Monday November 2, 2009

The Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture

·        Testimony in support of H-757 & S-442, An act for a competitive economy through safer alternatives to toxic chemicals and in opposition to H 803, An act to further regulate the toxic use reduction act.

Submitted on behalf of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, presented by Ms. Laura E. Everett, Associate Director, Massachusetts Council of Churches

Chairman Petruccelli, Chairman Straus, esteemed members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Laura Everett. I am the Associate Director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, an ecumenical partnership of seventeen Orthodox and Protestant denominations with more than 2000 affiliated congregations in the Commonwealth.

It may seem a bit out of character for a sacred institution to offer testimony in support of this bill. You’ve heard from the economists, scientists, and entrepreneurs explaining why this makes for a reasonable, feasible and forward-looking business strategy in our state. We’ve named the values of competitiveness, productivity, and fairness. I ask you to consider the moral values present in this bill and our ethical responsibility to pass it.

The Church, clearly later than it should, has come to understand the moral responsibility that Christians have for care of Creation and care for the most vulnerable as we humans damage this holy ground. We witness to that with church steeple bells ringing 350 times to draw attention to climate change or churches across this state using our adult Christian education curriculum to hold ‘toxic treasure hunts’ for toxic plastics in Sunday School classrooms. And yet, the Church cannot protect the people and creation from exposure to toxic chemicals. We need government to be our guard and shield from products known to cause harm.

Our Constitution states: “the end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility their natural rights, and the blessings of life.”[1] I appeal to the higher calling of your profession to protect. We are joined together in what the Massachusetts Constitution calls “a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people.” [2] At our best, we try to enact laws that lift up the lowliest, protect the most vulnerable and create a setting where all citizens can flourish. Your constituents are our parishioners. But as elected leaders, you have a unique and holy calling in this social compact to protect.

Our government is uniquely positioned to protect. You have the regulatory power, expertise, resources and authority to assist families in creating healthy environments in their homes, churches, schools and neighborhoods. We should be able to depend on our government to protect us from things that are known to cause harm.  This is not just about doing the right thing for the health of children in the Commonwealth, but modeling the kind of good government we value. We should be able to trust our government to protect us from things that are know to cause harm.

This bill is family-friendly policy. The religious communities of our state help raise up the children of the community, teach them commonly-held values, form them to be ethical members of civil society, give them space to grow physically and spiritually in safe environments. These are enormous responsibilities. And yet, it feels virtually impossible to protect children from all the dangers around them. In homes, in a child care centers, in Sunday school classrooms across the Commonwealth, it is possible to find PVC children’s toys made with DEHP. We all have an ethical responsibility to our children, to all children, to raise them in environments that do not cause them harm. We know that children’s developing bodies are the most vulnerable to toxins. Yet a three-year old child who is given a PVC rubber toy he puts in her mouth can not come before you to ask for a toy that does not have DEHP, which can damage developing male reproductive systems. As the guardians of our children, we have the moral responsibility to act where we can to protect them. I think of the children’s hymn “Jesus loves me” that says “little ones to him belong, they are weak, but He is strong.” “They are weak”- our children are not capable of protecting themselves from toxic chemicals. Rather, you are in the strong position of being able to do something to ensure that they grow up into the whole people God intended them to be and not children whose sacred bodies are laced with flame retardants and endocrine disruptors.

As people of faith, we are charged with being good stewards of Creation. As guardians of the children of the Commonwealth, we are responsible for their health and creating the safest possible environment for them to grow. The Safer Alternatives bill gives us an opportunity to fairly and responsibly create a safer and healthier Commonwealth for our children. We recommend a positive report on this bill and look forward to its implementation and a safer, healthier Massachusetts.

Thank you.