Healthy Kids, Healthy Maryland

WE'RE EXPOSED TO HARMFUL CHEMICALS EVERY DAY

Marylanders should be able to trust that the products we buy we buy are safe — especially ones our families use every day, directly on our bodies.

We've looked into it, however, and discovered that when we shampoo our hair or wash our hands, we're likely dosing our bodies with chemicals that can disrupt our hormones, cause developmental problems, even cause cancer.

But because of a weak federal cosmetics law, the chemicals in our personal care products don't have to be tested for safety before they reach store shelves, leaving it up to manufacturers to make sure their products are safe.

This means we’re being exposed to a cocktail of chemicals that have not been proven safe — and this exposure adds up over time. The average person in the U.S. comes in contact with more than 100 different chemicals from personal care products before they even leave the house.

And with these chemicals come an increase in chronic illnesses over the past 30 years, and there is a growing consensus amongst the environmental health community that this is due in part to toxic chemical exposure. In 2010, approximately 16.4 percent of Maryland children had a history of asthma compared to a national average of 13.6 percent. And in Baltimore City, the number is even higher. Meanwhile, leukemia, brain cancer, and other childhood cancers have increased by more than 20 percent since 1975, asthma rates have doubled since 1980, and autism diagnoses have increased tenfold in the last 15 years. 

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COMMONSENSE STEPS TO A TOXIC-FREE MARYLAND

Our campaign pushes for concrete steps that will help make it easier for Marylanders to protect themselves from toxic chemicals. The Healthy Kids, Healthy Maryland platform calls for commonsense steps to protect Marylanders from toxic chemical exposure:

• Get the worst toxic chemicals off store shelves, phasing out chemicals we know are dangerous, and replacing them with the safest alternatives available.
• Have large companies adopt policies to phase out toxic chemicals from their supply chains. We can accomplish this by getting manufacturers to use chemical policies that identify and eliminate chemicals linked to adverse health effects and replace them with safer alternatives.
• Tell manufacturers they should disclose all ingredients, online and/or on product packaging. For example, manufacturers don’t have to tell consumers what is in “fragrance,” and it’s typically claimed as a trade secret and can be toxic. Disclosing ingredients would mean consumers can demand products without those ingredients, and thus move the market.