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At this time of year, Liberty Hill looks back on some of the accomplishments of its grantees. The group Black Women for Wellness had a significant victory in October when Governor Brown signed “The Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers Act,” into law. The bill bans an industrial chemical bisphenol A (BPA) from use in baby bottles and sippy cups.
BWW Members had been lobbying hard for passage. Stephanie Haynes, for example, was part of a BWW delegation to Sacramento that got the facts to power-brokers. She is proud that at least one senator who was opposed the bill when she spoke to him eventually supported the legislation.
Stephanie joined BWW “because of the advocacy work they do.” She also works on the group’s studies of toxic chemicals in hair care products, which are not regulated. “After recovering from two strokes, I’m very chemical-sensitive now. So a lot of the hair-care and makeup products I can’t use anymore. So I started to investigate.”
When she thinks back on the chemicals and toxic substances her six children might have been exposed to growing up, Stephanie says with a heart-wrenching sigh, “If I had known then what I know now…”
But now we do know, she says. We know, for example, that the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) could harm the brains, endocrine systems and reproductive systems of fetuses, infants and children, and that studies have linked this industrial chemical to health problems including cancer and heart disease. So why do manufacturers use it in baby bottles and sippy cups? With a new three-month-old grandbaby to adore, that’s the question Stephanie took to politicians in Sacramento.
Black Women for Wellness co-sponsored the bill along with allies including Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Consumers Union, and Environmental Working Group. It had been introduced in the past but never passed until this year, in part because of foot-dragging by the FDA which now says, “FDA shares the perspective of the National Toxicology Program that recent studies provide reason for some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children."
California's BPA ban is supported by parents of all races, but BWW's involvement has been crucial because African American babies are disproportionately affected. African American women have lower rates of breast feeding and so their babies have more exposure to baby bottles and canned formula. Low-income parents are more likely to find cheaper bottles—those more likely to contain BPA-- in stores in their neighborhoods.
It will be 2013 before the law takes effect and the new regulation doesn’t touch BPA found in the lining of canned baby food as well as child-targeted food such as “Toy Story” Campbell’s soup. That's another battle, and one the FDA is making gestures of tepid goodwill toward, saying it supports "facilitating the development of alternatives to BPA for the linings of infant formula cans, efforts to replace BPA or minimize BPA levels in other food can linings, and a shift to a more robust regulatory framework for oversight of BPA.”
Meanwhile, Stephanie will continue her advocacy at the intersection of environmental justice and racial justice. She knows how society's policies affect individual mothers, fathers, grandparents and children. “I always say, heal the family. Once the family is healed, the community can be healed.”
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