Environmental Leaders to Speak to Chemical’s Human Health Risks, Deliver Petition Signatures to EPA
Contacts:
- Sasha Tenenbaum, Moms Clean Air Force — stenenbaum@momscleanairforce.org, (917) 887-0146
- Melissa Valliant, Beyond Plastics — MelissaValliant@Bennington.edu, (410) 829-0726
- Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics – JudithEnck@Bennington.edu, (518) 605-1770
On July 27, leaders from the environmental organizations Beyond Plastics, Beyond Petrochemicals, River Valley Organizing, Hip Hop Caucus, Moms Clean Air Force, Greenpeace, Plastic Pollution Coalition, and Plastic Free Future, among others, will hold a news conference — which will also be recorded and shared immediately after the event — before delivering petition signatures to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calling on the EPA to ban the toxic chemical vinyl chloride. East Palestine residents, policy experts, and environmentalists will speak to vinyl chloride’s human health risks at the news conference before meeting with Michal Freedhoff, Assistant Administrator in the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
Vinyl chloride is a human carcinogen used almost exclusively to make polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, plastic. When the vinyl chloride in PVC burns, new toxic chemicals are formed, including dioxins — the most toxic chemical known to science. The February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was a chilling example of the threat petrochemicals like vinyl chloride poses to Americans, but this toxic chemical has been impacting human health for decades. The five train cars that were set on fire contained vinyl chloride.
WHO: Judith Enck (Beyond Plastics), Heather McTeer Toney (Beyond Petrochemicals), Daniel Winston (River Valley Organizing), Jessica Conard (Unity Council), Almeta Cooper (Moms Clean Air Force), Chris Walton (Hip Hop Caucus), and Charlie Cray (Greenpeace)
WHEN: Thursday, July 27, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. ET
*In the event there’s rain or intense heat, the news conference will still take place at the EPA headquarters but in the covered, above-ground, shaded area near the escalator on top of the Federal Triangle Metro stop near the EPA entrance. (This metro stop has orange, silver, and blue metro lines.)
WHERE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. — at the semi-circle along the 12th Street NW side of the EPA building. The news conference will also be recorded and uploaded to Beyond Plastics’ Facebook account immediately after the event.
Learn more about vinyl chloride.
BACKGROUND:
Launched in 2019, Beyond Plastics is a nationwide project that pairs the wisdom and experience of environmental policy experts with the energy and creativity of grassroots advocates to build a vibrant and effective movement to end plastic pollution. Using deep policy and advocacy expertise, Beyond Plastics is building a well-informed, effective movement seeking to achieve the institutional, economic, and societal changes needed to save our planet and ourselves, from the negative health, climate, and environmental impacts for the production, usage, and disposal of plastics.