedepot may look harmless, but it's not. A new investigation by the #StopFormosaPlastics coalition traces PVC plastic blister packaging on Home Depot’s shelves to toxic pollution from Texas to Louisiana. The production of PVC uses and/or releases toxic chemicals including chlorine gas, asbestos, PFAS, ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride, phthalates, organotins, heavy metals, and chlorinated byproducts such as dioxins and furans. Workers and communities may be exposed to these chemicals and face elevated risks of developing health problems. Home Depot has already shown that PVC-free packaging is possible when it eliminated it from its private-label brands. Now we’re calling on @homedepot to take the next step: stop selling plastic poison and remove all PVC packaging. It. Is.Time. Read the full investigation and sign the petition at storymaps.arcgis.com/stories… @risestjames @txenvironment @NYSA_Majority @AndreaSCousins #HomeDepot #TheHomeDepot #WeAreHomeDepot #plastics #MindTheStore

A new peer-reviewed study by Toxic-Free Future, in collaboration with Seattle Children's Research Institute, Emory University, and others, found endocrine-disrupting chemicals in breast milk, including bisphenols and melamine, which are widely used, especially in plastics and food-contact materials. Breastfeeding remains the healthiest choice for infants when possible. But this study points to how the chemical industry has been allowed to produce large volumes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, companies are still putting them in consumer products and plastics, and they are ending up in breast milk. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are linked to adverse health outcomes, including reproductive and developmental disorders, cancers, metabolic conditions like obesity and diabetes, and neurological problems. They are particularly dangerous to infants and children and can lead to lifelong harm, as early life is a time of sensitive hormone-driven development. Scientists are especially concerned about endocrine-disrupting chemicals because they have been found to be harmful at very low levels of exposure. Policymakers, manufacturers, and retailers should act to protect parents, infants, children, and communities by preventing the use of endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can wind up in people and breast milk.