|
In this issue we report on our successful year-end fund appeal (thanks to you!). SEHN science director, Ted Schettler, provides a brief overview of concerns about polyvinyl chloride plastics in healthcare and plastics in the environment more generally. You will also find links to Ted's most recent webinar with the Collaborative on Health and Environment (CHE) and Carolyn Raffensperger's recent feature on the Plant Yourself podcast.
|
Table of Contents
I. A Thank You from the SEHN Board and Staff
IV. SEHN in the News
|
|
|
Friends of SEHN,
Something unusual happened to SEHN in December of 2019. In response to our end-of-the-year fund appeal, we raised almost double the money we’ve raised in previous years. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Some of you organized a Facebook donation and your friends gave. One person created a challenge to her friends that if they gave $5.00 to SEHN she would give to an organization of their choice. Others gave on-line while others wrote checks. Some sent in their well wishes and affirmations of our work even though they couldn’t send money while others sent in thousands of dollars. Some sent in suggestions of what we should be working on. What a marvelous lesson in how every drop adds to the great river of hope.
Thank you for every word, every dollar, every act of generosity. SEHN’s currency is ideas. We pledge a good exchange rate in translating your money into the work that we do on behalf of communities, future generations and the Earth.
A deep bow of gratitude,
Carolyn Raffensperger
on behalf of the whole SEHN staff and board
A clear-eyed look into the history and future of plastic products we use in our daily lives can be unsettling. Where did they come from? What were their impacts along the way? Where are they going and what are the consequences?
I looked recently at lifecycle hazards associated with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and its additives, from production to disposal and recycling, in “Polyvinyl chloride in health care: A rationale for choosing alternatives ”. I undertook this project on behalf of Health Care Without Harm, one of SEHN’s coalition partners for over 20 years, and its companion organization, Practice Greenhealth. Since 1996, we have aimed to transform health care worldwide to reduce its environmental footprint and promote it as a leader in the global movement for environmental health and justice. Health care institutions are major consumers of products and materials and by critically examining purchasing policies through a lens of public environmental health and safety as well as product function they are in a strong position to influence larger markets.
Polyvinyl chloride is a versatile, high-volume, synthetic plastic with many different formulations. The material is commonly used in building materials, including flooring, pipes, carpet backing, and wall coverings. Office furniture, supplies, and packaging can be made of PVC. Health care-specific uses include PVC-based IV bags, blood bags, urine bags, tubing, oxygen masks, catheters, and disposable gloves.
Hazards in the lifecycle of PVC begin with the toxicity of chlorine production and other building blocks required for making the plastic polymer. They continue with the generation and release of hazardous compounds during manufacture and disposal. Recycling PVC is challenging and largely ineffective both because it must be completely separated from other kinds of plastic and the complexity of mixtures of many different additives.
READ MORE
Ted Schettler
SEHN Science Director
|
|
Health Care Without Harm’s analysis “Polyvinyl chloride in health care: A rationale for alternatives” distills current research to reveal the human and environmental impacts of PVC from production to end-of-life. It details the human health risks posed by chemicals of concern associated with the production of PVC and toxic additives such as DEHP. It also explores the pollution associated with traditional methods of disposal and recycling. The report also offers a summary of recent research about alternatives.
Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth recommend that health care facilities avoid PVC and DEHP and replace them with safer alternatives. READ MORE
|
|
|
February 19th: Ted Schettler presented during the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) webinar: Multifactorial Origins of Cancer, Case Studies of Environmental Chemicals and Cancer Risks, and a Systems Approach to Prevention.
Ted opened this webinar with a discussion of the multifactorial, multi-level origins of cancer, highlighting the importance of considering the entire cancer-related exposome, across the life-course. He then reviewed opportunities to reduce cancer risk through both individual behavioral changes and public policy interventions.
Click Here to View the Webinar.
|
|
|
|
SEHN Executive Director Carolyn Raffensperger was featured on the Plant Yourself Podcast hosted by Howard Jacobson, co-founder of WellStart Health. The mission of this podcast is to empower people to make big changes for themselves, their families, their community, and the planet. In this episode, Carolyn and Howard discuss the precautionary principle, the role of government, future generations, and beloved ancestors.
Right now, Raffensperger points out, the economy always gets the benefit of the doubt in any conflict with the environment. Growth is sacred, while trees and rivers are utilitarian. Polluter avoid financial responsibility for their actions, while ordinary people suffer."
Click here to listed to the Podcast.
|
|
|
|
