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Just Released! 2nd Annual Consumer Guide
to Toxic Chemicals in Cars & Child Car Seats
Watch the Video! |
Ecology Center project websites continue to be the place for consumers to turn to for groundbreaking information about hazardous levels of toxic chemicals in everyday products. HealthyCar.org has just released the 2nd annual consumer guide to toxic chemicals in cars and child car seats.
Consumers looking to buy a new car or child car seat, or to check the status of a product already in use, can visit HealthyCar.org to find the newest test results for over 200 of the most popular 2008- and 2009-model vehicles and over 60 child car seats.
Since 2007, HealthyCar.org’s product ratings have received widespread national media attention and now include 450 vehicles and 130 child car seats. As an added bonus, this year’s rankings are cross-referenced with fuel economy figures, allowing consumers to find both healthy and fuel-efficient vehicles.
As in earlier testing, Ecology Center environmental scientists sampled components from car interiors and child car seats that off-gas chemicals with known toxicity, persistence, and tendency to build up in people and the environment.
Researchers were primarily concerned with bromine, chlorine, lead, and other heavy metals. These substances, which are most evident in what’s known as “new-car smell,” become part of the air we breathe, and potentially contribute to a variety of acute and long-term health concerns such as allergies, birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer.
“More and more consumers are concerned about the issue of toxic chemicals in commonly used products – especially products related to children,” said Jeff Gearhart, Ecology Center Clean Car Campaign Director.
“While the best car and child car seat manufacturers are starting to pay attention, far too many companies have not yet phased out these dangerous chemicals.”
To sample the vehicles and the child car seats, Ecology Center researchers used a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) device, which identifies the elemental composition of any material in less than 60 seconds. Vehicle components tested were those most likely to be touched or otherwise contribute to human exposure: the steering wheel, shift knob, armrest/center console, dashboard, headliner, carpet, seat front, seat back, seat base, hard door trim and soft door trim. Components sampled in child car seats included the seat bases, clips, EPS foam, shades, trim, and armrests.
Take Action at the Federal Level!
The law regulating chemicals in commerce, the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), is 30 years old and needs an overhaul. Visitors to HealthyCar.org/takeaction.federal.php are encouraged to send an email to Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chair of the U.S. Committee on Environment & Public Works, and Representative John Dingell (D-Mich.), Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and ask for oversight hearings on re-writing TSCA. HealthyCar.org is advocating for complete health and safety testing on chemicals used in products and industry before they are put on the market, and to promote innovation for safer alternatives.
The study of child car seats and the guide to car interiors at HealthyCar.org are part of an ongoing effort by the Ecology Center’s Clean Car Campaign to get consumers to pay more attention to the chemicals in their cars, and in turn, force manufacturers to provide products made with safer alternatives. A full list of action steps is available at HealthyCar.org/takeaction.php. Also, be sure to visit HealthyToys.org, another Ecology Center project website, where you will find test results for toxic chemicals on over 1,200 toys.
Vehicle Ratings
Since the average American spends more than 1.5 hours in a car every day, toxic chemical exposure inside vehicles is potentially a major source of indoor air pollution. Overall, several auto manufacturers showed improvement over last year’s findings, including Mazda, General Motors and Nissan. GM, whose average vehicle ranking improved by 27%, showed the most improvement of the domestic automakers.
The latest test results ranked the Acura RDX and the Smart Pure Coupe as the least-toxic cars; while the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Suzuki Reno, BMW 128i came in as the most-toxic cars. In 2007, the least-toxic vehicles were the Chevy Cobalt, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Honda Odyssey and the Volvo V50. The most-toxic vehicles were the Nissan Versa, Chevy Aveo, Scion xB 5dr and the Kia Rio.
Child Car Seat Ratings
The Ecology Center tested over 60 brand-new infant, convertible and booster car seats and found that while some are virtually free of the most dangerous chemicals, others are saturated. While there are numerous substances in child car seats that can lead to health and environmental problems, Ecology Center testing focused on chemicals that are linked to major health problems such as liver, thyroid and developmental problems in children. Research has shown that babies are the most vulnerable population in terms of exposure to chemical-laden dust and inhaling toxic fumes, since their systems are still developing.
The good news is that average child car seat scores improved by 28% overall, proving that toxic chemicals are not required for the manufacture of child car seats (or interior automobile components). The not-so-good news is that there are still reasons to be concerned, especially with models that our tests showed to be the most toxic: Alpha Sport Vantage Booster, Britax Marathon Onyx.
Overall results show that the levels of dangerous chemicals contained in child car seats vary greatly between models. Ecology Center researchers hope that the inclusion of these car seats in HealthyCar.org will make it easier for parents to select a model that contains the fewest harmful chemical additives.
EPA Ignores Cement Plant Mercury Pollution
Actual Emissions Almost Double Agency's Projections
Photo: Courtesy of Thaddeus Robertson, The Daily Green |
Mercury pollution coming from the nation’s 150 cement kilns is actually about double what was previously estimated. A recent study from Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) outlines the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s failure over the last decade to curb dangerous mercury pollution from cement kilns, concluding that emissions are almost twice as high as the agency has previously acknowledged.
Some cement kilns, according to the new data, release as much or more mercury as coal-fired power plants, and in many states are among the worst mercury polluters. Much of the mercury escaping from cement plants comes from the burning for fuel of mercury-tainted coal waste — called fly ash — obtained from power plants. Mercury also comes from the processing
of limestone used in making cement.
The EJ/EIP findings are significant, and illustrate the extent to which the cement industry operates with little, if any, pressure from regulatory agencies to curb their polluting ways. In 2007, when the EPA finally got around to actually collecting data from the cement industry, they were forced to almost double their previous pollution projections.
The agency now says that cement kilns emit nearly 23,000 pounds of mercury each year, far more than their 2006 estimate of 11,995 pounds.
The public should be very concerned, says the EJ/EIP report, because of the known dangers posed by mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin that interferes with the brain and nervous system, and the proximity of cement kilns to many major U.S. urban areas and such major bodies of water as the Chesapeake Bay, Lake Huron, and the San Francisco Bay.
Already, mercury pollution has impaired rivers, lakes, and streams throughout the U.S., making certain fish unsafe to eat. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, eight percent of women of childbearing age in America have mercury in their bodies at levels high enough to put their babies at risk of birth defects, loss of IQ, learning disabilities, and developmental problems.
The Ash Grove Cement Plant in Durkee, Oregon, has the dubious distinction of being the worst mercury polluter of any kind in the country, emitting more mercury into the air than any power plant, steel mill or hazardous waste incinerator.
In 2006, Ash Grove reported to the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory that it emitted 2,582 pounds of mercury. Based on information Ash Grove submitted to EPA in 2007, however, actual emissions may be as much as 3,788 pounds a year.
The Ash Grove Cement Plant at Louisville, NE is located on the south bank of the Platte River. |
Although it spews the greatest amount of mercury (more than double the amount of the next worst polluter), Lafarge North America, Inc., shows up on the Top 10 Polluting Cement Kilns list twice, at rank four and rank five with its plants in New York and Michigan.
“EPA’s new data confirm that cement plants are among the worst mercury polluters in this country,” says Earthjustice staff attorney James Pew. “EPA has refused to acknowledge this problem for more than a decade, and the mercury contamination in our food and waters has grown worse every year as a result. It is high time for EPA to do its job and make this industry clean up its toxic emissions.”
The EPA claims that it will use its newly created data to finally propose mercury standards for cement kilns sometime in the summer or fall of 2008.
The Environmental Integrity Project was founded by Eric Schaeffer, a former director of the EPA’s Office of Regulatory Enforcement. Schaeffer resigned in 2002 after publicly expressing his frustration with efforts of the Bush Administration to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other laws.
The complete EJ/EIP report, “Cementing a Toxic Legacy? How EPA Has Failed to Control Mercury Pollution From Cement Kilns,” as well as steps for taking action, are available at www.earthjustice.org.
Michigan's Cement Kilns
Alpena Cement Plant, Lafarge North America |
Michigan is home to six active cement plants, two in River Rouge, and one in Detroit, Dundee, Alpena, and Charlevoix. The Lafarge site in Alpena is a five-kiln operation, and in 2006 was the nation’s third largest cement plant. It currently ranks fifth on the Top 10 Polluting Cement Kilns list. The Lafarge kilns collectively reported emitting 360 pounds of mercury in 2006.
For comparison’s sake, the state’s largest coal-fired power plant generates mercury emissions of around 600 pounds per year, and the total mercury emissions from utilities around the state is about 2,500 pounds per year. In 2006, when Michigan tried to limit mercury from the Lafarge cement plant, the company sued to block it and won. The Lafarge cement plant is of particular concern because it sits on the banks of Lake Huron and in close proximity to residential areas of Alpena.
Closer to home, Holcim Dundee, in Southeast Michigan’s Monroe County, was the state’s sixth biggest polluter in 2003, when it emitted 2.6 million pounds per year of pollutants. Like other cement plants around the country, Holcim Dundee processes cement by using materials for fuel such as coal, tires, and fly ash from power plants.
back to topMary Beth Doyle Environmental Health Fund
Funding Tomorrow's Environmental Activists
As an environmental activist, Mary Beth Doyle was a dynamo. Though her ebullient life and chosen vocation were tragically cut short in Nov. 2004, her legacy lives on today in the hearts of her family, friends, and colleagues, and in the groundbreaking work made possible by the Mary Beth Doyle Environmental Health Fund. Created by the Ecology Center, where Mary Beth worked for twelve years as Environmental Health Campaign Director, the Fund has helped finance exactly the sort of work Mary Beth did to help protect children and families from toxics when she was alive.
So far, the donation-fueled Fund has been used to pay for summer internships for young environmentalists to help with Ecology Center product-testing projects, such as for toys, children’s car seats, and car interiors. And, in case you somehow missed the coverage by ABC, CNN, CBS, Fox, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Treehugger, and E Magazine, to name a few, those projects ended up generating the core research data for the Ecology Center’s wildly successful sister websites, HealthyToys.org and HealthyCar.org.
Joel Batterman testing toys with Jeff Gearhart, Ecology Center's Clean Car Campaign Director |
The Ecology Center hired its first Mary Beth Doyle intern, Joel Batterman, for the summer of 2007. Joel spent most of his time testing hundreds of toys for the presence of toxic substances like phthalates and lead using an XRF X-ray fluorescence analyzer, which he calls “ the chemical cop’s ray gun.”
“I was also lucky enough to help out at the testing we held at Tree Town Toys that August,” he recalls. “I’m told that footage of me appeared on the local Fox News channel, though I haven’t seen it myself.” Joel also did research for a report on the U.S. Clean Cities Program, which sought to “green” government vehicle fleets, and spent time testing whether flame-retardants inside cars would volatilize on exposure to light.
Joel has been working for the Ecology Center as a volunteer on various projects since 2004. For Joel, working with the Ecology Center is also a family affair. His father, Stuart Batterman, Ph.D., a professor of environmental and occupational health at the U-M School of Public Health who specializes in air pollution, has done quite a bit of work with the Ecology Center over the years, especially on the medical-waste incinerators project.
This summer, Joel is the Paul Gerhardt, Jr., Intern at 1000 Friends of Oregon. Come fall, Joel enters his junior year as a history major at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he is a member of a student environmental group.
The Mary Beth Doyle intern of 2008, Andrea Liberatore, was hired part-time by the Ecology Center in June. Initially, Andrea worked mostly on the Clean Car Campaign, creators of the HealthyCar.org website, testing components of car interiors and children’s car seats for toxic substances with an XRF analyzer. In mid-July, Andrea became a full-time employee, organizing and doing further testing for HealthyToys.org, with plans to soon begin doing environmental education at city summer-camps.
Andrea Liberatore
testing toys with the XRF |
Andrea brings a diverse background and unique perspective to her Ecology Center work. She and her husband spent two years in South Africa, from 2005 to 2007, as Peace Corps School and Community Resources Volunteers. “Basically we were assigned to four rural, primary schools and, armed with a few tools, sent in to help with whatever they needed,” she says. “For us, that included helping teachers with their teaching techniques, creating visual aids to make a better learning environment in the classrooms and to help teachers teach their subjects. We taught computers to many of the teachers there, started a small library in each school, painted giant world maps on the side of each school as art and a teaching aid, and lots of different other things.”
“I have always had an interest in the environment,” Andrea says, “but it was further piqued in South Africa, where it became painfully obvious that few people had any knowledge of the impact they were making on their surroundings. That is where a difference needs to be made — especially as 1st World technologies and consumerism spread to the villages of the world.”
This fall, Andrea begins pursuit of her master’s degree at U-M’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. “I want to do some kind of public environmental education in the future — try to teach people how precious our natural environment is, and how important it is to lessen our impacts upon it. That's kind of my driving force. I still don't really know how I'm going to go about doing this, but nonprofits like the Ecology Center are leading the way, which is why I'm glad to be a part of the projects here.”
Investing in the Future
The Mary Beth Doyle Environmental Health Fund is supported by donations from individuals and organizations as well as from the Ecology Center’s annual spring shindig, Dance for the Earth, and the independently produced Dylanfest.
back to topContributions can be sent to:
The Ecology Center
c/o The Mary Beth Doyle Environmental Health Fund
117 N. Division
Ann Arbor, MI 48104You may also submit your contribution online. Please specify the "Mary Beth Doyle Environmental Health Fund" under Additional Information at the bottom of the page.
Read about the Mary Beth Doyle Park and Wetland Preserve dedication ceremony in this article from the May 2008 EcoLink.
Free! Electronics Recycling Now Available
Recycle Ann Arbor's Drop Off Station Starts Service
Happy days are here! No more stockpiling hard drives, printers, and the like in the basement waiting for that one special day in the year when the stuff can be recycled for free in the high school parking lot or some big box store.
Recycle Ann Arbor’s Drop Off Station in July began accepting for recycling, free of charge, many electronics — computers, printers, VCRs, stereos, and microwave ovens.
Melinda Uerling, Recycle Ann Arbor ‘s CEO, explains: “Recycle Ann Arbor has partnered with a new vendor to recycle these electronic items, and we are excited to be able to pass along the cost savings to our customers.” Recyclers will no longer be charged the $5-$20 fees associated with these items in the past.
Charges will remain in effect for Freon appliances and specialty electronics, due to the materials that must be removed from them before they may be safely recycled. Freon appliances (refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, dehumidifiers and water cooling systems) cost $25 each to recycle. Computer monitors, many of which contain lead or mercury, cost $15 each to recycle, regardless of size.
Fluorescent light bulbs up to four-feet long, including compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), are recycled for $1 each, or $10 per dozen (if boxed). Eight-foot fluorescent bulbs are $2 each to recycle. The cost to recycle televisions depends on the size and weight of the unit. All prices are listed on the Drop Off Station page at www.recycleannarbor.org.
RAA’s Drop Off Station is open to the public Mon.-Sat., 9 am to 5 pm, and is located at 2950 East Ellsworth Road in Ann Arbor, just west of Platt Rd. Many recyclable items are accepted for free, such as paper, metals, glass, and batteries. In addition, a wide variety of items are accepted for disposal at minimal cost. Pickup service is available for large bulky waste items, at additional charge.
About Recycle Ann Arbor
A pioneer in electronics recycling, Recycle Ann Arbor has collected and recycled more than one million pounds of electronics since 2003, at both the Drop Off Station and through community recycling events.
Founded in 1977, Recycle Ann Arbor is a leader in the recycling industry, offering easy and convenient recycling for the home and workplace. As a private nonprofit organization, Recycle Ann Arbor is dedicated to providing education and innovative services in the collection, processing and distribution of recyclable materials.
Recycle Ann Arbor started Michigan’s first curbside recycling program in 1978, and currently operates the state’s largest community drop-off center, as well as The ReUse Center, the Environmental House green building resource center, the Ann Arbor curbside recycling program, and Calvert’s Roll Off Containers.
For more information about Recycle Ann Arbor, please call 734-662-6288, or visit RAA online at www.recycleannarbor.org.
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EcoLink — July 2008
An online publication of the Ecology Center
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Please send to EcoLink Editor
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