George Armstrong Lecture 2000
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George Armstrong Lecture 2000
Rick Hind*
ABBREVIATIONS. APA, Ambulatory Pediatric Association; peace has pledged to defend the planet from the
POPs, persistent organic pollutants; PVC, polyvinyl chloride; multitude of attacks on its well-being that are un-
EPA, US Environmental Protection Agency; IV, intravenous; covered each day. Greenpeace has millions of sup-
HCWH, Healthcare Without Harm. porters and active programs in approximately 30
countries around the world.
I
am honored to accept the Ambulatory Pediatric In the United States we have 5 major campaigns:
Association’s (APA’s) George Armstrong Lec- Toxics, Global Warming, Genetic Engineering, Ma-
ture Award 2000 on behalf of Greenpeace. We rine Mammals, Fisheries, and Forests and Nuclear
greatly appreciate your recognition of Greenpeace’s Weapons. In the area of industrial pollution, a lot
global efforts to protect the earth and its children. has happened since the 1950s when smoke stacks
Because of my campaign’s work on toxic pollution, blackened the skies of Pittsburgh and rivers caught
and the effects of chemicals on the health of chil- fire or wreaked of untreated sewage. However, to-
dren everywhere, Greenpeace asked me to accept day’s challenge regarding these threats is more se-
this award and address you today. rious and insidious because most of the threats we
Greenpeace was founded almost 30 years ago face today are invisible. You cannot see acid rain,
when on September 15, 1971, a group of 12 Cana- the hole in the ozone layer, the incremental in-
dians and US citizens sailed the Phyllis Cormack, crease in global temperatures or the super toxins in
an 80-foot sailboat, to Amchitka, Alaska, to protest parts per trillion that contaminate our food from
the testing of US nuclear weapons.1 That protest by smoke stacks 2000 miles away.
a small group of people in the face of serious phys- It is these global poisons, called persistent or-
ical and legal threats set in motion 3 decades of ganic pollutants or POPs that I work on. When you
activism, best known for people putting their lives think about these substances, I urge you to keep 4
on the line for what they believe. I have been ar- facts in mind:
rested and jailed for protest against toxic waste
● The 75% of the “high production volume” chem-
incineration, but I didn’t spend as many days in jail
icals (more than 1 million pounds produced a
as my colleague here today, Niaz Dorry, who was
year) in commerce today have been incompletely
named one of Time Magazine’s 50 “heroes of the
tested for their effects on human health and the
planet” (October 5, 1998) for her work in Glouces-
environment.2,3
ter, Massachusetts, to preserve our fisheries from
● US laws and regulations assume these chemicals
overfishing by factory trawlers. Sometimes it is
are “innocent” until proven guilty, usually as-
called “bearing witness” other times “speaking
suming a threshold of harm.
truth to power.” But it is always about nonviolent
● These policies grandfather (legally allow old
direct action in the tradition of Gandhi, King, and
chemicals and facilities to continue operating) in
Chavez.
thousands of substances and industrial processes
Greenpeace uses creative means to expose con-
until there is a tragedy such as the Union Carbide
ditions that threaten the earth like the potential
accident in Bhopal, India, in 1984 that left thou-
extinction of whales or the threatened exploitation
sands dead almost instantly.
of Antarctica. Although Antarctica is now pro-
● No one knows or may ever know the cumulative
tected by an international treaty, countries such as
effects of the ongoing exposures to chemicals and
Norway and Japan are attempting to resume the
their by-products now circulating in our environ-
slaughter of whales. Continued vigilance is essen-
ment.
tial. Whatever the issue, no matter the odds, Green-
In a sense we are undergoing a huge, uncontrolled
From Greenpeace, Washington, District of Columbia. experiment on the environment and the human
*Legislative Director, Greenpeace Toxics Campaign. race. And no part of the population is more vulner-
Presented before the Ambulatory Pediatric Association; May 15, 2000;
Boston, MA.
able or innocent than our children.
All Greenpeace reports are available on the US or International Web sites Greenpeace believes that we must consistently
at: HYPERLINK http://www.greenpeaceusa.org www.greenpeaceusa.org invoke the precautionary principle. The precau-
or www.greenpeace.org tionary principle says that we should not wait for
Reprint requests to (R.H.) Greenpeace, 702 H Street, NW 300, harm to occur to human health and the environ-
Washington, DC 20001. E-mail: rick.hind@wdc.greenpeace.org or
www.greenpeaceusa.org
ment before acting to ban or phase-out a dangerous
PEDIATRICS (ISSN 0031 4005). Copyright © 2000 by the American Acad- chemical or process.
emy of Pediatrics. Some POPs have reached the Arctic where indig-
876 PEDIATRICS Vol.Downloaded
106 No. 4from
October 2000
www.aappublications.org/news by guest on October 21, 2021enous peoples who do not use these substances duction.8 In 1999 the Agency for Toxic Substances
have some of the highest levels of POPs in their and Disease Registry tested dozens of people living
blood and body tissue in the world.4 This happens near these facilities in the Lake Charles area of
because POPs are transported by weather patterns Louisiana and found dioxin in their blood at 3
and animal migrations to the polar regions where times the national average.9 However, the PVC in-
they bio-accumulate at the top of the food chain in dustry is asking the EPA’s permission to expand in
people and other species such as polar bears. Louisiana. Greenpeace and community leaders are
Fortunately, 12 of these POPs are now the subject opposing that expansion and exposing the environ-
of a UN treaty process to ban them.5 The POPs mental racism associated with locating these facil-
treaty involves more than 110 nations, and negoti- ities in low-income African-American communi-
ations will be completed in South Africa in Decem- ties.
ber. But sadly, our own US delegation is leading the At the product level Greenpeace became curious
fight in defense of the chemical industry by trying when in 1996 PVC miniblinds were found to be
to weaken the treaty so that some POPs will not be loaded with biologically available lead. The lead is
eliminated. In particular, the US State Department necessary in PVC as a stabilizer and it comes to the
is attempting to insert loopholes for chemical by- surface of the product after exposure to light. After
products such as dioxins. we were refused data on PVC and its ingredients
Dioxins are chlorinated super toxins that are pro- from the US and European toy industry, Green-
duced anytime chlorine chemistry is used by in- peace began our own testing of PVC toys. In Octo-
dustry to produce materials such as polyvinyl chlo- ber 1997, we released our test results that revealed
ride (PVC) plastics, solvents, and bleached paper. high levels of both lead and cadmium in most PVC
Dioxins are produced every day as by-products of items tested.10 However, in November 1997, the US
combustion at thousands of factories, incinerators, Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a re-
and paper mills throughout the industrialized port claiming that “none” of the vinyl products we
world when chlorine waste products are burned. tested were hazardous. Ultimately, the US Con-
From factory and incinerator smoke stacks, dioxins sumer Product Safety Commission did ask the toy
are deposited on our farmlands the same way that industry to “voluntarily” remove all lead from its
radioactive fallout from atmospheric testing of nu- products but there is no penalty if they refuse.
clear weapons contaminated our prairie and grass- In 1998 and 1999, Greenpeace also tested PVC
lands where animals graze. From there, they accu- toys11 and medical products12 for another toxic
mulate in the fatty tissue of steer or in the milk of chemical, phthalates. These additives can make up
cows. According to the US Environmental Protec- 50% of a PVC product because they are the ingre-
tion Agency (EPA), more than 90% of the dioxin in dient that makes PVC flexible and soft in products
our own bodies comes to us from our food.6 such as children’s’ toys and intravenous (IV) bags.
According to the EPA’s latest assessment of di- Some phthalates can cause cancer in animals as
oxin, it is a potent human carcinogen and also a well as damage to the liver, kidneys, and reproduc-
powerful endocrine disrupter that is linked to a tive organs. Again Greenpeace found very high lev-
wide range of illnesses such as diabetes, endome- els that leach out when the product is chewed on or
triosis, and developmental and reproductive toxic- used to carry medical fluids such as saline, or com-
ity. According to the EPA, “Some of these effects mercial sugars such as sucrose.
may be occurring in humans at general population PVC is the only plastic that requires such high
background levels and may be resulting in adverse levels of so many toxic additives. Fortunately, vir-
impacts on human health.” The EPA’s latest esti- tually all PVC uses, including both toys and IV
mate for cancer risk from current dioxin exposures bags, have widely available safer alternatives. And
to the average American now ranges from 1 in a even more promising, Mattel, the world’s largest
1000 to a phenomenal 1 in 100!6 toy maker, pledged in 1999 to move away from PVC
The largest single use of chlorine is in making to vegetable-based plastics for all of its products
PVC plastics.7 These products range from pipes and and packaging. In the United States, McGaw makes
siding to toys and medical products. To make PVC, a PVC-free IV bag that represents about 20% of the
2 carcinogens, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chlo- IV bag market. Baxter has pledged to pursue PVC-
ride monomer, are combined. This process is con- free products in the United States but in Europe
centrated at factories on the Gulf of Mexico in Lou- they already have them available.
isiana and Texas. Whole communities in Louisiana PVC and its resulting dioxins reach all of us in
(Morrisonville and Revieltown) have been up- another way, through the burning of PVC produc-
rooted from the contamination that these huge fa- tion wastes and products in 3 kinds of incinerators:
cilities inflict mostly on low-income African-Amer- hazardous, municipal garbage, and medical waste.7
ican communities in Louisiana’s “cancer alley.” All of these incinerators produce dioxins that reach
Greenpeace has confronted this industry in Lou- our food supply. In the communities where they
isiana for years resulting in arrests of protesters but are located they represent a threat of not only di-
more importantly greater scrutiny of this industry. oxin deposition on locally grown food but also
In 1997 Greenpeace released test results of the accidents, and can serve as fountains of other toxic
wastes of Louisiana PVC factories. We found levels emissions such as lead, mercury, and other materi-
of dioxin that in 1 case exceeded the levels found als known as “products of incomplete combus-
by the EPA in the wastes from Agent Orange pro- tion.”13
Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on October 21, 2021 SUPPLEMENT 877One such community is East Liverpool, Ohio. It form the health care industry so it is no longer a
is a below average income town on the Ohio River source of environmental harm.
with a very large hazardous waste incinerator sited You can ask for PVC-free medical products and
1100 feet from an elementary school and 320 feet devices when ordering through consortiums and
from the nearest homes. Twenty trucks a day bring other purchasing institutions. You can also log on
in about 60 000 tons of toxic waste a year to be to HCWH’s Web site at: www.noharm.org or con-
burned in East Liverpool at the WTI incinerator. tact Greenpeace at (800) 326-0959 or log on to our
The cancer rate in East Liverpool is far above the Web site at www.greenpeaceusa.org.
national average, which may also disguise addi- Thank you again for recognizing and honoring
tional hazards posed by the incinerator. Greenpeace so generously. We promise to live up to
More than 200 people have been arrested in non- your expectations and remain vigilant on behalf of
violent demonstrations against WTI, including lo- the earth and our children. We look forward to
cal doctors, teachers, parents, grandparents, school working with you all in the near future.
board members, Greenpeace people like Niaz and
myself, and actor Martin Sheen. In fact, when Mar-
tin Sheen and 50 others were arrested, their trial REFERENCES
was televised on Court TV. The jury returned a 1. Brown M, May J. The Greenpeace Story. London, England: Dorling
verdict of not guilty based on the “necessity de- Kindersley Limited; 1989:12
fense.” In essence, they found that the protesters 2. National Research Council. Toxicity Testing. Washington, DC: Na-
tional Academy Press: 1984:84(Table 7)
acted in defense of their community.
3. Environmental Defense Fund. Toxic Ignorance. 1997:15. Available at:
The sad thing is that incinerators such as WTI are www.edf.org/pubs/reports/toxicignorance
not even needed. Since the 1980s the generation of 4. Thornton J. Pandora’s Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environ-
hazardous waste has declined so much that incin- mental Strategy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2000:151–152
erators like WTI are short on customers. And much 5. UN Environmental Program’s POPs Mandate. Available at: http://
more waste can be prevented, especially if we irptc.unep.ch/pops/gcpops㛭e.html
6. US EPA Dioxin Reassessment. Available at: http://www.epa.gov/
phase-out the production and use of inherently ncea/pdfs/dioxin/dioxreass.htm. Vol. 3, chap. 4, page 111
toxic materials such as PVC plastic and the many 7. Thornton J. The PVC Lifecycle: Dioxin From Cradle to Grave. Wash-
chlorinated toxic chemicals it is made from. ington, DC: Greenpeace; 1997:26
Plastics can be made with other materials includ- 8. Duchin M. Dioxin Factories Exposed. Washington, DC: Greenpeace;
ing vegetable matter, solvents can be made with 1997:5
9. Costner P. Dioxin and PCB Contamination in Mossville, Louisiana: A
soapy water, paper can be bleached with oxygen, Review of the Exposure Investigation by ATSDR. Washington, DC:
pesticides can be replaced with organic farming Greenpeace; 2000:6
techniques and incinerators can be made obsolete 10. Di Gangi J. Lead and Cadmium in Vinyl Children’s Products. Wash-
by comprehensive recycling programs. ington, DC: Greenpeace; 1997:14
The APA has already helped by joining Health- 11. Di Gangi J. Toxic Chemicals in Vinyl Children’s Toys. Washington,
DC: Greenpeace; 1998:2
care Without Harm (HCWH), a coalition of more
12. Di Gangi J. Phthalates in PVC Medical Products From 12 Countries.
than 260 organizations, including the American Washington, DC: Greenpeace; 1999:1
Nurses Association and the American Public 13. Costner P. Playing With Fire Hazardous Waste Incineration. Wash-
Health Association. HCWH’s mission is to trans- ington, DC: Greenpeace; 1993:22
878 SUPPLEMENT Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on October 21, 2021George Armstrong Lecture 2000
Rick Hind
Pediatrics 2000;106;876
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Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on October 21, 2021George Armstrong Lecture 2000
Rick Hind
Pediatrics 2000;106;876
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Pediatrics is the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. A monthly publication, it
has been published continuously since 1948. Pediatrics is owned, published, and trademarked by
the American Academy of Pediatrics, 345 Park Avenue, Itasca, Illinois, 60143. Copyright © 2000
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