Defend Our Health Featured on Green Living with Tee Podcast

Defend’s senior market campaigner Maya Rommwatt guest starred on the Green Living Gurus’ podcast titled Green Living With Tee. The Green Living Gurus are a collection of women whose mission is to share tools and information on how to decrease exposure to toxic chemicals and help people live healthy lifestyles. Maya joined Therese “Tee” Forton-Barnes…  Read more »

The Chemical Footprint of a Plastic Bottle Webinar

Last month, we released our report titled “Hidden Hazards: The Chemical Footprint of a Plastic Bottle” which explores the many health harms of plastics production, the potential health effects of consuming beverages in plastic bottles, and dangers to workers and communities from recycling and disposal. Las week, report co-author Mike Belliveau, Defend’s Executive Director was joined by Port…  Read more »

Defend Our Health Releases First-Ever Study that Reveals the Hard Truths Behind Plastic Bottles

Today – ahead of the global plastics treaty negotiations in Paris –  Defend our Health and the Beyond Petrochemicals campaign released a new report, Hidden Hazards: The Chemical Footprint of a Plastic Bottle, unmasking the shocking hazards posed by a seemingly innocuous everyday item: the plastic bottle. This report reveals the health, environmental, and climate…  Read more »

Defend’s Director of Research, OpEd in Civil Eats

Defend’s Director of Research, Roopa Krithivasan, was featured last week in Civil Eats – a daily news source for critical thought about the American food system.  Krithivasan pointedly asks a health-conscious audience to consider the toxic impacts of plastic-bottled sodas. Most consumers are well aware of the health risks posed by soda’s sugar levels, but…  Read more »

Defend’s Senior Market Campaigner, OpEd in Common Dreams

Last week the independent media outlet Common Dreams published a piece by Maya Rommwatt, our Senior Market Campaigner, highlighting the nefarious collusion between big oil and big gas. Common Dreams is a leading publication focused on social justice and inspiring critical thinking on economic, social, and civil issues. Communities across America have been struggling to…  Read more »

PET Plastic Report

Over the past few months, we tested 20 popular beverages packaged in plastic bottles and found a cancer-causing plastic chemical in every, single bottle. In the beverages we tested, including Pepsi and Coca-Cola brands, we found unsafe levels of a highly toxic chemical used to make plastic bottles for carbonated soft drinks, juices, energy drinks, and bottled water.  But the…  Read more »

Mark Hyland, Board Chair for Defend Our Health Speaks on PFAS in REI

I’ve been an REI member since 1973 and I still have some of my first favorite purchases, like this cotton anorak, I bought before I was even an REI member.  It’s traveled around the world, including Antarctica, and doesn’t contain PFAS/PFOAS. I appreciate REI’s commitment to sustainability and their Opt Outside campaign. However, I’m surprised they…  Read more »

Plastic Waste – A Case of the Tail Wagging the Dog?

A new report just released by Greenpeace shows how fast-moving consumer goods companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé are fueling the radical expansion of plastic production by ExxonMobil, Dow, and other petrochemical manufacturers. Across the lifecycle of fossil-fueled plastics, the implications are stark – more climate change, harm to human health, environmental injustice, and plastic waste.  The growing…  Read more »