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USW Women of Steel Campaign Against Toxic Trade
05/23/2008 - The United Steelworkers Women of Steel is hosting a series of lead screening sessions across the U.S. and Canada to educate families about potentially toxic products and the trade policies that are allowing them into our homes.
The United Steelworkers (USW) Women of Steel (WOS) is hosting a lead screening session to educate families about potentially toxic products and the trade policies that are allowing them into our homes. The product screenings are part of the USW's international "Protect Our Kids—Stop Toxic Imports" campaign.
As part of the event, members of local communities across the U.S. and Canada are invited to bring in toys and other imported items, where they will be screened for lead. The USW will also be there at each event to provide safety and educational material.
“I've been scared to death for the children after hearing about lead on toys like Thomas the Tank Engine, Barbie, Dora the Explorer, Big Bird—and on baby bibs, too," said Donna Shaver, a member of the USW's Women of Steel. "We're hoping our campaign helps find poisoned products so we can get them out of our homes, but we also want to draw attention to the root of the problem—bad trade deals.”
The union is calling upon Congress to support the U.S. Food and Product Responsibility Act, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and in the House by Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind. This legislation would safeguard Americans against toxic food and products by requiring companies producing the goods and importers importing them to take responsibility.
Over the past few months, the USW Women of Steel have conducted lead screening tests similar to the St. Croix event in more than 25 cities across North America to educate families about this threat of lead contaminated toys and other products.
“Products we made safe through regulation of U.S. manufacturers are coming in poisonous through a back door in trade policy," said Dr. Herbert Needleman, a University of Pittsburgh professor who pioneered lead research and treatments 30 years ago. Dr. Needleman said he was deeply disappointed that “decades of progress through research have been reversed.”
“The USW has a strong legacy of fighting to protect American families, playing a key role to 'get the lead out' of most products and goods by the end of the 1970s," said USW President Leo W. Gerard, who spearheaded the second Steelworkers "Get the Lead Out" campaign.
“Our nation is at another crossroads right now and it is time to change course and reverse the influx of toxic goods finding their way onto our store shelves,” said Gerard.
Additional information about the union's project is available at http://www.stoptoxicimports.org. The campaign is supported by a broad array of consumer and environmental organizations, including the Blue-Green Alliance (http://www.bluegreenalliance.org), the Public Health Institute, and the Center for Environmental Health (http://www.cehca.org).
Beginning with the recall of 1.5 million Thomas the Tank Engine toys in June last year, more than 6 million toys have been recalled for high levels of lead. Lead can cause a variety of health problems, including learning disabilities, stunted growth, kidney damage and even death. Other dangerous imports include faulty medicine, steel, and tires, and toxic lipstick, toothpaste, seafood, children's lunchboxes and pet food.
The USW represents 850,000 workers in the United States and Canada employed in the industries of metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service sector.
