FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS FROM:
Contact: Toni Temple (440) 845-1888
It’s Up to Us
To Make a Fuss
The power of the people worked in the “good old days,” and it is working again today. Johnson & Johnson, a leading manufacturer of baby and personal care products, has pledged to remove toxic chemicals from their baby product line by the end of 2013, and safer adult products are to follow. The advocacy and teamwork of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, of which the Breast Cancer Fund is one of the founding members, and the voices of many people with concerns for their own health issues, helped to accomplish this feat.
The Ohio Network for the Chemically Injured (ONFCI), a not-for-profit corporation that educates about and advocates on behalf of those who have been harmed by toxic chemicals in our everyday environments, applauds this accomplishment. Chemicals are implicated in many illnesses, not just Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). “At the conclusion of almost ten years of participation with the U.S. Access Board/National Institute of Building Sciences Indoor Environmental Quality study, I was astounded to learn that we are all getting sick, in different ways, from the same environmental factors,” said Toni Temple, ONFCI’s president.
Every May, during MCS Awareness and Education Month, ONFCI provides educational tools and information about MCS and related disorders, and encourages understanding and disability accommodations to prevent further harm that may be caused by avoidable and unnecessary exposures to toxic chemicals. An excellent MCS website, http://www.chemicalsensitivityfoundation.org , includes a free online video in which renowned physicians speak about MCS and how it devastates lives of the afflicted, their families and friends.
The Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act, introduced March 21, 2013 (Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Edward J. Markey) closes major loopholes in federal law that currently allows companies to use ingredients that damage human health and the environment.
On this first anniversary of Cuyahoga County Council’s MCS Awareness Resolution
County Council of Cuyahoga County, Ohio Resolution No. R2012-0011, we urge you to ask your
Mayor or Town Manager and School Superintendent to create similar legislation to protect your
children and their teachers, and make your city a safer place to live (or thank them if they have).
Mayors Debbie Southerland (Bay Village), Merle Gorden (Beachwood), Cyril Kleem (Berea), Mark Elliott (Brook Park), Samuel Alai (Broadview Heights), Richard Balbier (Brooklyn), Frank G. Jackson (Cleveland), Jack Bacci (Cuyahoga Heights Village), Vic Collova (Garfield Heights), Mark Cegelka (Glenwillow Village), Gregory Kurtz (Independence), Gary Starr (Middleburg Heights), Robert Blomquist (Olmsted Falls), Tim DeGeeter (Parma), Mike Byrne (Parma Heights), and Thomas Perciak (Strongsville) are among those who have provided support with proclamations and/or city resolutions.
Libraries participating in MCS Awareness and Education Month during the month of May include: Cuyahoga County Public Library’s 28 branches; the downtown branch of Cleveland Public Library, Science and Technology Department; and many other libraries throughout Ohio. During May, the libraries will display related books and mayoral proclamations, and provide ONFCI’s educational materials.
See a copy of Involuntary Exposures That May Harm Your Health - Ten Things You May Not Know on our website www.ohionetwork.org or pick up a copy at participating libraries. It contains information that may prompt more people to speak up.
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