Dear John,

Finding new uses for discarded plastic is great. But when those uses put your health at risk, we need to say no! That’s exactly where we find ourselves now. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently gave approval to Chevron to produce and use cancer-causing components for fuels made from discarded plastic. Even minimal exposure to these substances can increase your risks for developing cancer and can cause damage to your kidneys, blood and liver.

How do we know these chemicals are hazardous? Because current and former EPA scientists said so and so did the agency’s own risk assessment.

EPA ran a risk assessment on Chevron’s new chemicals - made through a process called pyrolysis -  and found that these new components have an astronomical lifetime cancer risk – one that is a million times higher than the standard EPA has used up until now. Simply put, it’s unacceptable. Which is why we need to act now.

The risk is too great! Demand action from EPA and urge the agency to withdraw approval for these cancer-causing chemicals. Send the EPA's Administrator a powerful message today!

Federal law requires EPA to evaluate the health risks of new chemicals before they hit the market — ensuring their safety for the general public. If a new chemical product is found to cause “unreasonable” health risks to those who are exposed to it, EPA is required to put protections in place to reduce those risks or to refuse to approve the chemical. But in this case, EPA decided its risk assessment was overstating the risks and gave Chevron the green light to begin production.

Now factories, like the Chevron plant in Pascagoula, Mississippi, can produce these toxic substances — which threaten to poison our air, contaminate local waters and present significant risks to the health of workers, consumers and communities. 

In fact, one of the chemicals EPA approved posed a 1 in 4 lifetime risk of developing cancer for people exposed to it. Another chemical was estimated to present large risks for people who eat fish contaminated by it – an estimated 7 out of 100 lifetime risk of cancer. Even worse and most shocking of all, EPA estimated that people who regularly inhale that same chemical have a 100% chance of getting cancer.

All this to say that these chemical products are not safe AT ALL.

To protect the health of our planet and the health of our communities we cannot allow these chemicals to hit the market. Send a message today and urge EPA to withdraw its approval for these chemicals before it’s too late.

Thank you for your leadership,

Wes Rogerson,
Manager, Grassroots Activism