EHSC Blog

Sarah Standiford

In the community where I grew up in Baltimore MD, the fashion was to have ever-green lawns. Which of course required regular visits by companies with names like “ChemLawn” whose job it was to spray fertilizer and herbicides to keep those lawns looking perfect. The neighborhood was littered with little yellow flags warning kids and pets off those nice looking recently sprayed lawns. My friends and I coined the extremely clever campaign “Birds Can’t Read” after I read about some of the harm chemicals like 2, 4-D and Diazinon could do to children, birds and animals. My first real canvassing experience found me going door to door talking to my neighbors about the science behind these chemicals. I think they listened because it was quaint to see a young teenager trying to pronounce terms far beyond my ability. After several years of working neighbor-by-neighbor to replace those “keep off” signs with hand stenciled blue “Pesticide Free Lawn” signs, I left my adolescent environmental campaign behind and moved to Maine to go to college.

Fast forward 20 years and the impact of pervasive toxic chemicals is front and center. Americans rightly want to know that they can be safe from harmful chemicals where they live, work and play. Increasingly, women want to know how unnecessary toxic chemicals in consumer products could be affecting their health – especially during critical periods  in a woman’s development such as adolescence, pregnancy, and menopause.  We are learning that chemicals such as Bisphenol A, are not only tied to harmful health effects in adults but can endanger a developing fetus and a growing child.

For nearly two decades I’ve been fortunate to work as an advocate for public policies to improve the lives of women and girls. But things come full circle. It has been through my work for reproductive freedom that I’ve learned again about some of the chemicals that are pervasive in our environment, in consumer products on lawns and in our homes can have particular harm for women and their reproductive futures.  Some of the worst of the worst toxic chemicals, such as BPA, are linked not only to reproductive health impacts such as breast cancer, they can also impair our fertility and imperil a pregnancy and fetal development.

In my work today, I advocate for women’s ability to determine when and whether to bear children and raise a family. – an intensely personal and often very complex decision. Full reproductive freedom requires that we address the chemicals that impair our fertility and prevent healthy pregnancies. Thanks to ten years of advocacy by the Environmental Health Strategy Center, these connections are clear, in the interest of the public health, a safe environment, and our families and reproductive futures. We can all read the signs.

Sarah Standiford is currently the Regional Field Manager for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.   From 2003 through 2011, Sarah was the Executive Director for the Maine Women’s Lobby, which plays a leadership role in the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine.

Amy Graham

Holding my first born baby in my arms and looking into those dark eyes of hers, I fell in love. I knew with the sudden fierce certainty of a new mother that I’d do everything I could for her.

When, at six months old, our daughter developed hives and eczema, we switched laundry detergents and moisturizers for gentle, non-toxic formulas. Still, the skin behind her knees and inside her elbows itched, cracked and bled. She stopped growing well. Her doctor labeled her “failure to thrive” and we began a battery of tests to rule out various disorders. It was frightening for us as new parents. Something was clearly wrong, but we didn’t know how to protect her.

One morning her face became swollen with hives and she was wheezing so we took her in to see her pediatrician. “This is bad,” he said with fear in his eyes and sent us to the emergency room. Our daughter was soon diagnosed with food and environmental allergies and asthma.

Back when she was a baby and we were still trying to figure out what was wrong, there were days when she would refuse any food, preferring to nurse. At least, I thought, I know milk is wholesome and pure. Then I read a Swedish study that showed toxic flame retardants are stored in human fat tissue and passed from mother to child through breast milk. This opened my eyes to the fact that environmental pollutants are within our own bodies. This seems obvious now, but previously I’d thought of pollution as something that affected our air and water.

The mystery of why my daughter suffers from health issues became a bit clearer. Each of us walks around with a burden of toxic chemicals and heavy metals and we now know that these have effects on the developing minds and bodies of our young.

Over the past ten years, I’ve seen that our family is not the only one. Allergies, asthma, autism, ADHD are on the rise at alarming rates and have devastating effects on children, their families, and their communities.  That is why I am a member and a volunteer with the Environmental Health Strategy Center who has been working for 10 years to prevent harm by getting dangerous chemicals out of our everyday products.  Together we need to continue tackling chemical pollution in order to create a better world for our children.

Bettie Kettell RN

I first heard the term “chemical policy reform” at a nursing program many years ago. I learned that the State and Federal agencies and regulations that we think protect us from toxic chemicals in everyday products are seriously out of date and ineffective.  My personal struggles with asthma, allergies, and breast cancer has inspired me for the past decade to be a leader organizing my fellow nurses and working with the Environmental Health Strategy Center to advocate for safer chemicals in everyday products used at home and in hospitals.

In 2008, I was a lucky participant of Maine bio-monitoring project.  All thirteen participants were surprised by their results.  I found out I had the highest level of flame-retardants of the group tested.  It is very likely that I absorbed a high level of flame-retardants while working in a new hospital.  This strengthened my resolve to advocate for safer chemical laws.

In May of this year, I had the pleasure of participating in the Maine bus trip to the nation’s capitol and joining the Stroller Brigade on the Capitol lawn.  Following the rally we met personally with Senator Snowe and Senator Collins to share our stories and ask them to support the Safe Chemicals Act.  Our delegation consisted of 25 Mainers who ranged from college students to grandmothers who all advocated for change.

I do not want another person to get asthma, breast cancer, or develop allergies to products needed for their job.  Until we take a preventative approach and eliminate chemicals that cause disease there will be an increasing burden on the already overburdened healthcare system.  As an advocate for my children, my grandchildren and my patients, I plan to continue taking every opportunity I can to meet with my elected officials in support of public health issues.

Bettie D. Kettell has been an operating room nurse at Mid Coast Hospital for over 25 years and has been a leader with EHSC since our beginning 10 years ago.