Dear readers,

It's hard to believe that we're already halfway through 2010. It's blown by so fast -- but that's what happens when you're as busy as we've been at EWG. We couldn't do everything we do without supporters like you: Thank you.

What's kept us so busy? In the last few months, EWG has maintained its reputation for groundbreaking research:

We've also been working hard, on Capitol Hill and across the country, to protect you and your family from toxic chemicals.

  • Last week I testified in front of a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee, voicing concern over BP's dumping of oil dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico. With nearly unchecked usage of 1.8 million gallons of dispersants and with little information on their environmental or health effects, we are conducting an enormous floating science experiment. The broken federal toxics laws let companies bring chemicals to market without safety testing and hide what information they do have under "Confidential Business Information" loopholes. Click here to watch the hearing and my testimony. I also spoke about this with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. Click here to watch the segment from Countdown.

  • We've collected more than 95,000 signatures on our petition calling on Congress to take action to reform the U.S.'s broken toxic chemicals law. Haven't signed yet? Click here to add your name today!

  • In April, we delivered the more than 85,000 signatures we had collected at that point to Senators Frank Lautenberg (NJ) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and Congressman Bobby Rush (Ill.). Click here to see the photo album.

  • Just yesterday, culminating a decade-long campaign by EWG and like-minded environmental health groups, Congress introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010.Click here to watch the Story of Cosmetics for great background on why this legislation is so important.

  • Several states have taken serious steps to ban BPA. Maryland has outlawed the hormone-disrupting chemical in baby bottles and sippy cups -- thanks in part to EWG supporters who contacted state legislators. And the California Assembly has passed a ban on BPA -- EWG was an original sponsor of this one -- in baby bottles and infant formula containers. The bill will soon be up for a vote in the California Senate and then, we hope, on its way to the governor's desk.

  • EWG has been working with Corporate Accountability International and several state and local organizations to call on the leaders of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,Massachusetts and Washington, DC to stop wasting public money on bottled water for non-emergency purposes. If you live in one of these states, please click on your state's name to take action today.

  • San Francisco has become a leader on consumers' right to know. A first-of-its-kind ordinance that will give shoppers a cell phone's radiation information at the point of sale was passed by the Board of Supervisors and signed into law by Mayor Gavin Newsom. EWG was a strong advocate for this ordinance, rallying San Franciscans to call their Supervisor and speak in support of the ordinance at Board meetings.

EWG continues to have a high profile in all types of media:

We're just more than halfway through the year and have done a great deal -- but there's so much left to do. Thank you for you continued support and investment. Without you, we couldn't do it at all.

With gratitude,

Ken Cook
President, Environmental Working Group