Time to roll out the red carpet. It’s the annual TOXIES!
“The Toxies” is a multi-media campaign with a Hollywood spin that aims to raise awareness about toxic chemicals and pollutants in our communities. It’s produced by the statewide coalition Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy (CHANGE) and led by Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles (PSR-LA).
While the Toxies characters (including fracking chemicals, lead, mercury, bisphenol-A or BPA, flame retardants, and formaldehyde among others) are designed to elicit laughs, in reality these toxic chemicals are no laughing matter. They’re dangerous and ubiquitous.
This year the campaign is launching The Toxies: Exposed, a series of webisodes that follow a daring investigative journalist as he chases down toxic chemicals and pollutants. The Toxies: Exposed premiere is at the Downtown Independent Theater Los Angeles at 6 p.m. on August 15th, 2013.
More from the Toxies website:
Every week, we see another study linking chemicals in our homes, schools, and workplaces to cancer, infertility, autism and developmental disorders, and more. Childhood cancers have increased 20% since 1975, and now, 1 in 88 U.S. children have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The U.S. chemical regulatory system is broken and fails to protect people, wildlife and the environment from toxic chemical exposures.
Taking a page from the tobacco industry’s playbook, the chemical industry attempts to cast doubt on the legitimate, peer-reviewed research that indicts toxic chemicals, and then pressures the government so that no effective action is taken.
It’s up to the public to fight back, and sharing the news about these toxic chemicals through projects like The Toxies can really help.
The kind of traits that nominate a chemical for a Toxie include:
- Toxic or poisonous;
- Causes cancer;
- Changes genetic material;
- Interferes with normal reproduction;
- Disrupts the endocrine system (synthetic hormones);
- Causes serious eye damage;
- Causes hyper-reaction in the airways;
- Causes skin rashes or irritations;
- Accumulates in the body;
- Affects fish and other aquatic organisms;
- Depletes the ozone layer.
Aren’t you curious which “Toxies” will take home the awards this year? Stay tuned!
