Dear John,
I wanted to forward this month’s email newsletter covering important topics related to our Health Program. With a new administration and exciting opportunities to make progress on a wide range of issues, I thought this could provide you with useful insights into our work to protect human health and reduce exposure to dangerous toxic pollution. The newsletter also helps you stay up-to-date with ongoing developments on all kinds of issues concerning public health.
If you’d like to stay connected and informed on these topics, you can sign up to receive our monthly Health newsletter going forward.
All my best,
Lumi Youm
Action Network Coordinator
-------Original Message-------
From: Sarah Vogel, Environmental Defense Fund
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2021
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This month’s highlights include:
- A short roundup of President-elect Biden’s inspiring picks for key health and environmental posts.
- A new drinking water rule could worsen disparities in lead exposure.
- The Trump EPA’s 11th-hour attacks on chemical safety.
- A landmark case cites air pollution as the cause of a young girl’s death in London – and what it means.
- And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom for rapid-fire news.
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Getting public health and environmental progress back on track
Night and day. President-elect Biden’s picks for key environmental and public health posts represent inspiring and refreshing change from the reckless and polluter-friendly Trump administration.
Highlighting four selections for key posts:
Nominated for EPA: Secretary of North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and former EDF staff member Michael Regan, who has a long track record of putting science first and bringing communities and stakeholders together to protect public health and the environment.
National Climate Advisor: Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who oversaw the rollout of the landmark Obama-era Clean Power Plan.
White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Lead: Environmental lawyer Brenda Mallory, who has extensive experience fighting for health and the environment in both public and private sectors – including as General Counsel for CEQ during the Obama administration.
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate: Former Secretary of State John Kerry, who helped build global consensus to secure the historic Paris climate agreement.
Learn more about other members of President-elect Biden’s science team.
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Trump’s EPA ignores expert advice in final lead in drinking water rule
Replacing lead service lines (LSLs), which deliver water to an estimated 9.3 million homes across the country, should be a national priority.
Unfortunately, three days before Christmas, Trump’s EPA issued a final lead in drinking water rule that ignores extensive evidence raised by public health experts during the proposed rule’s comment period and fails to proactively require replacement of lead pipes. Under the revised rule, residents will bear the financial burden of replacing LSLs on private property. This raises serious environmental justice concerns, as the practice all but ensures disparities in lead exposure from income and racial inequity will continue and worsen.
Given the major flaws in the rule, it is all the more important that states and communities step up to proactively replace lead pipes – something EDF and our partners will continue to push across the country.
Read more.
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Yet another shoddy, unscientific, and deeply concerning chemical evaluation
The Trump administration has had four years to weaken and undermine the country’s chemical safety system, which was reformed in June of 2016. And they’ve been busy. Under the law, EPA was tasked with evaluating the risks of 10 “high priority” chemicals, including known killers like asbestos and the cancer-causing water contaminant, 1,4-dioxane.
EDF has closely watch-dogged the Trump EPA’s actions under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Among other critical flaws, the agency has ignored known risks in chemical evaluation after evaluation. We’ve filed thousands of pages of comments, sued (and won), and more.
And, on New Year’s Eve, we saw that EPA dropped yet another final risk evaluation for 1,4-dioxane, a chemical that contaminates drinking water and cleaning products across the US. Among other critical flaws, the Trump EPA refused to consider people’s exposure through drinking water and the on-the-job exposure of millions of workers.
Learn more about the risks of 1,4-dioxane the Trump EPA has ignored, and how the Biden administration can better protect us from toxic chemicals.
Then take action: Tell Congress to protect communities across the country from the toxic chemicals in our air, water, and products. |
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Young London girl’s tragic death linked to air pollution – what does it mean?
Her name was Ella Roberta Adoo Kissi-Debrah. She lived in London near a heavily congested and polluted roadway. She was a clever, musical and sporty 9-year old girl who played multiple instruments and sports and read fantasy novels.
She dreamed of becoming a pilot and of overcoming her illness, a rare and complex form of asthma, which sent her to the hospital dozens of times.
Tragically, Ella passed away in 2013. And last month, for the first time ever, a UK coroner’s court cited dangerously high levels of air pollution as a medical cause of her death.
Around the world, only 1 in 10 people breathe healthy air. This ruling sends a powerful wake-up call to leaders: Failure to act on dangerous pollution is cutting lives short. We have solutions to advance a clean energy and transportation future that will protect children’s health and the climate. What we need, now, is the commitment and courage to act.
Read our full statement.
And visit the Ella Roberta Family Foundation.
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Rapid-Fire News
Three quick bullets to keep you in-the-know:
On its way out the door, the Trump administration is cementing its anti-environmental and health agenda with a series of flawed and dangerous policies. Luckily, President-elect Biden is set to take leadership soon. With an all-star team of officials already announced, it’s clear that tremendous progress lies ahead to advance climate, public health, and equity goals across the country.
And we’ll keep you updated every step of the way.
Stay tuned,
Sarah Vogel
Vice President, Health
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