Jessica Alba’s Late Night Internet Habits
In the quiet moments after her two-year-old daughter has gone to bed, actress Jessica Alba scours the Internet in search of how to protect her children from toxic chemicals in consumer products. Like so many other parents, she’s distressed by what she finds: BPA in baby bottles, lead and cadmium in toys, formaldehyde in furniture….
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In the quiet moments after her two-year-old daughter has gone to bed, actress Jessica Alba scours the Internet in search of how to protect her children from toxic chemicals in consumer products.
Like so many other parents, she’s distressed by what she finds: BPA in baby bottles, lead and cadmium in toys, formaldehyde in furniture.
“Our children are being used as the testing animals,” she realized.
Which is why Alba, now pregnant with her second child, made the trip to Washington, D.C. today. Along with mothers from across the country, she is asking members of Congress to reform our nation’s outdated chemical policy and shift the responsibility from overburdened parents to the companies who make these chemicals.
A mom with an internet connection is a powerful force. But there’s only so much Alba and others can do without backup from Congress. Especially when our existing chemical law, the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, is so weak that the Environmental Protection Agency was powerless to use it to ban the known carcinogen asbestos.
“The problem is so pervasive, even a savvy consumer can’t buy their way out, regardless of how informed they are,” Alba told a crowd gathered for a press conference this morning on Capitol Hill. “You can’t hire a team of scientists to go with you everywhere.”
Alba was flanked by members of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition (of which Earthjustice is a proud member) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), the sponsor of a bill to reform the existing law. Lautenberg’s Safe Chemicals Act would increase the safety of chemicals used in consumer products, increase public access to health and safety information, and protect vulnerable populations like pregnant women and children.
Alba, along with mothers and health professionals from across the country, is spending today and tomorrow asking members of Congress to support the bill. Join her. Contact your member of Congress now.
Help us usher in the day when expectant parents can paint their nurseries, stock it with playthings and baby supplies, and do it all with the security of knowing that each and every chemical in those products has been tested for health effects and found safe for their newborn.
From 2007–2018, Kathleen partnered with clean energy coalitions and grassroots organizations, empowered communities to fight against fracking, and worked with the Policy & Legislation team to have their messages heard by legislators.
Established in 1989, Earthjustice's Policy & Legislation team works with champions in Congress to craft legislation that supports and extends our legal gains.
