Timed for Oscars week, Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy (CHANGE) hosted its own red carpet event March 3, 2010, at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles. The Toxies awards recognized "Bad Actor" chemicals, known for their dangers to human health and the environment.
Actors playing a "Dirty Dozen" chemicals arrived by limousine, curbside at the Egyptian, as surprised and delighted Hollywood tourists jostled for position to snap photos of an Oscars Week gala. Among the honorees were flame retardants, mercury, phthalates, formaldehyde, and perchlorate.
The rocket fuel Perchlorate-Toxies winner for Worst Special Effects
Special Toxies were given to the synthetic estrogen Bisphenol A for "Worst Breakthrough Performance;" and to lead for "Lifetime Achievement in Harm."
Speaking at the press conference following the awards ceremony was Dr. Sandra Aronberg, Environmental Health Ambassador with Physicians for Social Responsibility – Los Angeles. "We don’t get a 'second take' for our health. I have been biomonitored for chemicals in my body and discovered an alphabet soup of unwelcome industrial chemicals. Our bodies are becoming toxic dumps grounds," she said.
The toxic trio Formaldehyde, Toluene, and Dibutyl Phthalate, widely found in nail salons—Toxies winner for Worst Ensemble Performance
The event was produced to pressure California's nascent Green Chemistry Initiative, which is under development in Sacramento, to meet its promise of changing the current chemicals management paradigm. Currently only minimal information is required about chemicals, which are in essence assumed to be safe without sufficient scientific scrutiny.
"The Toxies highlight only a fraction of Bad Actor chemicals. We need a regulatory structure that can fast-track these high hazard chemicals and retire them quickly from commerce," said Davis Baltz of Commonweal.
See the whole story, complete with report and additional photos at http://changecalifornia.org/
Californians for a Healthy & Green Economy (CHANGE) is a state-wide coalition working to create a better system for regulating toxic chemicals in California. Commonweal is a founding member.
We are grateful to Health Care Without Harm, the Kresge Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, and an anonymous foundation for their support of chemical policy reform, greening the health care industry, and increasing the profile of biomonitoring and its contribution to public health.
