Trash for Teaching collects clean, safe and interesting manufacturing cast-offs from local factories and repurposes them for use by kids, teachers and artists. “Minimizing Waste / Maximizing Education” is their motto, something they have been doing for 6 years, during which this little non-profit has diverted over 250,000 pounds of materials from local landfills and served over 160,000 students.

Trash for Teaching offers workshops for teachers, parents and families. Their warehouse in Los Angeles is an amazing resource and really fun to visit. Recently they have launched a line of educational and fun DIY toys called Cast Away Kits.

Trash for Teaching collaborated with the band OK Go in the making of this amazing music video.  It is a pleasure to welcome Trash for Teaching to the Coalition. Don’t miss the video!! Have fun!

Sign the petition to safeguard our children

These chemicals are increasingly linked to serious long-term health effects, such as, cancer, autism, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disorders, infertility, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

Our children must get the healthy start they deserve. We all can help by joining the thousands of other Americans demanding a real federal toxics law that will make consumer products safe for kids.

Environmental Working Group has created an online petition to support the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, which would require that all chemicals be proven safe for children before they can be sold.

Lawmakers in Washington need to know that you want them to reform our broken toxics law.  Click here to add your voice to the petition.

As we reported in October, a separate study (download full report PDF) published by the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill showed that if a woman is exposed to plastics that leach BPA during her pregnancy,  the baby’s nervous system might be adversely affected.  Consequences include aggressive behavior and hyperactivity.

These studies come in the wake of the failure of the State of California to ban BPA from baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula, which increase the exposure to BPA of infants who are born already burdened by this powerful endocrine-disrupting chemical.

We at the Plastic Pollution Coalition demand that  Governments intervene immediately and protect the public in general and children in particular  from exposure to BPA and other toxic chemicals leached by plastics, especially when scientific research has already established a more than plausible risk to human health. In some legal systems, as in the law of the European Union, the precautionary principle is a general and compulsory principle of the law.  Unfortunately, this is not the case in the US.

In the face of governmental apathy, and collusion with the plastic industry lobbyists, time has come for us citizens to raise awareness and start a social movement to demand legislation to ban BPA.

Here are some quotes from the news release by Environmental Working Group.  The full text can be read here.

The findings provide hard evidence that U.S. infants are contaminated with BPA beginning in the womb.

The tests identified the plastics chemical in 9 of 10 cord blood samples from babies of African American, Asian and Hispanic descent.

“This study proves newborns are exposed to BPA in the womb,” Jacob said. “After they are born, they’ll encounter more BPA by drinking from a bottle, drinking canned infant formula and, eventually, eating canned food like ravioli and chicken noodle soup.”

“America’s system for regulating toxic chemicals is broken. The legislation I am currently drafting will strengthen chemical safety laws and give Americans confidence that products they use are safe.”

Embedded below is a video by Dr. Frederick vom Saal, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri and an expert in the study of the effects of BPA.

This footage was broadcast by the CHBC News channel for the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada, and posted on the internet on November 2nd, 2009. Link to original news post and footage here.

The study, published Oct. 6, (download full report PDF) suggests that if a woman is exposed to plastics that leach BPA during her pregnancy,  the baby’s nervous system might be adversely affected.  Consequences include aggressive behavior and hyperactivity.

This is the first study ever to examine if there is a link between prenatal BPA exposure and these neurological problems in children.  Until now all studies had been performed on animals, not on humans, even though this concern has been expressed by scientists for years.

Other public health disasters, such as obesity, diabetes, breast cancer and infertility are also linked to bisphenol A (BPA) exposure.

Governments have a responsibility to intervene immediately and protect the public from exposure to BPA and other toxic chemicals leached by plastics, especially when scientific investigation has already established a more than plausible risk to human health. In some legal systems, as in the law of the European Union, the precautionary principle is a general and compulsory principle of the law.  Unfortunately, this is not the case in the US.

In the face of governmental apathy, and collusion with the plastic industry lobbyists, time has come for us citizens to raise awareness and start a social movement to demand legislation to ban BPA.

Watch this video by Dr. Frederick vom Saal, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri and an expert in the study of the effects of BPA.