The blog tour has gotten off to an excellent start with informative commentary on the European Green movement and the need to become equally organized in the US. I particularly liked Teresa’s recognition that women of different faiths and backgrounds will find discomfort in certain things, but that only means we have to work harder to “ensure that we must bring all women into the conversation.” I hope this blog tour is another step in that direction, and helps shine a light on work like the Conference on Women’s Health & The Environment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies. Now, on to what you really want…
DAY TWO.
Questions: Sandy wants to know about the following:
Response:
1) Are there any federal initiatives to create an education program about chemicals in our breast milk and umbilical cords, to encourage women to find out about local environmental hazards, the way there was with immunizations for instance.
Regrettably no such federally funded program exists at the moment.
Your idea to educate women about the evidence which links our exposure to environmental toxins showing up in breast milk and in newborns is exactly what is needed.
We started an annual conference series on Women, Health and the Environment in 1996 as a way to increase public understanding of the special health risks facing women, the environmental sources of disease and the need for sensible environmental policies that protect women’s health. Over the years we have heard from 125 scientists, researchers, physicians, entrepreneurs and the journalists who report on their work.
If you educate a woman, you educate the whole family. If a woman has information, she will be able to make the right choices for herself and everyone in her care. The impact of investing in the kind of educational program you suggest would produce a high rate of return.
Recently, our foundation launched an on-line environmental newsletter focused on Women, Health and the Environment. In the first issue I recount a story written by journalist Doug Fischer of The Oakland Tribune. In his prize winning series, “A Body’s Burden: Our Chemical Legacy,” Fisher reported on the environmental toxins in the blood of an average family in the area. The hair, blood, and urine of two San Francisco Bay area children contained concentrations of a pervasive flame retardant at levels higher than those known to cause reproductive and brain damage in rats. Surprisingly, the concentrations were much higher in the 18-month-old boy and his five-year old sister than in their parents. Fischer’s newspaper spent $17,000 on laboratory tests and on an independent scientific verification of an elaborate testing protocol to document these alarming concentrations.
Doug spoke in Boston at our 9th annual conference on Women, Health and the Environment. I will never forget his chronicle of how the story evolved from a simple report to the shocking conclusion concerning chemicals in our body and especially our children.
“Our ability to detect these compounds, invisible even five years ago, has outstripped our ability to interpret the results,” he reported. “But if it was your two-year-old, would you want to know?”
Also, I recommend that you talk with Ken Cook and his team of experts at the Environmental Working Group (EWG). EWG has been doing some pioneering work on this issue (www.ewg.com). Two other experts are Dr. Another expert to consult is Dr. Devra Davis at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center or (environmental oncology), Dr. Frederica Perera, DrPH, Director Columbia University Children’s Environmental Health Center, Professor of Environmental Health “Moms and Children at Risk”.
2) Has any legislation or private sector initiative resulted from presentations at the Conference on Women’s Health & the Environment.
Response:
The goal of the Women’s Health and Environment conference was never to seek legislative changes, rather, our goal from the beginning was to provide women (and men) with information – education resources in the form of speakers, topics, materials etc., that they could use to understand the specific topic of the conference, and steps that they can take individually and collectively to help themselves and each other.
However, private sector initiatives have resulted. First, a large number of philanthropists / foundations have started to meet to collaborate on leveraging their funds like venture capital to help create a greater impact on women’s health and environmental issues. Second, local cable television (in different areas of the U.S.) has carried a condensed version (video) of our conferences; and finally, at least two books (one fully focused on women’s health and the environment) have resulted from the conferences - one will be in the marketplace over the next 18 months to help women better understand the nexus between health and the environme
3) What is the single most important issue facing women and children, in your opinion?
Response:�
There is no one single issue – there are many.
We begin with global climate change and toxins – if the United States does not begin to immediately address this problem, the consequences for women and children will be set in stone.
Second, the possibility of nuclear weapons ending up in the hands of terrorists remains a threat to all of us.
Third, domestically, we have more than 12 million uninsured children. When a child or a mother cannot access affordable health care, that child begins school one step behind all of the other children.
Fourth, the rising costs of attending college without qualifying for any federal or state financial assistance continues to impact all families – all children.
Fifth, the face of poverty in old age is a distinctly female face. If we do not begin to addressing the inequities in the public and private retirement systems, women will continue to be unable to afford to retire, and the fiscal burden will continue to fall on the shoulders of our children and future generations of children.
Finally (but never last or least), we still have far too many children growing up in broken homes without parents they can count on, the rising numbers of spousal and child abuse are horrific, and for the sake of all families – regardless of size or composition, if we do not begin to address these and a myriad of other issues facing women and children, our ability to be a healthy and productive society will be further compromised.
Network television that has lost its focus on family friendly TV – whatever happened to the days of great Walt Disney productions, etc.
And the next stop on the blog tour, 4/16:
Democracy Cell Project:
http://www.democracycellproject.net/blogLinks & Full Schedule:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?p=78
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