Chair, Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

April 21, 2009

RE: Support AB 1242 (Ruskin-Jones)

Dear Assemblymember Huffman:

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section, wholeheartedly supports AB 1242 that would amend the California State Water Code to read that "every human being has the right to clean and accessible water on an equitable basis".

Click on the links below to view and download pdf versions of articles related to water that have appeared in WILPF's Peace and Freedom Magazine in recent years.

• Winter 2009: People Against Chemical Trespass by Nancy Price

Reprinted from Peace & Freedom Magazine of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Winter 2009, Volume 69 #1
View this and other issues online at: http://wilpf.org/peaceandfreedomarchive

Click here to download this article as a pdf file. 

People Against Chemical Trespass

By Nancy Price

At this time, as no other in history, our health and life are at risk from the accumulation of chemicals used by industry, agriculture and the military that poison our air, land, water and our bodies. Currently over 80,000 corporate-produced chemicals are in use in the U.S. and among the 15,000 chemicals tested, few have been studied enough to conclude there are no risks. Amazingly, about 1,800 chemicals enter the market each year. 

Over the decades, different chemicals have been found to be far more toxic to the environment and people than initially reported: lead, mercury, asbestos, DDT, PCBs, pesticides, tobacco, flame-retardants, solvents, perchlorate, dry-cleaning chemicals, Agent Orange; the list goes on and on. We now know chemicals that might be useful for one purpose can be extremely harmful in other ways. The threat to all life now far exceeds what Rachel Carson exposed more than 60 years ago.