To infertility and beyond!
In November, Greenpeace attached warning stickers to Disney children’s
pyjamas that contain toxic chemicals yet remain on sale to the public.
The warning stickers read: “DANGER! Chemicals in this product contaminate
children.”
In tests on four pairs of Disney-branded pyjamas available at The Disney
Store and other major retailers, a toxic chemical was found called nonylphenol,
which can interfere with human DNA and affect sperm production in mammals.
Also present in the children’s garments were phthalates, which
can cause liver, kidney and testicular damage and are banned from teething
toys under emergency European legislation.
Oliver Knowles, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner, said: “Perhaps it
would be more apt if Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase became ‘To
infertility and beyond!’”
The products affected are: Buzz Lightyear pyjamas for boys; Piglet pyjamas;
Tigger pyjamas with caption ‘100% Cheeky’; Tigger pyjamas
with caption ‘Come on in little buddy. The water’s great!’
Greenpeace believes the toxic chemicals are in the garments as a result
of the inks and PVC plastic film used in the design.
As a result of the campaign, Disney stores, along with Debenhams and
Mothercare, which have also been stocking Disney pyjamas, have now withdrawn
the offending garments from sale. However, on 14th November, ASDA and
Woolworths were still selling pyjamas containing these harmful chemicals.
Although it is good news that some retailers are beginning to recognise
the seriousness of this issue by withdrawing from sale some of the pyjamas
concerned, Greenpeace wants retailers to act immediately to remove all
pyjamas containing chemicals that contaminate children.
The test results come at a crucial time. EU Commissioners have recently
been debating the strength of new legislation which is being drafted
to regulate the chemical industry. The proposed legislation, called
REACH, has at its core a principle of substitution, i.e. if a company
is using a hazardous chemical in a product, when a safer alternative
exists, it will be legally obliged to stop using it.
However, EU Commissioners have been successfully lobbied by the chemical
industry, which fears that implementing the substitution principle would
be too costly. As a result, the recent discussions have resulted in
a weakening, rather than strengthening, of chemical regulations. This
means that toxic products such as these Disney pyjamas will continue
to be made.
Greenpeace is urging supporters to visit its website (www.greenpeace.org.uk)
and:
• Email Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
and tell her that the legislation must be strengthened to take unnecessarily
toxic products from the supermarket shelves.
• Visit the Chemical Home - Greenpeace’s new interactive website
- which illustrates how your body is contaminated with harmful chemicals
via brand-name products such as Disney. The website tells you more about
which products to buy instead.
• Read more about the substitution principle - Greenpeace has released
a report which details why it is crucial that the EU legislation is
strengthened to include this - 'Safer Chemicals within Reach - Using
the Substitution Principle to drive Green Chemistry'.
Secretary of State backs Baku-Ceyhan pipeline
Environmental and human rights groups have responded with dismay to
the recent decision by Hilary Benn, the new Secretary of State for International
Development, to back a $250 million World Bank loan for BP’s hugely
controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline.
The Bank’s loan follows intense lobbying by BP, which is leading
the consortium to build the BTC project. While the Bank touts the project
as a “milestone” which “breaks new ground on local economic
benefit”, furious campaigners say it is primarily driven by the
US desire for secure oil supplies, and could lead to severe economic
hardship for thousands of people and the destabilisation of the entire
Caspian region. In the days running up to the decision, executive directors
of the Bank acknowledged the severe problems with BTC but frequently
observed that the “political nature” of the project meant
that there was little they could do to stop it.
Anders Lustgarten of the Baku-Ceyhan Campaign, a coalition of groups
which has been publicly critical of the project, commented: “It
gives the powers of government to corporate entities; it uses taxpayer
funds to subsidise another US energy grab that will make climate change
even worse; and it fails local people in every way from paltry compensation
to increased exposure to security forces and major accidents.”
More information is available from the Kurdish Human Rights Project
at www.khrp.org/homeenglish.htm and The Baku Ceyhan Campaign www.bakuceyhan.org.uk.
Supporters can write to Hilary Benn at: 1 Palace Street, London SW1E
5HE or H-Benn@dfid.gov.uk
