I am at the sixth annual Greening Our Children Event in Greenwich, CT. This event is honoring two of my favorite eco-heroes, Dr. Phil Landrigan and Jessica Alba. Dr Phil Landrigan is from the Children’s Environmental Health Center and has worked tirelessly to remove lead from gasoline after his studies showing the correlation between the lowering of children’s IQs and their level of lead exposure. He researches harmful chemicals and their effect on the health of our children, as well as educates the public about the inherit risks of exposure. Jessica Alba is receiving the Mt Sinai Champion For Children Award because of her dedication to the prevention of childhood chronic disease as it relates to exposure to harmful toxicants. She is the spokesperson for the large and growing coalition Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Jessica is partners with Christopher Gavigan formerly the director of Healthy Child, Healthy World, in their eco-friendly, stylish baby and home products business, The Honest Company. The Honest Company makes the cleanest and safest non-toxic children’s products available, including diapers! I am here with Vice Chair of the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC), Rhonda Matheison. Because of Phil Landrigan and the work of the CHEC, New York State and Conneticut were the first to ban BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. Now they have worked successfully to ban BPA in cash register receipts. Is Georgia the next state to do the right thing by our children and ban this ubiquitous chemical in cash register receipts?
Dr. Wright from Harvard has opened a new lab at Mt Sinai that is focused on epigenetics and bio markers. Prior to this new lab it took the Centers for Disease Control two years to get test results back. Now the CHEC in-house lab will be able to provide immediate results! For the first time they can take baby teeth that have rings, similar to the rings on a tree, and see when exposures to heavy metals occurred in that infant/child’s life. This allows for a much broader study of chemical exposures and related chronic childhood diseases. Congratulations to Jessica and Phil! Keep up the good work! I encourage everyone to learn more about the amazing work of the Mt Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center.