Historical EWG Accomplishments
- Toxics in our Bodies
- Toxics in our Pets
- Toxics in our Food
- Toxics in our Water
- Agriculture
- Energy Policy
- Public Lands
- Corporate and Institutional Accountability
Toxics in our Bodies
Protecting Children from Pesticides
EWG loudly voiced opposition EPA's controversial CHEERS study, which was partially funded by the American Chemical Council. The study would have paid parents to expose their children to pesticides.
EWG was instrumental in winning passage of America's first federal law protecting children from toxic pesticides, where 5 pesticides where taken off the market, and hundreds were restricted.
Fighting to ban Teflon-related compounds.
EWG's Body Burden study - which tested human blood for a number of contaminants not tested for by the CDC - was largely responsible for the agency adding Teflon chemicals to their national biomonitoring program.
In February 2005, EWG presented a scientific risk-assessment of the Teflon chemical PFOA to an EPA panel. EWG made the ONLY science presentation from the public health/environment community amidst a sea of 3M and DuPont consultants.
In August 2008, in response to an intensive education campaign by EWG, the California state assembly passed a bill banning two Teflon-related chemicals -- perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluoroctanic acid (PFOA) -- from use in food packaging such as burger wrapping and pizza boxes. The chemicals have been linked to cancer and developmental problems in chidren. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill. EWG will renew its efforts to see it passed in 2009.
Chromium fraud
An EWG investigation revealed that safety standards from chromium-6 - the "Erin Brockovich" chemical - had been skewed by a cancer study that was faked by an industry scientist who doubled as a Bush Administration appointee. Media coverage led the Environmental Protection Agency to stop registration of all residential uses of a wood preservative containing chromium-6, keeping a potent carcinogen from entering the bloodstream of millions of unsuspecting children, homeowners, and workers.
EPA arsenic ban in decks and play-sets.
EWG has sold over 7,000 home test kits to assess the presence of arsenic in soil and wood in homes across the country. We used this primary research to advocate for the ban and compiled a list of steps to reduce arsenic exposures from arsenic-treated wood.
Working on Banning the plastic chemical BPA
On October 31, the Science Board of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a stinging rebuke to the agency and embraced EWG arguments that bisphenol-A (BPA), a synthetic estrogen used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resin may be a threat to human health. The panel forced FDA to retreat from its stance that trace levels of BPA are safe in food packaging, including infant formula cans and baby bottles. EWG scientists testified, wrote comments and served on the expert panel for the Science Board.
In September, the National Institutes of Health's National Toxicology Program (NTP)declared that BPA, shown in laboratory tests to disrupt the endocrine system, may alter brain development, cause behavioral problems and damage the prostate glands in fetuses, infants and young children.
With strong advocacy by EWG's California office, the California assembly office came close to passing the first state-level BPA ban. In 2009, 13 state legislatures are expected to consider similar measures.
New Approaches to Chemical Risks
EWG testified twice in front of the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies about the dangers of phthalates, industrial plasticizers that disrupt the endocrine system and have been shown to cause developmental malformations in male reproductive systems. Phthalates are banned in Europe for use in cosmetics.
On Dec. 18, in response to EWG and other environmental health advocates, the NRC faster and more definitive, method of assessing the risks of industrial chemicals like phthalates. Instead of studying each chemical (and similarly structured chemicals) in isolation, NRC said, EPA should conduct cumulative, real-world risk assessments for chemicals that cause similar health effects. NRC said EPA must recognize that humans are exposed to multiple chemical and that exposure levels change over time.
Toxics in our Pets
EWG launched Pets for the Environment in early 2008 to focus on toxic chemicals in pet food, toys and household furnishings. EWG's unprecedented study found that companion dogs and cats were contaminated with 48 of 70 industrial chemicals tested, particularly mercury, flame retardants, stain treatments and grease resistant coatings. Dog Fancy magazine ran a cover story on EWG research on animal body burden. Thousands of pet owners wrote EWG and spokesdog Eddie, who posted their photos on his Wall of Cute.
Toxics in our Food
Blowing the whistle on FDA plan to push mercury-laced seafood.
On December 12, 2008 we made public internal government documents disclosing the Food and Drug Administration's secret plans to reverse federal warnings that pregnant women and children limit their fish intake to avoid mercury, a neurotoxin especially dangerous to the fetus and infants. EWG obtained both the FDA plan, stamped "CLOSE HOLD," and memos by senior Environmental Protection Agency scientists attacking FDA's rationale. The Washington Post broke the story, and other national stories followed.
Reaction from Capitol Hill was swift and sharp. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., denounced FDA: "Now, in the administration's 11th hour, they are quietly trying to water down advisories for women and children about the dangers of mercury in fish, disregarding sound science on this issue….This backroom bouquet for special interests should be stopped in its tracks. If they slip this through, I will work with the incoming Obama Administration to restore science-based decisions on mercury."
Toxics in our Water
Sounding the Alarm over Rocket Fuel in Drinking Water.
In 2001 EWG put perchlorate on the map by exposing an unethical human experiment: defense contractor Lockheed Martin was giving the chemical to people in a failed attempt to show it was safe.
EWG worked intensely to press EPA to crack down on pollution of perchlorate, a rocket fuel component and thyroid toxin, in drinking water. Agency leaders refused and were widely denounced by newspaper editorials and environmentalists.
On May 6, EWG Executive Director Richard Wiles testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at a hearing on legislation by committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to set national safety standards for perchlorate in drinking water.
California Acts to Limit Perchlorate
California officials announced they would reassess their public health goal for perchlorate after EWG and other advocacy groups petitioned them to do so. Legislation was then passed by the California Assemby to make drinking water safe for bottle-fed infants EWG conceived, drafted, and helped rally support for legislation that was passed in California, which requires health officials to base drinking water standards on infants' weights and consumption patterns, rather than those of an adult male.
Massachusetts Lowers Acceptable Perchlorate Level in Water
EWG reports showed the widespread presence of this toxin in food and milk due to water contamination, and prompted the FDA to speed up their national food-testing program, and caused California and Massachusetts to lower their acceptable levels of perchlorate in their drinking water.
Agriculture
Winning the debate (just not the vote) on farm subsidy fairness.
EWG's campaign for equity in farm payment programs triggered 475 editorials from U.S. newspapers clamoring for reform of the farm subsidy system and changed the debate on government supports. President-elect Obama has indicated that he intends to halt farm subsidies to multi-millionaires.
EWG's farm subsidy database, with over 124 million searches since 2004, is used daily by policy makers, opinion leaders and advocates who continue to push for an overhaul of our misguided farm policy.
Congress voted to increase conservation payments to farmers by 80%
EWG's searchable Farm Subsidy Database, which tracks recipients of 90 million government agriculture program checks, has shaken up the debate over continuing wasteful subsidies to big agribusinesses. The increase in funding will provide $13 billion over six years for programs to reduce water contamination and soil erosion, as well as to protect wildlife.
U.S. cotton subsidies declared illegal by the World Trade Organization.
The decision, involving billions of dollars, was based on data and analyses EWG provided for Brazil, who filed a landmark case, citing the distortion of global prices and unfairly restricting developing nations' access to the world market.
Calling Congress to account for proposing to cut conservation funding.
By $285 million -- only 29 days after passing the 2008 farm bill with promises to increase conservation spending. EWG issued two hard-hitting reports detailing the conservation programs slated for the chopping block and analyzing how much conservation funding states would lose if Congress went through with their proposed cuts.
Energy Policy
Pushing back on the ethanol industry's lobbying.
For billions more in subsidies and bailouts to keep expanding production of corn ethanol with all its unresolved environmental and social problems. EWG, working with the Clean Air Task Force, Friends of the Earth, and the Network for New Energy Choices, developed a detailed agenda for overhauling ethanol and biofuel subsidies and mandates as part of a comprehensive energy policy for the United States.
Public Lands
Protecting national treasures from mining.
In June 2008, after EWG exposed a surge in uranium and other mining claims near the Grand Canyon, Congress invoked its rarely-used emergency authority to ban mining on more than 1 million acres around the canyon, but the Bush administration defied the legally bindng resolution.
Notifying the media about an energy "junket" in Arizona
EWG President Ken Cook was interviewed for a feature story on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, highlighting that fact that mining, oil, and gas industries already have unfettered access to our public lands.
Worked on Keeping Public Lands Public.
In 2005, when EWG learned that two members of Congress slipped into a sprawling budget bill a stealth rider that would have put up for sale 350 million acres of public land, we tapped into our mining claims database and put the debate on the nation's front pages. Public outrage prevented the bill from passing the Senate.
Corporate and Institutional Accountability
EWG has drawn federal scrutiny to the plight of African American farmers.
Our research prompted a Congressional reconsideration of the landmark $20 million black farmers' settlement by exposing USDA's discriminatory withholding of funds from 9 percent of 100,000 eligible farmers.