OPINION: New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg(D), a phenomenal champion of American Children and Nature, passed on last week at 89. At his NY funeral he was deeply honored by half the Senate on both sides of the aisle, plus NJ Governor Chris Christie (R), Hillary Clinton and Vice President Biden for his passion and foresight in saving millions of Americans through his No Smoking law, raising the drinking age to 21, and fighting for women’s rights and gun control. Here is why Congress should make his honoring mean something by signing into law the most important Act of his life, the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (S.1009).
It is a miracle that Senator Lautenberg introduced it just before his passing, thanks to the visionary Louisiana Senator David Vitter (R), the current ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works as original sponsor, which makes it a bi-partisan bill. This updated Act from Lautenberg’s 2010 Safe Chemicals Act would finally protect Americans similar to most other developed countries, and restore a vibrantly healthy, happy, future for generations of children that includes snow.
PHOTO CAPTION (above): (L-R) Olympic skier Suzy “Chapstick” Chaffee skidancing in Aspen with the Champ of American Children, 81 yr old Senator Frank Lautenberg, after skiing up to her on Christmas Day (rt) and saying, “From the gondola my friends thought you were an angel!” (L) © Aspen SkiCo (R) © Telluride SkiCo.
I had the wonderful honor of dancing down Aspen mountain with this stylish skiing Senator in 2004. He was on his way to Vail to ski with his son Josh, a Figure 8 Powder ski champion, after returning from Antarctica where, as chairman of the Senate Environmental committee, he saw the crack in the ice. That inspired him to push for bolder steps to preserve our polar ice caps and protect our winters.
On the chairlift we exchanged environmental concerns and solutions, and since this “Mensch” said humanity needs a miracle, I asked him if his son told him how Vail pioneered asking the Utes to save them with a magnanimous snowdance in 1963, whose miracle was covered on the CBS Huntley-Brinkley report. (P. 9-10 Snowdance Phenomena” and Native Elders’ Green Model for RIO+20 Earth Summit June 20-22)
I told the Senator he was my hero for banning smoking in airplanes and public places and raising awareness since my brother Rick and mom Stevia, both Olympians, got asthma from the second hand smoke from my (unknowing) dad. Needing to rely on pharmaceuticals resulted in her leaving us before her time.
A few years later Senator Lautenberg got cancer from a buildup of toxins surrounding us, but this octogenarian made a comeback by also purifying his lifestyle. To protect his 13 precious grandchildren and generations from our escalating cancer and allergies, he authored the 2010 Safe Chemicals Act. While it tragically got blocked by lobbyists that an aid called mindboggling, Vitter helped Lautenberg in his last days introduce their Chemical Safety Improvement Act (S.1009) since every child needs clean air, water and soil to survive and thrive no matter what party or country.
MY CANCER SCARE What woke me up in 2009, was learning I had elevated cancer cells. With the help of Sedona environmental scientist Matthew Turner, I switched from misleading toxic greenwashed products, even in healthfood stores, to all natural products. So read ingredients, natural products have only a handful. By eliminating these “Top 10 Toxins” while shopping, my cancer cells (we all have) went back to normal in three months.
COMPARISON OF COUNTRIES PROTECTING THEIR CITIZENS FROM TOXINS
Shocked that Wal-Mart had higher toxin standards than our U.S. Government, I was delighted to hear about Senator Lautenberg’s life-saving Act and wrote some stories that some said helped. Thanks to Alexandra Herman and Ben Dunham, Lautenberg’s brilliant top aids, here is the report card on how countries are protecting their citizens by banning toxins:
According to the UN’s Environment Program (UNEP), the “International chemicals banned and severely restricted under the Rotterdam Convention Treaty” include: Japan-49, (radiation is more damaging than all the toxins combined); E.U. (27 countries)-35; Canada-10 (restricted by Health Canada); U.S-5 (restricted by EPA under the U.S. Toxin Substance Control Act, since the U.S. has signed but not ratified the treaty).
Cuba-1, given all organic Agriculture, Russia-0, but 35 million families grow organic gardens supplying 80% of Russia’s food supply, China-O, but half their water heaters (main energy waste/pollution) are now solar and last week they burned three ships of GMOs from the U.S. at the same time 52 countries worldwide protested (U.S.-based) Monsanto’s GMOs. Even Popes John-Paul II and Benedict warned farmers. See promo of “GMO OMG!”
Mexico-1, a ban on toxic sugary products in schools. In 2011 the state of Jalisco funded a detox campaign starting in Puerto Vallarta led by Organic Superfoods, partnered with the Mexican Olympic Committee, gyms, and healthfood stores. The new President Pena just launched two campaigns: one to detox its 10 popular ports and another to lift the nutrition of Mexicans to address the 1.3 million (often obese)children who died from malnutrition and diabetes last year. Having the most USDA approved organic (mainly indigenous) farms, but most of the produce goes to the U.S., he is spreading organic farming for his own people and raising awareness of toxins in foods and drinks, especially processed sugar. The average U.S. and Mexican consumes about 168 grams of sugar a day and the recommended amount is 15 grams. Perhaps learning how the Japanese reduced diabetes/obesity, alcoholism and violence by shifting in the 70’s to sweetening 40% of their foods and drinks with the herbal Stevia with O carbs, last week President Pena recommended it as a healthy solution. https://enewschannels.com/2013/01/08/enc15789_185348.php
EUROPE’S “REACH” TESTING PROGRAMS
Lautenberg’s Act is our cost-effective way to adopt the higher E.U. toxin standards through their successful REACH Testing programs in 27 countries. This Act is America’s chance to restore not only our country and oceans, but since our multi-national corporations have such influence globally, to responsibly restore much of the world.
U.S. ACT WOULD SAVE MILLIONS OF ANIMALS
The difference between the U.S. and Europe’s Acts is that ours relies on “invitro testing” of regular human cells in a petrie dish, which is more applicable. That would save millions of animals, which was praised by the late Grandmother of the Appalachian Cherokee, Elder Mary Duty. Passage of our Act could then possibly save tens of millions of animals worldwide!
GREEN PRODUCTS FOR EVERYTHING
Fortunately, more and more ethical companies worldwide are creating green versions of everything. Plus as never before Earth Citizens and the media are sharing the herbal remedies of their grandmothers and tribes to restore each other and our planet. Since many baby products are still tragically toxic, and children (and pets) have little resistance to toxins in their critical developmental years, kudos to U.S.-Latino star Jessica Alba for protecting her babies by wisely creating Honest(.com) Baby Products.
U.S. COMPANIES CREATE GREEN PRODUCTS FOR EUROPE
Many U.S. companies, especially cosmetics, still create green products for Europe and Japan since it’s required by law, but give US citizens ones with more profitable toxic ingredients, like synthetic “perfumes/fragrance/scent.” That’s code for a mixture of up to 1,000 (unlisted) mainly toxic industrial waste chemicals that mask smell but interfere with our hormones. In detergents, they destroy the immune systems of marine life (Stanford U study), so save our oceans too by using 7th Generation, sodium bicarbonate…
Products with “essential oils” from flowers and herbs lift our vibes, health and love life! Consumer pressure has forced companies to offer healthier products, like GLADE offers atomizers with essentials oils. While Europe has healthy lipsticks, the FDA admitted two years ago that the 35 top U.S. brands and many lip glosses include traces of (unlisted) lead, despite being the first toxin banned in America in the 80s since scientists found that even traces lower IQs. So ladies, kick some butt and meanwhile don’t let little girls play with mommies’ lipsticks. This all proves that green products are plenty profitable in Europe, Japan and the U.S. so there’s no excuse to poison our own American children and life support systems. Since everyone needs healthy boundaries, Vitter and Lautenberg’s Act provides them.
Many have known about all this health risk thanks to a LA Times 2003 expose by the California Air Quality board that the “fumes from toxic products in our enclosed homes (and gardens), after giving us cancer escape to be the “No. 2 cause of smog in our cities next to tailpipe exhaust.” Yet they said little has been done since the chemical and consumer products lobby have rendered most states powerless to enforce the Clean Air and Water Act.
As a result “U.S. babies are now born with 200 toxins in their bodies and mothers’ milk,” reported CNN’s Toxic America series in 2010. Since pesticides, including in GMOs – 80% of processed foods have them – mercury(in silver dental fillings)and toxic schools, lodge in the brain, our children rank 14th in math and science despite spending more on education than any other country. It’s like tying an arm behind their backs and berating them for not winning the World Series! By spreading the word, we could create happier, smarter, mellow kids who can learn twice as fast and proud teachers. While waiting for a gun control law, please check out detoxing our diets to see How Moms Can Help Reduce Women and Children’s School Violence by 50%.
PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN’S HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT
CNN’s Dr. Gupte said we MUST detox our homes and schools to give our children a chance at a normal life, but house plants and opening windows greatly help.
“Toxins in our enclosed schools, the chemical soup in our tap water, the free snack lunches that are processed or frozen and then microwaved leaving them with no identifiable nutrients, plus the arsenic, formaldehyde and mould in the plywood of portable classrooms, and cleaning agents, leave children with 2 to 3 times the cancer risk allowed under the U.S. Clean Air regulations,” said Olivia Ellis (Cherokee) PhD. She was voted “Teacher of the Year” of LA County’s 80,000 teachers. “Thank God there are model affordable solutions for these old unconscious ways of running schools, which parents and teachers can put their hearts and minds together to now change,” said Dr. Ellis.
For the same reason we impeached Nixon for acting above the law, time to protect our children, democracy and LIFE by prosecuting companies who act above the law.
That is why 13 yr old World Youth leader, Colorado skier Xiuh (Shoe) Martinez, founder of Earth Guardian Kids in 20 states, 100 countries, with 60 Congressmen and President Obama’s youth aids behind him, called Senator Lautenberg his hero. And likely vice versa since Xiuh’s team successfully sued the state of Texas for contaminating the children’s resources. The World’s Youth at RIO+20 Earth Summit agreed that detoxing our countries and reforesting the planet to also preserve our polar icecaps are key to their “Climate Justice.” (Earthguardians.org)
INTERVENTION TO EXTEND U.S. SNOW
Alaskan Native scientist George Pletnikoff says these smog clouds travel on the trade winds to the Arctic (and local ski areas) and their black soot accelerates the melting of the glaciers and our snow. Emergency passage of the Act would extend the polar icecaps that scientists say may only have five years left! The US Ski Areas Association study by the NRDC found that our snow and snowmelt critical for drinking water for cities and our food supply, will be gone by the end of this century unless there is an intervention. Passing this Act is that intervention!
Could there be something in the NJ water that makes people think clearer? Yes, purer water in some areas like Mountain Creek Ski Area, whose owner the late Gene Mulvihill, was also praised by Governor Christie. Gene turned their 17 championship golf courses green through Audubon International, protecting the brains, snow, and billions of gallons of water of the region. His family also continues to grow organics for their Crystal Springs Spa. By US ski areas taking even more green steps like Kitzbuhl Austria, we could also drink out of our streams again and have abundant snow. Gene also supported Olympians helping Native Americans have a chance to ski in their ancestral mountains and spread their Ancient wisdom that the UN’s 192 countries say is critical to regenerate Mother Earth along with mobilizing green technology. NAOTF.org. Here’s how asking the Elders and the spirit of the Mountain for guidance helped create Mexico’s most stunning resort! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG_k5-MH7fM)
Foster Gamble, great grandson of a founder Procter and Gamble, in his film Thrive talked about how his family’s company like others started off with integrity and clean healthy household goods, but was co-opted by greedy financial powers. Today he says there is a small group who has successfully duped Americans, but in unity we can thrive. Lautenberg, a billionaire who protects children, showed us how we can slalom around the lobbyists and win back America! VIEW VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO39Bif9hL0&list=PLFCFB3B236FF8FB2B .
QUARTERLY REPORT CARDS!
Leaders like Vice President Gore say we can stop being corporate ginny pigs by insisting our Senators and Congressmen pass the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (S.1009) and the Clean Energy Bills if they want to be reelected. Xiuh’s EarthGuardiansKids are going to hold our elected leaders accountable by tracking their progress with Quarterly Report Cards, starting with the U.S.
THRIVING FARMERS MARKETS BRINGING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER
Meanwhile, Oprah Winfrey says we must also protect our children by voting for healthier products with our wallets at the marketplace, especially at local Farmers Markets. They are flourishing worldwide, joyfully bringing communities together, offering super affordable local sources of Food of the Gods. Moms, our buying power decides what is manufactured and farmers grow.
MAINE BECAME FIRST STATE TO ADOPT E.U. TOXIN STANDARDS IN 2010
The build-up of synthetic hormones and fragrances, plus DNA-altering dioxins in pesticides, including in GMOs in 80% of our processed foods is stunting our boys reproductive organs and mutating the cycles of eight-year-old girls in some areas, who are growing breasts and having babies, say researchers. As a result, Maine wisely became the first state in 2010 to adopt EU standards “to repair our broken system that damages children the most.”
On June 13, Maine scored another victory: Their state senate passed a GMO Labeling requirement bill and they just need a few more states to sign on.
Also spread the word that Susan B. Coleman’s Breast Cancer campaign now urges women to shift to all natural products to prevent or make a comeback from cancer, and warns women that sugar feeds cancer, according to the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital.
INSIST YOUR SCHOOLS ALSO ENFORCE THE CLEAN AIR AND WATER ACT! My late relative and supporter, skiing Senator John Chafee (R), also respected on both sides of the aisle, was an author of the amended Clean Air, Water and Endangered Species Act in the mid 90’s. More and more schools have shifted to (cost saving) green cleaning and organic hormone-free milk if parents insist on it. By working together to green our schools, offices and communities, and if necessary enforcing the Clean Air and Water Act, this generation can phenomenally rise! That’s how we won equal opportunities for women in school sports and education, with Billy Jean’s lawyers enforcing Title IX.
PRESIDENT CLINTON FOUND CHILDREN’S PESTICIDE LEVELS CAN DROP IN FIVE DAYS
Though people’s brainpower cannot be totally restored from pesticide exposure, their general health can be rather quickly. President Clinton made a health comeback after adopting an organic plant-based diet thanks to One innovative study that found “after replacing school children’s conventional/pesticided diets with organic diets for five days, levels of pesticides in the children’s urine dropped so dramatically as to be undetectable.”
ENDING DIABETES IN 30 DAYS!
So insist your schools provide nutritious organic food as a human health right. Studies by the Biggest Loser TV Show and renowned naturopath Dr. Gabriel Cousins, found that groups of obese diabetics eating fresh raw organic fruits and veggies for 30 days lost significant weight and ENDED diabetes! (http://www.rawfor30days.com/RawFor30/12-2011-half-off-tv.html) Dr. Cousins transformed my life after showing us in Telluride, Kirlean photography of organic produce having golden spikes of “life force” energy, while pesticided was a black blob.
Here is an EASY NEARLY FREE way for any school, church or community to enhance their nutrition and create gardens of Eden: ”Ask the Jr. or Master Gardeners or 4H (on google) in your area to gladly help students plant the many free or one dollar native organic fruit trees available through your state forestry departments,” said Olivia. She is now a Master Gardener leading tours at Jefferson’s Monticello Garden, which provided the organic seeds for the White House Gardens. The BIA has similar trees for U.S. reservations and the Canadian Provinces also offer them. Our Presidents and families and Mit Romney’s all eat organic (pesticide & GMO free) and our children should also have that right to health and developing their full potentials!
God’s first command in Genesis was: “Plant (organic) fruit trees!” because it is also the most effective way to start cleaning up our air, water and soil while reducing hunger (17 million U.S. children), obesity, diabetes, and malnutrition. The rockin world model is the California Fruit Tree Tour. See their amazing video on commonvision.org how they spread organic orchards across Southern California schools, especially in disadvantaged areas like LA’s Watts, where drug dealers who needed food, even turned into happy planters. Mexico is looking at replicating it. Planting trees will also prevent droughts and wildfires and extend snow.
EARTH WAS ORGANIC FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS
From the Big Bang until 70 years ago, everything was organic – our grandparents had no toxins in their youth. Then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt inspired everyone to grow organic Victory Gardens where 80% of our food came from, which helped us win WWII. The UN says we are at the tipping point. First Lady Michelle, this is a far greater emergency and you’re the shining model of Organic Childrens Gardens, please spread these solutions!
That’s why our Senators and Congressmen signing into law the Vitter-Lautenberg Chemical Safety Improvement Act (S.1009) should be their No. 1 priority! This is a precious moment when the hearts of our leaders are open to Senator Lautenberg’s parting gift to humanity. Here is the chance for the Congress, President and First Lady to heroically step up to the plate to raise all our children’s health and IQs so they can also fill those 2,000 technology jobs and together create the bright future they want. God is watching and Senator Lautenberg is cheering us on!
Article is Copr. © 2013 by Suzy Chaffee and originally published on eNewsChannels.com – all commercial and reprint rights reserved. Text has not been modified from what the author provided. To Contact Suzy: Suzynativevoices[at]aol.com or to learn more about her charity visit: http://naotf.org . PHOTO CREDIT: (left image) © Aspen SkiCo; (right image) © Telluride SkiCo; collage by Christopher Simmons.
