Toxic-Free Kids Act
This legislative session Earth Ministry is a lead on the Toxic-Free Kids Act to protect children in Washington from harmful chemicals in their products.
If the faith community is united behind anything, it is the value of protecting children’s health. But the well-being of our littlest ones is threatened – rates of environmentally-linked diseases like childhood cancer, autism, and birth defects continue to rise.
Earth Ministry was proud to support bills over the last few years that have banned toxic toys, a harmful class of flame retardants called PBDEs, and children’s products containing the unsafe chemical BPA. Because of our work, Washington State has led the nation in passing ground-breaking policies to protect children from these and other toxic chemicals.
Sadly, after the PBDE ban, instead of using safer chemicals the industry switched to a cancer-causing chemical flame retardant called Tris. Now our children are exposed to these flame retardants in nursing pillows, car seats, changing pads, and other items. We call this the Toxic Treadmill, replacing one bad chemical with another.
This year, Earth Ministry is a key partner in promoting the Toxic-Free Kids Act to protect children's health. This bill also allows the Department of Ecology to act quickly to reduce and eliminate harmful chemicals in kids’ products when there are safer alternatives. Working together, we can protect our children's health from cancer-causing flame retardants and help put businesses on the path to using chemicals that won't harm health, the environment, or their bottom line.
