WASHINGTON — A high-profile children's health group launched an anti-toxin campaign May 11 aimed at new parents that includes warnings not to microwave in plastic and to avoid soft plastic mouthing toys because of leaching phthalates.
The Children's Health Environmental Coalition kicked off a campaign aimed at childproofing homes from chemicals, at a Washington press briefing featuring actresses Olivia Newton-John, CHEC's national spokeswoman, and Kelly Preston, a member of CHEC's board. The actresses have made TV appearances to discuss the topic, including on Rosie O'Donnell's daytime TV talk show.
Much of the group's discussion at the briefing focused on things like pesticides, air pollution's role in asthma and the dangers of some solvents in cleaners.
But Malibu, Calif.-based CHEC, whose board members include professors from the University of California, Harvard University, Yale University and George Washington University, has a more specific agenda. They intend to push for stronger right-to-know legislation and government funding of long-term exposure studies and children's health programs, said Dr. Philip Landrigan, chair of community medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and a CHEC board member.