in the trenches/endocrine disrupters

 

9. What You Can Do

Most experts and advocates agree that completely eliminating your personal exposure is impossible, because the chemicals are so widespread in the environment. Advocacy groups emphasize that you are far from powerless, however. You control the products that enter your home and your body, so you can reduce your exposure. You have consumer power with which to influence companies and the marketplace. You have the power to become involved in the debate and pressure your government to take action. And you can join with other concerned folks to do all these things as well as stay informed.

Start by reading Reducing your risk: A guide to avoiding hormone-disrupting chemicals an excellent online guide from World Wildlife Fund, Canada. It's thorough and practical, and because it correlates sources of exposure with activities or products, you'll feel empowered, not paranoid.

Environmental chemist Dr. Michael Warhurst offers suggestions in a page entitled What can you do? It's a United Kingdom site, but the advice applies everywhere.

Also check out these two sites. The What Can We Do? page of the Endocrine Disrupters site at Harvey Mudd College gets its information from the Sources, What Can Be Done? section of the Endocrine Disrupters Web Site at the Center for Environmental Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University. The Harvey Mudd page summarizes things into a more succinct bullet list.

Other resources and the Right to Know
Endocrine disrupters are part of the larger issue of toxics and chemical regulation. Therefore, resources and organizations aimed at the toxics problem can also help folks concerned about endocrine disrupters. Right to Know laws are important tools for concerned citizens. You can learn how to use them, fight attempts to weaken them, and press instead for stronger legislation.

The EPA recently launched a new page designed to introduce Community Right-to-Know issues to the general public.

There's also a fact sheet about Community Right-to-Know available from the White House Council On Environmental Quality.

The Right to Know is one of the issues the Environmental Information Center addresses.

The Right-to-Know Network, RTK NET, was established to empower citizen involvement in community and government decision-making. It offers access to government databases, as well as other services.

For more background, read The right-to-know tug-of-war: EPA's online database simplifies information gathering, an article in the journal of the Society of Environmental Journalists.

To learn how your Right to Know is eroding, read Right to Know Nothing in Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly.

The Toxics & Waste page of EcoNet/IGC lists numerous links to various resources and organizations.

The Pesticide Action Network (PAN), a global citizen's network, has campaigned for 15 years to replace pesticide use with ecologically sound alternatives. Find out more about current campaigns from the PAN North America (PANNA) home page. You can find news and information about pesticide reform campaigns and subscribe to PANUPS (Pesticide Action Network Update Service), a weekly online news service, and to Resource Pointers, which announces recent books, reports, videos and other resources related to pesticides and sustainable agriculture. The site also includes tons of links to other sources of information.

 

More on Endocrines:
Table of Contents | Twelve Hundred Words or Less... | Web Resources
Activist Groups | Voices | New in the Literature | Hotspots
On the Other Hand... | Funders | What You Can Do