Picture a couch by a window on a sunny day. A shaft of light coming in the window and a child jumping up and down on the couch. In that shaft of sunlight, you can see particles of dust lifting off the couch and swirling around with each bounce. Those particles are not just “dust,” they are tiny bits of couch material, most likely laced with toxic flame retardants.
The flame retardant chemicals put into furniture, children’s products and many more products in our homes are linked to cancer, learning disabilities, infertility and many more diseases and disorders. They’re in everyone’s bodies, and kids are particularly vulnerable because their bodies are developing, and because they’re crawling on the floor, putting their hands in their mouths and ingesting all the chemicals that are around them.
Firefighters are also vulnerable. When buildings catch fire, all of the toxic chemicals in the burning building materials and products turn into toxic gasses and soot, giving firefighters a much higher exposure than the average population. Researchers have found two to three times more flame retardants in firefighters’ bodies than in the general population.
The impacts are deadly. For the past 60 years, cancer rates in the fire service have been steadily rising to a point where firefighters have higher rates of cancer than any other profession. No less than 60 percent of career firefighters will die this way, “with their boots off.”
To add insult to injury, the flame retardants aren’t actually needed (or necessarily even helpful) for stopping fires. Couches, high chairs, kids nap maps and chairs can be made just as fire safe without the toxic flame retardants, just by using less flammable materials. At this point, the only purpose they serve is to fill the pockets of the chemical companies that sell them.
In May, the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill that would ban 11 harmful and unnecessary flame retardants in children’s products and household furniture. That puts this legislation in the hands of the House. Firefighters, children and all of us in Massachusetts are counting on the House to put our health first and pass this bill this session.
Massachusetts firefighters and kids deserve a healthier tomorrow.
For more information on this important issue please watch online the movie “Toxic Hot Seat.”
Paul W. Jacques
This writer is legislative agent for the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts. He is also a candidate for state representative from the district that includes Rehoboth and Seekonk.
Solving Attleboro’s budget problem is easy: Spend less
To the editor:
The City of Attleboro does not have a revenue problem; it has an overspending problem. The main reason for this fact is Mayor Kevin J. Dumas.
Let us recall how much over budget the city’s new animal shelter was. It was promised to be only $1 million. Wow, “only.” Anyway, the final tally totaled $1.4 million. This is 40 percent over the promised amount.
Now, further suppose that the city did not build a Taj Mahal sort of animal shelter but something more reasonable. I say that $800,000 would, and should, have been plenty. Then, there would be $600,000 left for the school budget. Similar savings were (past tense) available – but not now. The animal shelter is merely one example of this administration’s consistent overspending. This is not Wellesley or Westwood. This is Attleboro, a Chevrolet community, not a Mercedes-Benz one. It’s past time to spend less by living within our limited means.
Gerald F. Chase
Attleboro
Follow Foxboro’s lead
To the editor:
I read the June 27 article concerning the flags at Wrentham Center Cemetery. I can see why William Pierre was upset. There is no reason why new flags couldn’t be placed in the cemetery like our VFW Post 2626 does in Foxboro does in St. Mary’s cemetery in Foxboro. We take the old flags and replace them with new ones.
Doug Smith
Plainville
Chaplain, VFW Post 2626, Foxboro
Source Author:
THE SUN CHRONICLE
Source Link:
www.thesunchronicle.com