The number one cause of pollution in New Jersey's waterways is phosphorus and nitrogen, two substances found in inorganic fertilizers. Fertilizer runoff is not only destroying important water resources, right now it is literally killing Barnegat Bay, one of the state's most important estuaries, ecosystems, and watersheds.

This comes at tremendous public health, environmental and economic costs from fish kills, cancer, and increased water treatment and rates to damaging New Jersey's multi-billion dollar tourism and fishing industries. Tell key legislators and the Governor that this is unacceptable.

What's in the products you use every day? The lining in a can of food? The mattress you slept on last night? Your children's toys? Or even the computer you're reading this on? In fact, the public has very little information about the chemicals in the products we use or their potential impact on our health or our environment.

More often than not, even the companies that made these products don't have this information because their suppliers won't tell them!

One of the major reasons for this is that chemical manufacturers have abused legitimate legal protections by claiming that this basic information is a trade secret or confidential business information.

What are all those chemicals in your shampoo? Your lipstick? your aftershave? And what do they have to do with asthma, breast cancer and learning disabilities?

Learn, share and help change this toxic mess: Watch The Story of Cosmetics, a 8-minute film exposing the ugly truth about personal care products - brought to you by Clean Water Action, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff Project and Free Range Studios, and take action to help pass the Safe Cosmetics Act.

Ask your U.S. Representative to join you in the fight to phase out dangerous chemicals and require chemical safety testing. Act now and spread the word. Show them you're no dummy.

Do you remember the crash test dummies featured in commercials and
ads for years? They were the nameless, faceless humanoids riding in
test vehicles that famously smashed into bridges, cars, semis, you name
it. They stood in for us in dangerous situations so we wouldn't be hurt.

Until now. Now, you and I are unwilling crash test dummies for the
special interests peddling their toxic stew of chemicals found in every
day products, but we have names and faces and families and lives. We
weren't invented to test chemicals in products, and we aren't dummies.

Pelicans soaked in oil sludge. Shrimp fisherman wondering aloud what they'll do to make a living now. Whole communities, dependent on tourism, now virtual ghost towns. The BP spill has ruined lives, destroyed jobs, and permanently damaged the Gulf waters to maximize its profits.

Now imagine it happened here.

If friends of dirty energy succeed in opening the Great Lakes to Big Oil, we could be next. It could be our $9 billion boating and $7 billion fishing industries washed away by a flood of tar balls. The Great Lakes are what so many of us love about living in Michigan - and they're also the lifeblood of our economy.

Shrek glasses with cadmium?! Canned food contaminated with the sex hormone bisphenol A?! Cancer-causing formaldehyde in furniture?! This week we ask you to join us in a nation-wide call in campaign to Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House to make sure that manufacturers stop using toxic chemicals in the products we use everyday.

The Toxics Chemical Safety Act was just introduced in Congress. It aims to protect families from harmful chemicals by overhauling outdated chemical laws. The current draft of the bill is a good first step, but it's missing some key provisions, like phasing out the worst chemicals first and ensuring that chemicals are tested for safety before they are allowed on the market.

The reasons to support a stronger Toxic Chemicals Safety Act keep mounting. Research shows that chemicals found in everyday products are linked to negative health effects including cancer, early puberty, learning disabilities, and sexual dysfunction. A few weeks ago, the President's Cancer Panel released a damning report underlining the acute need for stronger toxics laws. The report specifically recommends removing cancer-causing chemicals and other toxins from our food, water, and air that "needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nation's productivity and devastate American lives."

A critical committee vote on the bill could happen any day and Speaker Pelosi needs to hear from you. Please call her today and tell her to put health first by getting rid of the worst chemicals first!

Scientists don't yet understand the snowball effects of blasting numerous holes into our aquifer, but over 16,000 acres of mines have been approved in Palm Beach County since 2006. More rock mining could reduce agricultural lands, threaten our water quality, and hamper current Everglades restoration efforts.

Palm Beach County Commissioners should impose a moratorium impose a moratorium on the approval of more rock mines until a cumulative impact study can be done to ensure the safety of South Florida's drinking water supply and sustainability of our agriculture. We need your voice to be heard.

Ask members of the Rhode Island House Finance Committee to support HB7850A to reduce diesel pollution!

Construction is responsible for a whopping 40% of all mobile diesel emissions in the Northeast. It's time that our policies reflect government concern for the health of the workers and the public in and around those construction sites, particularly when they are located in dense urban areas - the Diesel Emission Reduction Act does just that.

The worst effects of diesel pollution are felt in densely populated urban areas, such as Providence County, which is ranked in the worst 6% of all US counties for health risks from diesel pollution. Each year Rhode Islanders suffer 50 premature deaths, 80 heart attacks and more than 900 asthma attacks (that's 3 per day) from their exposure to diesel pollution. This cannot continue. There is a better way of doing business and it's right around the corner.

Tell Senator Klobuchar to support the President's Cancer Panel by passing reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act.

On May 6, President Obama’s Cancer Panel released a groundbreaking report identifying chemicals in our home and natural environment as a significant contributor to cancer. The panel cites the problem has been "grossly underestimated" and recommends a number of immediate actions government, industry and individuals can take to address environmental cancer.

Individual recommendations by the panel included filtering home tap water to decrease exposure to carcinogens and endocrine disrupting chemicals, buying organic food and choosing products made with non-toxic substances.

The panel also supported reform of the nation’s outdated chemical law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Bills to reform TSCA were introduced in the House and Senate in April and would require chemicals to be assessed for safety as a condition of remaining on the market.

BPA doesn't belong in products for kids.
Take Action: Ask your State Representative to vote for HB 2478.

Many familiar products, such as baby bottles, water bottles, and other food containers, use a toxic chemical called BPA (bisphenol-A) in the plastic. Unfortunately, BPA can leach out of plastic containers and is now found in over 93% of all Americans according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.