California Cans Carcinogens

I'm really tempted to work with Team in Training again this winter, though I'm scared that with this economy -- and my own personal economy -- I won't be able to raise the necessary funds for the charity. But after all the blood cancer information we received, I began to pay close attention to the types of chemicals we bring into our house. Even though there aren't clear links between leukemia and lymphoma and known carcinogens, it only takes learning about so many afflicted children and young adults to think twice about exposure.

In fact, my veterinarian made reference to California's strict laws the other day, when I was dealing with an unexpected flea allergy on my cat and she said that there is no insecticide sold here that would kill flea eggs anymore. Which is good, of course. So here is some more good news, reported in the Los Angeles Times:

California today launched the most comprehensive program of any state to evaluate, label and, in some cases, ban industrial chemicals that are linked to cancer, hormone disruption and other deadly effects on human health.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed new legislation to shift the state away from a scattershot approach in which bills targeting hazardous chemicals in products such as jewelry, baby bottles, toys, mattresses, computers and cosmetics have passed or failed depending on the intensity of the lobbying and media attention.

Instead of a product-by-product approach, two new laws are designed to encompass 80,000 chemicals now in circulation, focus on the most dangerous, widespread substances first and control them at the manufacturing stage, before they leach into the air, water or human skin.