Current Events:
PfSE Annual Prioritizing Gathering and Party
Your Chance to Help Set Priorities:
Help set a date for this important annual gathering by October 22nd, this Thursday.
Agenda is now open for your input and changes.
RSVP & select dates.
Mark Calendar for Nov 10, 10-11:30 AM in Martinez
651 Pine St, County Admin Bldg
Please attend this important Contra Costa County Board of Supervisor meeting when they will vote on the
proposed bylaws for allowing only 3 community members on the county's IPM Advisory Committee. We need
folks to speak for adding equal number of community members on the county IPM Advisory Committee to
balance out votes with county staff: a total of 5 community members.
Also, the IPM Coordinator will be presenting a
county counsel's report with apparently incorrect
assessments of legal ramifications upon adopting an IPM ordinance (law) to keep staff's work transparent
and accountable. The IPM Coordinator has not and will not be recommending a least toxic pest management
ordinance (law in place of our weak policy). We need numerous representatives from environmental and
health groups and community members for this meeting. Please
click here to rsvp for the Board meeting
on Nov 10th morning or to offer sending an e-mail to the board members. You may view the
proposed IPM
policy here.
Please Have Every Adult in Household sign-on this Petition to Help Reduce Pesticide
Usage
Contra Costa County Depts, although having reduced pesticide usage by average of
~ 45% since PfSE's involvement in 2006, still applies annually, over 7 times more
pesticide products than all Santa Clara and San Francisco County Depts combined.
In addition, just Public Work Dept alone used 2,148 lbs of bad actor pesticide
products in a recent 1 year period, much of it along creeks/flood control channels
as compared to no bad actors used by the other two counties with Integrated Pest
Management Ordinances (laws).
Some County staff, including the new IPM Coordinator is fighting the adoption of
an ordinance to hold staff transparent and accountable. Please
sign this quick
petition that will be submitted to the County Board of Supervisors when at least
500 signatures are reached.
Decrease Pesticide Usage Now!
Public Works Toxicity Table FY 08-09 [Word 2007 Doc]
Public Works Dept Graphs FY 08-09 [Excel 2007 doc]
Healthy Parks Summit in Orinda in a few weeks!
Save the Date for Nov 21st, 9:30 AM-5PM at 10 Irwin Way, Orinda Community Church.
(walk from BART).
Been wanting to know how to get your local public parks to reduce or even eliminate
toxic pesticides? Pick up tips from the veterans who have gone through the exercise
in Marin, Sonoma, Sacramento, Contra Costa Counties, Moraga, among others! Come
to help plan and get a state-wide initiative passed and learn how to get a policy
passed in your own town/city/county.
Click here for agenda & register.
PfSE in News for Conducting "Goat" Trial
400 Goats Hired to Try as Alternative to Herbicides in Pinole Creek, West Contra
Costa County.
In September, months of effort in grant writing, collaboration and negotiations
with agencies resulted in a successful 2-day goat grazing demonstration at Pinole
Creek site just adjacent to Collins Elementary School where kids play only 3 yards
away. Water testing (in-kind analyses by Central Sanitary District) showed no significant
fecal bacteria nor erosion problems although goats had full access to the creek
for almost 2 days. County Public Works Dept staff has announced already that they
will begin using goats in the future. This move will begin replacing some of the
5,000+ lbs of herbicides being sprayed along the 70 miles of flood control channels
and creeks annually, even during rainy season. A
2004 San Francisco Estuary Institute
Study concluded (pgs 35-41) that goats are more effective and at least 25% cheaper than herbicides
for terrestrial weed control. PfSE hired a consultant to write a Review Paper of
"lessons learned" by agencies around the U.S. regarding goat grazing near water
bodies that should be finished by end of this month and assist in making future
decisions.
The next phase of our study will monitor for herbicides after Public Works Dept
sprays in a given creek and after at least an inch of rainstorm, which has not been
done in the past. If you are interested in getting involved in this study, please
contact Susan.
We need someone to help with water sampling
and conduct simple statistical analyses and modest funding is available.
Contra Costa
Times Article
Press release sent out by PfSE [Word Document]
Children's Diseases Linked to Chemicals on the Rise
Chronic childhood diseases linked to exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment
cost the U.S. almost $55 billion a year according to the panel of
experts hosting the 3-day conference of the Children's Environmental Health Sciences
Center,
at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Children's
Hospital of Wisconsin. Dr. Phillip Landrigan, Professsor and chairman of preventive
medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, outlined the challenges facing those
working to combat the rise of birth defects, asthma, neuro-developmental disorders
and other major diseases of children in the United States and other industrial nations.
"The environment is a powerful determinant of human health, and there's no group
more vulnerable or susceptible to adverse influences in the environment than kids,"
Landrigan said explaining that children experience greater exposure to chemicals
pound-for-pound than adults.
Dr. Landrigan said there are 3,000 high-volume chemicals used today; for roughly
half, there is no basic toxicity information publicly available. "For the past
six to eight years, national surveys have found these chemicals present in our blood
and urine... they're routinely finding a whole suite of chemicals in everybody...
cancer in children has been linked to exposure to radiation, solvents, paints and
pesticides."
6 Building Materials to Avoid if Possible
- polyvinyl chloride
- volatile organic compounds
- phthalates
- heavy metals
- halogenated flame retardants
- perfluorocarbons
For information on common sources of these 6 chemicals found in our bodies and linked
to chronic illnesses and also safer alternative resources, click below.
Health Building
Materials Fact Sheet.
How to avoid polyvinyl chloride in common school supplies:
PVC-free school guide from the CHEJ.
What Pesticides are on Conventionally Grown Food?
Check out this sobering database!
Pesticides are found on even washed produce and they get into our bodies. Find
out what is on conventionally grown Food including dairy & meats and their corresponding
toxicity. This database was created by the US EPA Award-winning group Pesticide
Action Network, North America who compiled data from the USDA's Pesticide Data Program
and cross referenced with EPA and other authoritative toxicology databases.
Click
on the Food Name and Get the Data!
Breast Cancer Conference in Sausalito - no fee
6th
Annual Early Environmental Exposures Meeting for Breast Cancer: November 19-20,
hosted by the Breast Cancer & Environment Research Centers.
Register here.
Sponsored by Natl Inst. Hlth Sci, Natl Cancer Inst, and Avon. We may be eligible
for reimbursement for travel costs... contact Susan. See agenda for program topics.
If you can't make it to the 1.2 day conference, experts will be holding a town hall
meeting on November 18th evening from 7-9PM in Sausalito.
Click here for info.
Likely Implications of Health Care Reform on Insurance Coverage in CA.
National Health Care Reform Will Help
Four Million Uninsured Adults and Children in California
according to a recent evaluation
by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Reform Research.
If national health care reform is enacted, 93
percent of California's non-elderly population would have access to health
insurance - a nearly 13 percentage point increase in statewide coverage. Not every
Californian will be covered: the current proposals do not include people who either
have incomes too high to qualify for public subsidies or do not qualify because
of their citizenship status.
- Acalanes School District Applied Toxic Pesticides on Playing Fields in the Summer of 2009 after promising not to use
these: Petition for a written IPM Policy here
- 2 for 1 Special on September 10th at Green Rheem Movie Night! Enjoy local wines, appetizers, and a great film with friends!
Click here for more info.
- PfSE needs volunteers. Prefer a technical background either in law or in chemistry/toxicology/public health/environmental health but not necessary.
We are submitting a few large proposals that may turn this position into a well paid position in 2010.
- PfSE is beginning to work with St Mary's College to adopt integrated pest management and is looking for a student intern to help with spreadsheet work.
*******
PfSE has also delineated a funding request to our community members
who support our work. Click here to review and consider donating for
our various projects and organizational support needs. All donations
are completely tax-deductible.
PfSE meets every 3rd Thursday of the month in Moraga, at the home of the
Director.
Background:
Parents for a Safer Environment (PfSE), a grass-roots organization, was formed
after parents witnessed children being exposed to serious environmental hazards in
Childcare Facilities in the Fall of 2002. A steering committee of parent
volunteers from Moraga, Lafayette, Richmond, El Cerrito, Walnut Creek,
Pleasant Hill, and Martinez, and an Advisory Board of health and
technical experts work to
bring awareness of environmental hazards and solutions to the community. We invite others
to join us. Learn more about us here!
Advisory Board
Contact: Director, Susan JunFish, MPH
junfish@ gmail dot com
(925) 283-4609
Jobs available for scientists, editors, and
those interested in protecting public health and the environment.
Acknowledgements:
Website designer and gatekeeper: Diana Chernikova (dchernikova at gmail dot com)
