July 11, 2008
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Could Big Oil Overthrow Our Efforts to Ban ToxicPhthalates from Kids' Toys?

Take action for safe toys and healthy kids »We need your help to urge House members to support a critical children's health measure—and to prove that our kids are more important than oil profits.Right now, a bipartisan Congressional conference committee is deciding whether to include a ban on phthalates in toys in the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act.Last month, we asked you to write to the three undecided House Democratic members of the committee. Your letters and calls helped convince a key member, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), to lend her support to this amendment. And with good reason: phthalates make plastic toys soft and flexible, but when kids put them in their mouths, phthalates can leach from toy to child. Phthalates have been linked to birth defects, early puberty (a risk factor for breast cancer) and testicular cancer.Ironically, it's not the toy industry or the retailers that are lobbying hardest against the phthalate ban. It's Exxon Mobil—one of the largest manufacturers of DINP (the primary phthalate used in toys)—and its trade association, the American Chemistry Council. Exxon Mobil has spent millions this year and millions more last year lobbying against this and other measures.Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) is still wavering while he tries to secure bipartisan support for the provision. The Republican conferees—notably Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL)—are lined up in opposition, but we're hoping to change that before they finish their discussions within the next two weeks.We want our elected officials to know that they're being watched by moms, nurses, breast cancer prevention advocates, the faith community and others that support a ban on phthalates in kids' toys. We won't take strong-arming by Exxon Mobil and the American Chemistry Council and neither should our representatives.Please write to the four members of the committee who are currently undecided or blocking the inclusion of the ban on phthalates in the CPSC Reform Act, and urge them to protect the health of America's kids by voting yes on this amendment.
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