Each day, Michigan residents are exposed to a wide variety of toxic chemicals through the food we eat, air we breathe, water we drink, and products we use in our homes.
Of the approximately 80,000 chemical compounds in commercial use today in the United States, less than half have had a full battery of tests for human health impacts. Only a small percent of those chemicals tested have been adequately tested to a broad range of impacts, including damage to the nervous system.
This presents a public health concern because many of the most common environmental toxins may be causing unsafe exposures in our homes, workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods.
Toxic compounds are found in many consumer products such as children's products, cosmetics, personal care products, cleaning supplies, pesticides, carpets, electronics, and plastic containers. The majority of chemicals in commercial use have not been adequately tested for their effects on human health. For many of the compounds that have been tested for health impacts, exposure is linked to negative health effects, including cancer and developmental disabilities.
In recent decades, rates of childhood cancers, asthma, and neurological disorders have increased substantially, and scientific evidence indicates that environmental exposures contribute to the incidence of these diseases.
The Ecology Center actively advocates for cleaner and saferconsumer products. We led a successful campaign to ban two kind of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) - Penta-BDE and Octa-BDE, compounds commonly used as flame retardants in a wide variety of consumer products. In January 2005, Governor Granholm signed the ban into law. The Ecology Center continues to fight for the ban on another form of PBDE called deca-BDE.
Fish are an important part of diet because they provide minerals, vitamins, proteins, and fatty acids. However, pollution in our waterways results in the contamination of fish populations. Common contaminants include mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)—compounds linked to neurological disorders and other health effects. It is important, especially for children and women of childbearing age, to learn about healthy fish consumption.
Our Role
The Ecology Center serves as a leading advocate for nontoxic products, safe manufacturing, chemical policy reform, and a healthier environment in Michigan and the United States. We work with physicians, nurses, public health professionals, environmentalists, community activists, and elected officials to advocate for better environmental health protection under the law, safer products and manufacturing, and a more health-protective chemical policy. Our major environmental health issues of concern are healthy fish consumption, brominated flame retardants, healthy homes, children’s environmental health, and national chemical policy reform.
Environmental Health Project
The Ecology Center's Environmental Health Project draws connections between environmental pollution and human health, particularly as it affects children. From watchdogging Dow chemical company to working with major suppliers in the health care industry, and with the creation of HealthyCar.org and HealthyToys.org, the Ecology Center strives to hold polluters accountable and move toward healthier alternatives for consumer products.
We promote chemicals policies that ask corporations and governments to make the safest chemical alternatives the first choice, persuading companies such as Kaiser Permanente and Consorta to move toward safer products. We also launched a Green Chemistry initiative to urge development of an industry that proactively focuses on safer chemical designs.
To address children’s environmental health in our home state, the Ecology Center created the Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health, a coalition of environmentalists, pediatricians, and health care professionals advocating for policies and practices that will reduce exposure of children to environmental toxicants.
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117 N. Division St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1580 USA • phone 734·761·3186 • fax 734·663·2414 •