The Strategy Center Blog

We lost a dear friend, colleague, and extraordinary public health champion this past weekend. Andy Igrejas was all of the above and more, and we’ll miss him greatly. Over these last dozen years, he founded Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and led us in an ambitious marathon of a national campaign that resulted in the first major update to our broken chemical safety law, the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), in forty years. Andy united and built a diverse coalition of more than 450...+ Read more

This Father’s Day and every day, we’re working to protect the health of kids and families. And in our campaign to get phthalates (THAL-ates) out of food, we’re specifically thinking about the health of dads—and men who want to become dads. That’s because prenatal exposure to phthalates is linked to genital birth defects in male babies that can lead to difficulty fathering a child later in life, and men exposed to higher levels of phthalates in their daily lives have been shown to have lower...+ Read more

This week, our six talented interns started their summer at the Strategy Center. Please join us in welcoming Grace, Isa, Caroline, Izzy, Riley, and Riena! Hailing from colleges in Maine, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, these passionate and skilled young organizers are at the heart of our mission. We're looking forward to training and educating the next generation of environmental health champions. To that end, we make sure that our interns' summer is spent gaining confidence and leadership...+ Read more

At our sell-out event last night . . . Dr. Sandra Steingraber reminded us there are times in history when defending our environment and public health is so critical that someone like the belated, heroic government scientist Rachel Carson speaks out. She risked her own well-being to do so. We are living through one of those times now— a time when the Trump administration even just this week went so far as to kick out journalists from an EPA meeting about contaminated drinking water. Perhaps...+ Read more

This Friday, May 18th, we're taking part in #theSpringShare —a state-wide giving day supporting not only the Strategy Center but over 30 additional nonprofits working each day for a better Maine for all of us! This day of giving back to the causes and organizations you care about in Maine was created by MaineShare , an organization that provides funding to over 30 groups statewide. We're proud to be a longtime MaineShare participant, and excited to participate in the first annual SpringShare...+ Read more

In honor of Mother's Day, we bring you a powerful call to action against today's environmental crisis from mother, scientist, and activist Dr. Sandra Steingraber. Like moms across the country, Sandra worries about the health of her own children as well as every child growing up in this country who is exposed to toxic chemicals. Unfairly and heartbreakingly, it is children from lower-income communities and communities of color who are exposed to the highest levels of toxic chemicals where they...+ Read more

At the Clean Water Rally at the Maine State House organized earlier this month by our friends at Maine Conservation Voters , I spoke alongside other advocates for clean and safe water about the urgent need for our legislators enact policies that will ensure all Maine families have access to safe drinking water. How would you feel as a mother learning that you have, unknowingly, been giving your children arsenic—a poison—when you hand them a glass of tap water? How are you supposed to know that...+ Read more

Investigators have begun to answer a growing consumer concern: How are toxic chemicals called phthalates (THAL-eights) getting into cheese and other dairy products? A new report released today by the Coalition for Safer Food Processing & Packaging may provide answers that won’t make cows, farmers, or consumers happy. The first-of-its-kind report confirms that some plastic and rubber farm equipment used to milk cows still contains these hormone-disrupting chemicals. “Shockingly, the most...+ Read more

Grabbing a sandwich or cheeseburger from your favorite deli for lunch shouldn’t mean exposure to toxic chemicals. But a new study has found that Americans who ate food away from home were exposed to higher levels of health-harming toxic chemicals called phthalates (THAL-eights) than those who ate at home. That’s alarming, but probably not surprising. Food prepared in restaurants, fast food chains, and cafeterias is served at the very end of a long industrial supply chain that makes it possible...+ Read more

Here in Maine, the official first day of spring sometimes feels more like optimism than reality. Ice covers our lakes and rivers, snow blankets our sidewalks, and the forecast warns of still more chilly days to come. But as we bundle up and keep a hopeful eye peeled for the first crocuses to emerge, it's nice to acknowledge the change of seasons with a thorough round of spring cleaning. Keeping the house clean and free of dust and grime is also an important way to keep toxic chemicals out of...+ Read more