>Return-Path:>Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 20:12:55 -0800 (PST) >X-Sender: [email protected] >To: (Recipient list suppressed) >From: Jeremiah Baumann (by way of Sanford Lewis ) >Subject: RTK letter to Clinton > > >ACTION ALERT! >************* > >PLEASE SIGN ATTACHED LETTER TO CLINTON! >***************************** >JOIN 1,000 GROUPS PROTECTING THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT TOXIC CHEMICALS! >***************************** > >Please join the list of 1,000 groups -- environmental groups, labor groups, >emergency response workers, and other citizen groups -- calling on >President Clinton to follow through on his promises to expand the public's >right to know about toxic chemicals. > >Loopholes in reporting laws mean that we can't find out about environmental >releases of dangerous substances like lead, dioxin, and mercury -- these >are substances that are not only toxic to human health, but that persist in >the environment for months, years, or decades, and accumulate in the tissue >of wildlife and humans. Thirty-nine states are now issuing mercury >advisories for contaminated bodies of water, and in 13 of those states, >advisories cover every lake and river in the state. Industries can dump >these toxic chemicals into our environment legally and don't even have to >report it! > >The EPA is expected to propose a rule next month requiring increased >reporting on these dangerous substances, so help us send a message to the >Administration right now: protect the public from toxic threats to our >health and the health of our ecosystem! > >To sign the letter, please provide: > >1) your name >2) the name of your group/affiliation >3) your address >4) your phone number and email > >TO SIGN ON, PLEASE RESPOND DIRECTLY TO [email protected] > >The letter has been written by the State PIRGs and adresses the threat of >persistent and bioaccumulating substances, as well as the need for chemical >use reporting on the dangers of toxics to workers, communities, and >consumers. Please pass the action alert on to other groups and encourage >them to join us in sending a message to the Clinton administration. > >**************************************************************************** >**** > >President William Jefferson Clinton >The White House >1600 Pennsylvania Ave. >Washington, D.C. 20500 > > >Dear President Clinton: > >We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to urge you to expand the >public's right to know about the use and release of toxic chemicals. Your >Administration has played a leading role in championing Right to Know, but >there are several major holes in the program that keep vital information >from the public--information about some of the most toxic substances known >to science, and information that would let communities know which toxic >chemicals are used in their neighborhoods and help businesses take steps to >prevent pollution. > >First, the federal Right to Know program should require industries to >report all uses and releases of substances that are highly toxic, persist >in the environment for long periods of time and build up or bioaccumulate >in plants and animals. Many of these substances are extremely toxic in >small quantities and escape public reporting because existing thresholds >are too high. The International Joint Commission on Great Lakes Water >Quality, upon the advice of dozens of leading scientists, found that >"persistent toxic substances are too dangerous to the biosphere and to >humans to permit their release in any quantity." Given this threat, at a >minimum EPA should require industries to report all use and release of >toxics that meet these criteria. This demands that EPA set a reporting >threshold of zero for these substances. > >Second, Right to Know should include information on toxic chemicals used >in the workplace, transported through communities and placed in consumer >products, in addition to current reporting on releases to air, land and >water. Tens of millions of Americans are exposed to toxic chemicals on a >daily basis in their homes, workplaces and communities, but are kept in the >dark about these exposures. Chemical use reporting gives the public >greater access to information and encourages companies to voluntarily >reduce their use of toxics and generation of hazardous wastes, helping >companies save millions of dollars in the process. New Jersey and >Massachusetts industries already collect this data and have reaped the >benefits. > >Since 1992 you have made repeated commitments to expand the public's right >to know to include toxic chemical use information. While your >Administration has taken important steps to expand Right to Know, there is >critical work to be done to give Americans more information about toxic >chemicals that directly affect their lives and the environment. As Vice >President Gore states in his forward to Our Stolen Future, "For the sake of >our children and grandchildren, we must urgently seek the answers. All of >us have the right to know and the obligation to learn." Please use all >administrative authorities to complete these crucial Right to Know expansions. > >Sincerely,
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