Chemical Policy Reform ~ Nurses Must Say "Yes‪"‬

Author Information: Dr. Sattler is Professor, Director of the Environmental Health Education Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing She also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE) Over the last several years, we have all been hearing and reading about toxic chemicals that are in a variety of products that we use every day Bisphenol A (BPA), flame retardants (PBDEs), and phthalates are hazardous chemicals that can be found in our foods, mattresses, baby pacifiers, and personal care products, respectively The range of health risks that they create include cancer, infertility, and a host of endocrine-related problems States around the country are passing legislation to ban these and other individual and categories of toxic chemicals The question that we, as nurses, should be asking is "how come these toxic chemicals are allowed in our products in the first place?