Content Archive

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed weaker regulations for the nation’s most hazardous chemical facilities, drawing opposition from community, environmental justice, labor and environmental health groups. “This rollback will cost lives,” said Michele Roberts, National Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. “EJHA affiliates refuse to continue to sacrifice their families’ health and safety for the profits of corporate polluters.”

As I continue to watch in rage at the spectacle of masked, fascist paratroopers in the streets of Minneapolis, I am reminded of the famous quote by Mohandas Gandhi:"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it – always”. Guest blog from Gary Cohen, Board Member of Coming Clean and Co-founder of Health Care Without Harm. 

Coming Clean is a national network committed to environmental health and safety for everyone, regardless of race, gender or immigration status. We condemn the ongoing and escalating violence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and agents against civilians. We stand with our members on the ground who exercise their legal rights to live, protest, and document ICE activity in their neighborhoods. ICE’s escalating violence and clear violation of civil rights threatens everyone’s health and safety.

“EPA doesn’t need to wait for new science to ban paraquat in the United States. Credible research meeting EPA’s “gold standard” tenets has already been submitted to EPA’s public docket demonstrating that exposure to paraquat causes harm to farmworkers, farmers, and rural communities, and that its continued registration for use poses an unreasonable risk to these communities. Study after study has shown that people who use or are exposed to paraquat are more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease and other adverse health conditions. The evidence of harm is strong enough that over 70 countries have already banned this toxic pesticide from use. Meanwhile, EPA has declined to review this evidence. Now, by suggesting that we need to wait for “accurate new studies [to] reveal additional risk,” EPA is attempting to push the regulatory reset button to buy chemical corporations profiting from paraquat sales more time.