Prevent Chemical Disasters
Tons of poison gas are routinely stored at chemical facilities in major U.S. cities. President Obama called them “stationary weapons of mass destruction” because they are vulnerable to terrorists and pose a catastrophic accident risk. Yet there are many safer alternatives already widely in use.
Unfortunately there are no rules or safety standards in place to require the use of safer alternatives. Even with the Obama administration supporting the efforts of a broad coalition to enact new chemical disaster prevention legislation the chemical lobby and their allies in Congress have successfully blocked it. But there is a disaster prevention clause in the Clean Air Act that has never been enforced. In fact there was bi-partisan support for such a policy following the 9/11 attacks but that consensus has been eroded by intense pressure from the chemical lobby.
Take action today! You can help prevent a toxic disaster in your community by signing our petition to President Obama urging him to enforce the disaster prevention clause in the Clean Air Act before it's too late.
Chemical Security
Since the 9/11 attacks, one of our greatest terrorist vulnerabilities still remains. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified 4,997 chemical facilities as "high-risk." The EPA has identified 100 chemical plants that each put one million or more people at risk up to 25 miles downwind from a plant. The U.S. Army Surgeon General estimated that an attack on just one U.S. chemical plant could kill or injure 900,000 to 2.4 million people. Despite numerous warnings since 2001, Congress has done little to neutralize these hazards. Read more
Going Hi-Tech is Highly Toxic
From cell phones to laptops, i-pods to digital cameras, we are buying—and throwing away—more electronic products than ever before. The cost is higher than the impact on your pocket book.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of old computers and cell phones are dumped in landfills or burned in smelters. Thousands more are exported, often illegally, to Asia, where workers at scrap yards, often children, are exposed to a cocktail of toxic chemicals and poisons. Read more
Go PVC-Free
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, commonly known as "vinyl," has become one of the most widely-used types of plastics. It's used in packaging, home furnishings, children’s toys, automobile parts, building materials, hospital supplies, and hundreds of other products. PVC may be versatile and relatively inexpensive, but the price we pay for a low-cost piece of PVC pipe or soft vinyl toy is far steeper than it may seem. Read more
Bhopal Disaster
Since 1984, 20,000 people lost their lives in Bhopal, India after a chemical gas spill from a pesticide factory. More than 40 tons of methyl isocyante (MIC) gas created a dense cloud over a resident population of more than half a million people.
People woke in their homes to fits of coughing, their lungs filling with fluid. More than 8,000 people were killed in just the first few days following the leak, mainly from cardiac and respiratory arrest. Read more