Our Heroes: Fathers, Grandfathers, Legislators
When it comes to toxic chemical reform across the nation, many of the legislative heroes are dads, husbands and grandfathers who are not only working hard to protect the lives of the electorate, but more personally to remove toxic chemical threats from their own families.
This blog originally posted at Safer States.
When it comes to toxic chemical reform across the nation, many of the legislative heroes are dads, husbands and grandfathers who are not only working hard to protect the lives of the electorate, but more personally to remove toxic chemical threats from their own families.
Today, we are featuring three legislators, Senator Richard McCormack from Vermont, Representative Dick Roy from Connecticut, and Delegate James Hubbard from Maryland who are not only leaders in their field, but also family men – fathers and grandfathers. "We're the guys who are supposed to be protecting the family from the bad guys," Senator McCormack told us in a recent interview, a sentiment which nicely sums up the quiet, family force behind the work of these heroes.
We stand up and applaud these legislators for keeping us all safe.
Senator Richard McCormack, Vermont
"I do think that there are times that my environmental politics derives in part from my sense of wanting to protect the people that I love."
Because of his hard work on the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, Senator Dick McCormack is a leader in the state of Vermont who helps to pass laws protecting Vermont's citizens. Senator McCormack has been in the Vermont legislature since 1988.
Vermont is a leader in toxics legislation, and their laws include a ban on bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles and sippy cups, a ban on toxic flame retardants, and several laws regulating the use of products containing mercury within the state.
Senator McCormack is particularly concerned about mercury exposure, and serves on the Advisory Committee on Mercury Pollution. Describing why mercury is so harmful, Senator McCormack says, "One of the problems is that it bioaccumulates, and there's no such thing as a small dose because it keeps adding up. Several individually harmless exposures stay in the fatty tissue. Aside from the bioaccumulation; another problem is that mercury is ubiquitous." Mercury is harmful to the brain and nervous system of humans, and is particularly bad for developing fetuses.
Read the rest at Safer States
