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Chemical Safety Improvement Act Introduced

6/18/13: On CHE’s blog, we report on recent significant developments in federal chemicals policy reform with the introduction by the late Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and David Vitter (R-LA) of a new, bipartisan bill called the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA). The introduction of the CSIA has generated intense new interest in how to reform our nation's regulation of industrial chemicals. The question is whether CSIA is strong enough to reform the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in a meaningful way. A range of organizations across the political spectrum has issued statements about the new bill. Visit CHE's Chemical Policy Reform webpage to read more.

Environmental Science Leader and CHE Partner Receives Award

6/12/13: Pete Myers, founder, CEO and chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences and long-time valued CHE Partner, was awarded the $50,000 Frank Hatch "Sparkplug" Award for Enlightened Public Service by The John Merck Fund. "He has helped the field of toxicology incorporate emerging scientific understanding of endocrine disrupting chemicals. And in doing so, Pete has impacted government policies and research agendas around the world, as well as the way corporations are thinking about chemicals in their products. JMF's grantees often use Pete's work as the foundation for their programs."
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The Endocrine Society Appeals to European Commission to Include Endocrinologists in Deliberations on EDCs

6/3/13: As the European Commission prepares to take action on endocrine-disrupting chemicals, The Endocrine Society has submitted an open letter urging the Commission to call upon the expertise of endocrinologists in their deliberations. "Endocrinologists bring a necessay perspective to the discussion on EDCs, they examine the actions of these chemicals in the context of normal physiciology and they understand the subtle and nuanced effects EDCs exert on the endocrine system."
Read the full letter

CHE regularly highlights the work of our Partners here in our Partner Spotlight.

The Rise of the US Environmental Health Movement: An Interview with CHE Partner Kate Davies, MA, DPhil

Kate Davies is in on the core faculty at the Center for Creative Change, Antioch University Seattle, and is a clinical associate professor at the School of Public Health, University of Washington. She is also the author of The Rise of the US Environmental Health Movement, the first book to offer a comprehensive examination of the environmental health movement with a focus on the ways toxic chemicals and other hazardous agents in the environment effect human health and well-being (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2013).

What first brought you into environmental health work?

In 1965, when I was 8 years old, my mother was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer. She was given less than a year to live. By some miracle she survived, only to be diagnosed with breast cancer some 20 years later. She survived this too, but in 1995 she developed a rare T cell lymphoma. She died in 2007, after fighting three different types of cancer for over forty years.

My mother’s illnesses influenced me profoundly. As a child, I wanted to become a doctor so I could make her better, but as the physicians failed to cure her, I became more interested in how cancer could be prevented. To find out more, I decided to study biochemistry. After completing a bachelor’s degree in 1978, I went on to earn a doctorate at Oxford University. During this time, I became convinced that toxic chemicals and radiation played a role in this terrible disease - a realization that led me to join the environmental health movement.

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