Target: Morgan Griffith, Chair of U.S. House Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials
Goal: Place strong limitations on unregulated export of toxic waste to other nations.
While the number of U.S. exports has recently become a political flashpoint, one export sector is booming: toxic waste. Every year, hundreds of millions of tons of dangerous waste is shipped from U.S. companies to other nations around the world, most notably Canada and Mexico. The export of toxic waste has surged by almost one-fifth in recent years, and environmental and public health experts from nations deemed “America’s trash cans” are sounding the alarm.
Lead and arsenic are among the substances sent to other countries for the purposes of recycling or disposal. Individuals living or working in close proximity of the sites where waste is stored or converted have likely suffered long-term health consequences. In one Canadian community located near a waste factory, children were found to have elevated levels of arsenic in their fingernails. And many Mexican communities have worried about increasing lead exports. Lead has been linked to effects in the environment such as acid rain and to a broad range of health ailments, including developmental delays, hypertension, and neurological and reproductive problems.
Companies often send their waste out of the country to cut costs and to skirt American environmental regulations. Sign the petition below to demand American leaders stop allowing irresponsible corporations to inflict the consequences of their reckless choices on innocents.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Representative Griffith,
‘Cradle to grave’ regulations are intended to hold companies accountable for the harmful waste they produce. Numerous industries are averting these safety measures by exporting their waste to other nations by the millions of tons. As a consequence, human beings far and wide are paying the price in the form of routine and hazardous exposure to well-documented dangerous substances ranging from arsenic to lead. Children are suffering an especially high cost.
How is this exploited loophole not a violation of the ‘cradle to grave’ policy? Close it now and stop allowing special interests to skate with an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ workaround that is a clear and present danger to public health.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Gustavo Fring
