WHE Advocacy Initiatives

Women for a Healthy Environment (WHE) educates and empowers people about environmental risks so that they can make healthy choices for themselves and their families and advocate for change for a better tomorrow for all.

WHE focuses on policy and advocacy at all levels – local, state, and federal.

Local Level

By making our environment healthier, we can make ourselves healthier. Listed below are those advocacy issues WHE is working to advance:

The Pittsburgh Clean Air Act (Bill No. 2010-0567)

Sponsors: Peduto, Kraus, Rudiak, Shields, Harris
With Pittsburgh having the third worst rated air in the country, it is important that changes are made to improve the air quality in our city. The Clean Air Act will require contracts for publicly-funded development to ensure that all diesel vehicles are retrofitted with the best available diesel control technology and that ultra low sulfur diesel fuel is used by construction vehicles in the City of Pittsburgh. Click here to read more.

 For more information on this local initiative:  http://www.pittsburghunited.org/CleanAirCleanWater

State Level

WHE is in support of several initiatives that address environmental health issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Bisphenol-A free Baby and Toddler Product Act (House Bill 192)

No person or entity may manufacturer, sell or distribute any bottle, cup or other container that contains bisphenol-A at a level above 0.1 parts per billion (ppb) if the container is deisgned or intended to be filled with any liquid, food or beverage primarily for consumption from that container by infants or children three years of age or younger. 

Federal Level

Women for a Healthy Environment recognizes the importance of being cautious about what we put in and on our bodies. How many “secret” chemicals are in your cosmetics? How many pesticides are on that piece of fruit or vegetable? We must be aware of the potentially harmful chemicals and ingredients in consumer goods and products as they exist today. That’s why WHE supports the following bills; it’s time for changes to be made in efforts to make products safer for consumers.

Safe Chemicals Act

Since the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was enacted in 1976, over 80,000 chemicals have been produced, EPA has required testing on just 200 and only 5 chemicals have been regulated. It’s time for a reform of TSCA. Recently Sen. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced the Safe Chemicals Act which would require all industrial chemicals to be tested for safety, and to put the burden of proof on the manufacturer, rather than the consumer. In addition, the bill would provide the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with sufficient information to judge a chemical’s safety, promote innovation and development of green chemistry, ensure the safety threshold is met for all chemicals on the market, take fast action to address highest risk chemicals, create open access to reliable chemical information, and prioritize chemicals based on risk. The products in our home will continue to contain toxic chemicals unless action is taken. Write to your Congressional leader and ask them to support TSCA reform!
Click here to read more.

Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act

The FRAC act would repeal what is commonly known as the "Haliburton Loophole," a provision of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that exempts industry from complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act. The act is intended to allow states to ensure that our drinking water is safe, by giving the states the ability to incoporate hydraulic fracturing into their existing permitting processes for each well, so there is no need for additional permitting processes and standards would be set by the EPA. In addition, chemical constituents of fracing fluids, but not the main chemical formula, would be disclosed to the state and made available to the public online. In situations where medical treatment is needed, disclosure of the proprietary chemical formula may be released to the examining phsyician and EPA. This has been presented as bill H.R. 1084, sponsored by Representatives DeGette and Polis of Colorado, and also as Senate Bill 587, sponsored by Bob Casey.

What You Can Do – Visit the Get Involved section
of Our Website to Take Action:

• Join Women for a Healthy Environment in supporting these policy initiatives!
• Send a letter or call your local, state or federal legislative official stating that you support the initiatives listed above
• Know what’s in your food, consumer products and personal care products