Protecting the Health of Alaskans and Our Future Generations through State Chemicals Policy Reform
April 6, 2011 @ 10:00am (AKDT)
Our nation’s chemical policy is badly outdated, legally allowing the proliferation of toxic chemicals including flame retardants (PBDEs), phthalates, bisphenol-A (BPA) and others linked to serious health and environmental problems in the products that we use each and every day.
Increasingly, states are passing protective chemical policies to ban dangerous chemicals from children’s products and other consumer products. The Alaska State Legislature is currently considering a bill (SB 27; HB 63) that would ban the import of products containing toxic flame retardant chemicals known as PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers). If passed, Alaska would join a dozen other states that have stepped up to protect citizens from toxic threats.
Join us for a discussion with Dr. Joel Tickner, Associate Professor at the School of Health and Environment at University of Massachusetts Lowell and Lowell Center for Sustainable Production on why focusing on state policy is an effective and necessary approach to protecting public health.
- Senate Bill 27 History/Action
- ACAT Testimony SB 27
- PBDEs Briefing Paper for Alaska State Legislature
- ACAT PBDEs fact sheet https://www.akaction.org/wp-content/uploads/36-MD-PBDE-Fact.pdf
Featured speakers
Joel A. Tickner, Sc.D., MSc, BA. Dr. Joel Tickner is Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Lowell where he also directs the Chemicals Policy and Science Initiative at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production. Dr. Tickner is a leading expert on chemicals regulation, regulatory science, and application of the precautionary principle and safer materials in science and policy. He has served as an advisor and researcher for several government agencies, international agencies, non-profit environmental groups and trade unions both in the U.S.and abroad during the past twelve years. He was co-coordinator of the Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle, co-editor of the book Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle and editor of the book Precaution, Environmental Science, and Preventive Public Policy. Dr. Tickner directs the undergraduate environmental health BS program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He holds a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a Doctor of Science Degree from the Department of Work Environment at University of Massachusetts Lowell and for three years was an Environmental Protection Agency STAR Fellow. Visit Dr. Tickner’s faculty page to learn more.