9:14 AM

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Environmental Task Force

Healthy Malden

Healthy Malden's Environmental Task Force is a coalition drawing experience and energy from a variety of sources within the community. The group is geared towards promoting energy conservation and green space clean-up and recreation use. The Task Force has produced a newsletter for the community on environmental issues and have also had a day for testing toys for toxic chemicals.

Contact us to find out when our next monthly meeting is being held and get involved!

9:12 AM

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Healthy Malden Turns Focus Onto Malden's Environment

Healthy Malden

Creation of Task Force Starts Coordinated Effort to Improve Malden’s Environmental Health

On Tuesday, May 6th, in Malden High School and all five K-8 schools, presenters gave a presentation on Climate Change to students in grades 6-12, which came on the heels of last week’s Earth Day and several clean-up efforts across the City. What these efforts lacked was a cohesive approach to truly meaningful change regarding the environment on the local, state, national, and global levels. Healthy Malden is looking to change that with the creation of a new Task Force designed to improve the quality of life for Malden’s citizens: an Environmental Task Force.

The proposed Environmental Task Force is looking for volunteers to help define its mission and to develop an action plan for change in our community. Maldonians of all ages are encouraged to join in the task force as anyone can help make their environment healthier. Healthy Malden will then coordinate grant-writing efforts to bring money and resources into the city to accomplish these goals.

To volunteer your time or to find out more, contact Healthy Malden either by calling 781-388-4404 or by e-mailing info@healthymalden.org. First meeting will be scheduled for the end of June to develop the mission and action plan for the upcoming year.

11:34 AM

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New England Greenstart - Green Renewable Energy

Healthy Malden

To enroll, click here to be taken to the Greenstart website.
For more information visit the
FAQs

What is New England GreenStart?

New England Green Start is a part of Green up, a program that is being offered by National Grid. It allows you to choose the sources that will be used to create the electricity that lights up your home by giving you the option to choose healthier cleaner energy.

Greenstart offers a blend of 100% renewable energy from right here in New England. You can decide to match either 50% or a 100% of your energy use with these renewable resources (a mix of low impact hydro, new wind, solar, and biomass energy).

To read more about the health and environmental impacts of our electricity use, visit the Union of Concerned Scientists website.

Why Choose New England GreenStart?

Matching Funds
Through Mass Energy's participation in a program called Clean Energy Choice, for every dollar you pay for New England GreenStart, the MTC will pay up to two dollars in grants, including:
Up to one dollar goes to Malden for clean energy goods and services, and up to one more dollar goes to fund clean energy projects that benefit the state's low-income residents

Tax Deductibility
By choosing New England Greenstart you are contributing towards development of more renewable energy generating sources. Not only are you contributing to the creation and support of jobs in that sector, but about 57% of your payments to New England Greenstart are recognized as a tax-deductible contributions to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative ("MTC"). More information can be found at
http://www.cleanenergychoice.org/.

Local Sources
New England GreenstartSM is based on natural resources from right here in New England. It has the highest percentage of new New England –based renewable content than any other offering available to Massachusetts electric consumers. Supporting new resources is the best way to drive the development of future projects, and an important step in achieving a cleaner energy mix.

Community Projects
New England GreenStart makes use of several community-based resources. It is local projects like these that your New England GreenStartSM payments help to support!

By enrolling in New England GreenStartSM you are choosing renewable electricity and helping to create a clean, reliable energy future for New England; supporting renewable energy markets and development and helping to clean up the air and water in our region.

9:50 AM

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Walk to School Day at The Beebe

Healthy Malden

Healthy Malden Organizes Safe Routes to School Effort

MALDEN—On Wednesday May 6th, under a beautiful May morning, nearly forty Beebe students took part in a local effort to bring the national Safe Routes To School program to Malden to promote active living and healthy lifestyles. At the request of Ward Six School Committee person Stephen Winslow, Healthy Malden coordinated the effort among MassRides, the Mayor’s office, the Malden Public Schools, the Malden Police, and the Beebe School PTO.

“Stephen Winslow has always been a terrific advocate of healthier lifestyles for our children so when he mentioned this event, I knew Healthy Malden could help make it happen,” said Healthy Malden executive director Kevin Duffy, also the Ward Three Malden School Committee person.
Starting at either Amerige Park or Devir Park, parents and students walked to the Beebe courtyard along designated routes. While they walked, the students were given tips and mini-quizzes on being a safe pedestrian. Upon reaching the courtyard, all students who made the half-mile walk received an incentive gift of a Walk to School pencil bag filled with various school supplies and other fun stuff.

“We got off to a great start because of Angela Spadafora and the Beebe PTO, as well as Jennifer McAllister, a parent volunteer who has extensive experience with these types of programs” continued Duffy. “We are encouraging parents to join us once-a-week until the end of school so watch for the posted maps and listen for the Connect-Ed calls!”

9:15 AM

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Energetic Efforts - Environmental Task Force Newsletter

Healthy Malden

To download our newsletter click on the image or the following link:

9:12 AM

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Toxic Materials Recycling Day

Healthy Malden

Healthy Malden, the Board of Health, and the DPW team up to rid Malden of Toxic Materials

MALDEN—On Saturday, March 28th Healthy Malden, in conjunction with the Malden Department of Public Works and the Malden Board of Health, held a Quarterly Recycling Day to create a systematic collection of hazardous materials that threaten the well-being of our city. With this new partnership with the DPH and Board of Health, Healthy Malden’s Prevention Task Force hopes to clear out all the medicine cabinets in Malden of the old and unused prescription drugs to keep them from being misused by our youth.

“This was a great example of the services that the city offers to residents to ensure that these materials are disposed of properly,” said Kevin Duffy, Executive Director of Health Malden. “Without this type of systematic collection, who knows how these paints, oils, and other toxic materials could have ended up in our ecosystem.”

The Board of Health collected used hypodermic needles and mercury items, which include thermostats, mercury switches, elemental mercury, fluorescent light bulbs, and button batteries. All of these were accepted free of charge with old thermometers being exchanged for new digital ones. In addition, residents brought more than 160 CRT monitors/TVs and forty-five car and truck tires to the city yard on Commercial Street. These materials can now be disposed of properly. “Thanks to the DPW and Board of Health, we actually collected enough mercury to poison the Great lakes several times over,” added Duffy.

9:04 AM

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Healthy Malden Offers Free Toy Testing

Healthy Malden

Prior to February Regulations, Many Toys Still Contain Chemicals Dangerous to Children

MALDEN—On Saturday, January 10th in the Healthy Malden offices at 239 Commercial Street, Healthy Malden will be offering a free testing of toys for a variety of chemicals of concern used in manufacturing. From 10:00am to 2:00pm, Healthy Malden has arranged to provide free to Malden residents a universally recognized method of measuring the elemental composition of materials on or near the surface of products. The screening technology - the portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer - identifies the atomic composition of a material in order to detect lead, cadmium, chlorine, arsenic, bromine, and mercury. These chemicals have been linked in animal and sometimes human studies to long-term health impacts such as birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer.

The materials used in toys like plastics, paints, and fabrics are made up of chemicals, and may also contain added chemicals to impart specific properties such as rigidity, durability, flexibility, or flame resistance. When children put these products into their mouths, some of these chemicals may enter their bodies. Some of the substances, which are not always chemically bound to the products, may also be released directly onto skin, or into the air that children breathe. There may also be exposure through chemicals that collect in house dust.

Because children's bodies are growing and developing, they are more vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals. Even small amounts of a chemical can impact a child's ability to reach his or her full potential. Children are exposed to toxic chemicals from many sources in addition to toys, and the combination of these many exposures may cause harm. It is important to note that the rapid screening technology used cannot identify the presence and concentration of every chemical of concern.

The Ecology Center, a Michigan-based nonprofit organization, and partners across the country released the 2nd annual consumer guide to toxic chemicals in toys at http://www.healthytoys.org/.

Some findings are:

Lead is Still in Toys - HealthyToys.org found lead in 20% of all the products tested this year, including 54 products (3.5%) that exceed the current 600 ppm recall threshold for lead-based paint, and the soon-to-be national standard for all children's products. When children are exposed to lead, the developmental and nervous system consequences can be irreversible. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended a level of 40 parts per million (ppm) of lead as the maximum that should be allowed in children's products.

It's Not Just China - HealthyToys.org has not found a consistent correlation between the country of manufacture and the presence of toxic chemicals in toys. 21% of toys from China and 16% of those from all other countries had detectable levels of lead in 2008. 17 toys manufactured in the U.S. were sampled and 35% of those had detectable levels of lead. Two toys had levels above 600 ppm. Among the highest lead levels detected in HealthyToys.org (190,943 ppm) was in a Halloween Pumpkin Pin made in the USA.

It's Not Just Lead - HealthyToys.org found a significant number of toys containing cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and bromine. 2.9% (45 products) had bromine at concentrations of 1,000 ppm or higher. This indicates the likely use of brominated flame retardants -- chemicals that may pose hazards to children’s health. Other toxic chemicals found in toys include arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. Arsenic was detected at levels greater than 100 ppm in 22 or 1.4% of products; 289 (18.9%) of products contained detectable levels of arsenic. Cadmium was found above 100ppm in 30 (1.9%) of products; 38 (2.4%) of products contained detectable levels of cadmium. Mercury was found above 100 ppm in 14 (1%) of products; 62 (4.2%) of products contained detectable levels of mercury.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC / Vinyl) - HealthyToys.org identified products made with PVC plastic by measuring their chlorine content. PVC is a problematic plastic because it creates major environmental health hazards in its manufacture and disposal and may contain additives, including phthalates, that may pose hazards. 27% of toys (excluding jewelry) tested this year by HealthyToys.org were made with PVC.

Jewelry - Jewelry remains the most contaminated product category tested. Children's jewelry is five-times more likely to contain lead above 600 ppm than other products. 15% of jewelry samples (compared to 3% of other products) had lead levels above 600 ppm. Overall, jewelry is twice as likely to contain detectable levels of lead as other products. Numerous Hannah Montana brand jewelry items tested high for lead. HealthyToys.org recommends that consumers avoid low cost children's jewelry.

The Good News – The good news is that 62% (954) of the products tested contain LOW levels of chemicals of concern, including 324 of these products which contained NO chemicals of concern. These products look and feel no different than other children's products on the shelf. These findings show that manufacturers can and should make toys free of unnecessary toxic chemicals.

Beginning in February, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will adopt levels for antimony, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, chromium as a mandatory standard, but toys from this past holiday are not subject to these regulations.