Tag: Toxic Chemicals
PFAS Collaboration with Massachusetts Stakeholders
Defend Our Health is an organization rooted in grassroots environmental policy change at home, here in Maine. We work with Maine communities impacted by pollution to imagine a cleaner future, engage in the political process, and ultimately pass groundbreaking protections that make Maine a safer, healthier place to live. Recent successes include our first-in-the-nation legislation that… Read more »
Fashion Scorecard 2025
Have you ever noticed how a lot more of our clothes are made of polyester these days? Or wondered if the clothes your kids wear are free from potentially harmful chemicals? We’ve been curious about these things ourselves, and this motivated us to analyze the policies and practices of ten leading kids’ clothing brands. The… Read more »
Upcoming Event
You’re invited to join Defend Our Health and Island Press for our webinar Defend Our Health: Authors & Friends on Wednesday, July 15th, at 1 PM ET. Our second conversation will feature reporter Kristina Marusic, author of A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention. An award-winning journalist, Marusic, shows that, collectively, we have the power to… Read more »
Authors & Friends Recap
We were thrilled to be joined by author Sharon Udasin last week for a conversation on PFAS in the context of her book Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America. She was joined by Adam Nordell, our farmland contamination campaign manager, who joined our organization as a PFAS-impacted farmer. If you missed the webinar or… Read more »
Microplastics are disrupting photosynthesis and threatening our food supply
Summary An alarming new study published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science revealed that microplastics disrupt photosynthesis, the process plants use to make energy. This disruption could reduce the global food supply by up to 14% and put millions more people at risk of starvation. BackgroundMicroplastics are tiny pieces of plastic, even as small as… Read more »
Toxic-Free Tips: Reusables
Our food system is riddled with plastic, which is nowhere more prevalent than in food packaging. The FDA should rein in plastics and phthalates in the packaging that touches our food. That’s why we’re urging Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy to do just that in his role as the head of the department that… Read more »
What is PFAS?
Chances are, every one of us has encountered a chemical compound in the PFAS class today. Probably, in the last hour. PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, is a class of chemicals commonly used in consumer goods to waterproof or repel stains, grease, and dirt. Not only have we encountered them, but the CDC reports… Read more »
How Plastic Bottle Production Impacts Air Quality
This week is Air Quality Awareness Week. In alignment, we are highlighting the impact of plastic bottle production on air quality. In 2019, The World Health Organization found that 99% of the world’s population lived where the WHO air quality guidelines were unmet. They also estimated that 4.2 million premature deaths were caused by outdoor air pollution. … Read more »
The Global Plastics Treaty and Respiratory Health
Plastic production, use, and disposal threaten Earth’s communities, air, water, biodiversity, and soils. The Global Plastics Treaty seeks to address the issue of plastic pollution and course-correct our society for generations to come. One area of human life that can benefit significantly from robust global action is respiratory health. Microplastics in the air are detrimental… Read more »
The Impact of Toxic Emissions on Respiratory Health
Breathing is so second nature to many of us that you may think less about how your respiratory system works and what constitutes a threat to your health. In honor of Respiratory Care Week, we are diving into the impact of toxic emissions on respiratory health! Respiratory Care Week takes place from April 7th to… Read more »