Groups Seek Precautionary Ban on Bisphenol A (BPA) to Protect Children's Health

To mark the annual World Breastfeeding Action Week from August 1 to 7, children’s health and chemical safety campaigners pressed the government to adopt a precautionary ban on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in consumer products, particularly in plastic baby feeding bottles.

BPA, an industrial chemical used to make polycarbonate plastics and certain epoxy resins for lining metal cans, has gained toxic notoriety for being linked to very serious health issues and thus provoking governments to control, if not ban, BPA.

“The heightened global concern over human exposure to BPA and the probable health effects even at very low doses should move the government into imposing a precautionary ban starting with BPA-tainted children’s products,” said Velvet Roxas, a mother of two kids and representing both the Arugaan and the EcoWaste Coalition.

“The toxic health threat from BPA-laced feeding bottles for artificial milk formula should encourage all mothers to feed and nourish their children with breastmilk, the most nutritious and ecological food for babies,” she added.

According to Arugaan and the EcoWaste Coalition, various studies have shown that exposure to BPA can cause health effects even at extremely low doses, including birth, reproductive, nervous and behavioral developmental disorders.

Some studies have also associated BPA to “feminizing baby boys” and increasing the risk of breast cancer in girls and women.

Last June 2010, Californian state legislators voted to ban BPA in baby products for children aged three and under. As a precautionary step, Denmark in March 2009 banned BPA in food and drink containers for the under threes, while Canada in 2008 banned the use of BPA in baby feeding bottles.

An international conference to be convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization will be held in Canada in October 2010 to develop guidance on BPA for food safety regulators.

A fact sheet on BPA published by the EcoWaste Coalition explains that exposure to BPA and its derivatives comes mostly from contamination of food, as it has been shown to leach from the epoxy linings of canned foods and polycarbonate containers.

Fetuses, infants, and children around puberty are most at risk from its effects since their bodies are still growing and developing, the fact sheet warns.

As the ban on BPA is not yet in place, Arugaan and the EcoWaste Coalition encourage consumers to observe the following to prevent or reduce toxic exposure:

1. Nourish your child with breastmilk, the most complete and first Zero Waste food. Go for exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and continue breastfeeding for two years and beyond.

2. Go for cupfeeding or the giving of expressed breastmilk through cups as the situation requires (expressing is the taking of milk from the breast, without the baby suckling, by hand or with a breast pump).

3. Refrain from feeding your baby canned foods with plastic linings, which might contain BPA.

4. Avoid polycarbonate plastic containers, usually marked “PC” or the number “7”; use safer alternatives such as glass, ceramics or stainless steel.

5. Refrain from microwaving food and beverage in plastic or plastic cling wraps. If you prefer to microwave, put the food or drink on a suitable plate or cup instead.

6. Reduce consumption of canned foods as can liners may contain BPA; opt for fresh natural and indigenous food instead.

7. Check product labels and select the ones that say “BPA-Free.” Ask your retailer to offer BPA-free products.

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EcoWaste Coalition
Unit 329, Eagle Court Condominium
Matalino St.Quezon City, Philippines
+63 2 441-1846
ecowastecoalition@yahoo.com

Groups Urge Barangay Officials to Adopt Zero Waste Locally to Fight Climate Change

Quezon City. Environmentalists today implored local barangay officials to be on the frontline of climate defence by adopting Zero Waste solutions at the local level.
The EcoWaste Coalition and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) issued its plea for Zero Waste communities as representatives of the country’s 42,000 barangays converge at the SM Mall of Asia Convention Center in Pasay City on July 30 for the Third National Convention of the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (LBP).

“We commend our grassroots leaders who have transformed their barangays into healthy and climate-friendly havens for their constituents by implementing Zero Waste resource management,” said Roy Alvarez, President, EcoWaste Coalition.

“By embracing Zero Waste principles and implementing changes, they have saved scarce public funds from being spent for expensive haul-dump-burn waste disposal scheme,” he stated.

Zero Waste, the groups pointed out, is the fastest, most doable and most affordable action that communities can do to cut toxic pollution from unsustainable production, consumption and disposal patterns that exacerbate climate change.

“Zero Waste is the most practical community action that can be undertaken by the barangay councils and residents to promote ecological values, conserve resources, stop the discharge of climate damaging pollutants and boost local economies,” said Manny Calonzo, Coordinator, GAIA.

“We therefore urge our barangay leaders to be the Zero Waste change leaders that our country needs, prevent and reduce waste, recycle materials safely back into nature and the economy, and cut dependency on landfills and incinerators,” he further said.

“Recognizing the essential role of the informal waste sector such as the waste pickers will further help the communities in achieving even higher waste diversion results given their immense recycling knowhow,” Calonzo added.

Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, provides a useful framework to guide communities in keeping their neighbourhoods clean and green by not resorting to littering, dumping and burning of discards, the groups said.

A GAIA report released in 2009 has listed basic elements that should form part of the desired policy shift from waste disposal to Zero Waste. These are:

-reducing waste disposal in landfills and incinerators to zero;

-investing in reuse, recycling and composting jobs and infrastructure;

-requiring that products are made to be non-toxic and recyclable;

-ensuring that manufacturers of products assume full social and environmental costs of what they produce;

-ensuring that industries reuse materials and respect worker and community rights; and

-preventing waste and reducing unnecessary consumption.

EcoWaste Coalition Asks P-Noy: What about the Environment?

Quezon City. This is one very important question that P-Noy failed to answer at his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), environmental advocates said.

“While we share and support P-Noy’s drive for a clean government, we could not help but wonder if environmental protection is in any way central to his crusade for change,” said Roy Alvarez, President, EcoWaste Coalition.

“We find his SONA ignoring the most basic environmental challenges facing our nation, especially the poor and most vulnerable communities. Honestly speaking, we were dismayed by the lack of focus on environment as if Mother Nature does not matter,” he added.

“We were hoping, for instance, that P-Noy would at least present his plan of action to address the water crisis and announce an ambitious plan to save the Sierra Madre and other watershed and biodiversity areas from logging, mining and dumping activities on top of implementing rainwater impounding systems for farmers and communities,” he explained.

Aside from the water problem, the EcoWaste Coalition enumerated other fundamental environmental issues that P-Noy should have tackled in his report before the joint session of the 15th Congress: climate change, forest and biodiversity demolition, marine pollution, toxic chemicals, municipal solid waste and hazardous waste, to cite a few.

“If P-Noy fails to prioritize environmental protection, he will continue the mistakes of the past regime and allow the relentless destruction of the country’s remaining forests and ecosystems, proliferation of more dirty technologies and the ensuing pollution of air, land and water bodies,” said Rei Panaligan, Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.

The EcoWaste Coalition had earlier proposed to P-Noy to prioritize in his first 100 days in office several interventions in the field of Zero Waste and chemical safety.

This will include the implementation of ecological solid waste management, the recognition of the informal waste sector in resource recovery and conservation , the ban on plastic bags, the elimination of lead in paint, the adoption of pollution prevention and control measures against mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other toxic substances, the ban on aerial spraying of chemicals in agriculture, and the adoption of genuine climate-friendly adaptation and mitigation strategies, including “Zero Waste for Zero Warming.”

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Women Lawmakers Urged to Push for Mercury-Free Cosmetics Law

Quezon City. With just few days before the 15th Congress opens, a chemical safety watchdog has asked lawmakers, especially women senators and representatives, to propose a law that will totally ban mercury from any cosmetic product sold in the Philippines.

The wave of recall orders issued this year by the government against mercury-laced skin lightening products prompted the EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental network of over 100 groups, to push for mercury-free cosmetics.

The group's initiative coincided with the launch today of "The Story of Cosmetics," an animated documentary featuring Annie Leonard which reveals that many cosmetic products contain toxic chemicals. Leonard, founder of the Manila-based Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), is the star of Internet film sensation "The Story of Stuff," which has been viewed worldwide over 10 million times.

“Filipino consumers, particularly the women and youth, must be protected from the ill effects of mercury and other toxins in personal care products. We can be beautiful inside and out without wasting money for toxic cosmetics,” said Velvet Roxas of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Task Force on Chemical Safety.

“Zero mercury in cosmetics will prevent mercury exposure via direct skin application and absorption of this poison,” she said.

“Eliminating mercury in products is also the most effective way to cut mercury releases from product wastes,” she emphasized.

“We hope that the ban on mercury in personal care products will lead to a broader policy on safe cosmetics, anchored on the precautionary principle, to stop chemical assault on women’s and children’s health,” she added.

“We further hope that our women senators and representatives will take the lead in taking chemicals that are linked to cancer among women and to birth and developmental disorders among children out of cosmetics,” she stated.

The government has so far issued three directives this year banning a total of 23 skin whitening creams, mostly imported from China, describing these products as “imminently unsafe, injurious or dangerous” for containing mercury way beyond the 1 part per million (ppm) threshold.

The EcoWaste Coalition and other groups are pushing for a revised standard of mercury in cosmetics from 1 ppm to zero ppm.

Citing information from the Mercury-Free Campaign of the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN), the EcoWaste Coalition warned that mercury-laced skin lightening products can badly damage human health.

Exposure to mercury has been known to cause blotchiness, uneven skin tone, easily sunburned skin, peeling skin, increased hyper-pigmentation, thickened skin, large pores, itchiness, redness, dark patches, light pink patches, and signs of premature aging such as lines and wrinkles, according to IPEN’s market analysis report of some mercury-containing products.

Dermal application of mercury can absorb into the bloodstream leading to health problems for the individual and for offspring born to women of childbearing years who use these, the report further said.

Manufacturers of some facial creams and soaps use mercury as a melanin inhibiting agent to lighten skin tone by reducing pigmentation and darkening. Mercury or hydroquinone will initially cause the skin to lighten by inhibiting production of melanin. Without melanin formation, no brown pigmentation will be visible. This produces the much-vaunted "instant lightening" results, the IPEN report stated.

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References:
"The Story of Cosmetics" http://www.storyofstuff.com/cosmetics/

“Market analysis of some mercury-containing products and their mercury-free alternatives in selected regions” published in 2010 by IPEN, Arnika and GRS: http://www.ipen.org/ipenweb/documents/ipen%20documents/grs253.pdf

P-Noy Urged to Unveil Environmental Plans in Upcoming SONA

With barely a week before the chief executive addresses the joint session of the 15th Congress, an environmental network prodded P-Noy to use the occasion to unwrap a package of solutions to the country’s environmental woes.

The EcoWaste Coalition, a network of over 100 groups aiming for zero waste and chemical safety goals, expressed its hope that P-Noy’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) will give due prominence to protecting the environment from waste and toxic pollution.

“The SONA provides P-Noy with a superb venue to announce and draw citizens’ support for environmental policies and measures that will clean up our communities, while promoting an ecological way of life, mitigating climate impacts, spawning green jobs and inspiring local self-reliance,” said Roy Alvarez, President, EcoWaste Coalition.

“We hope to hear P-Noy declaring an ambitious waste diversion target, which is attainable if all the stakeholders, including the people, government, industry, civil society, formal and informal waste sector, will put their acts together and advance an innovative people-centered zero waste program,” he said.

Such program should seek to 1) reduce the volume and toxicity of discards, 2) promote intensive reusing, recycling and composting, 3) recognize the role of informal waste sector in resource recovery, and 4) ensure the environmentally-sound management of hazardous waste.

For her part, Dr. Leah Primitiva Samaco-Paquiz, Secretary of the EcoWaste Coalition, underscored the need for P-Noy to respond to major chemical challenges facing the Filipino families and communities.

“The upcoming SONA, we hope, will demonstrate government’s steadfastness to safeguard the public health and the environment from toxic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lead, mercury, cyanide and phthalates, to name a few,” she said.

“We’ll be elated if P-Noy will make policy pronouncements in support of global and local efforts to curb toxic pollution, including the non-combustion treatment of PCBs, the elimination of lead in paint and the implementation of various mercury control measures,” she added.

“Our people will be listening intently on how P-Noy plans to fix our waste and toxic problems and we hope we won’t be disappointed,”she said.

The EcoWaste Coalition crafted what they called the “Citizens’Agenda for Zero Waste and Chemical Safety,” which was submitted to P-Noy last June 25.

One of the key proposals of the group is for P-Noy to pursue a national chemical safety policy framework and action plan in line with the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).

Chemical safety, according to the EcoWaste Coalition, is integral to improving public health and the environment, eradicating disease and poverty, and achieving sustainable development for all.

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EcoWaste Coalition
Unit 329, Eagle Court Condominium
Matalino St., Quezon City
Philippines
+63 2 441-1846
ecowastecoalition@yahoo.com