Forever chemicals are harming Nevadans!

Reduce Pre-term Birth by reducing exposure to Forever Chemicals Every day in Nevada, pregnant workers handle food in vinyl gloves and pregnant shoppers touch thermal paper receipts — neither knowing these routine interactions expose them and their unborn children to phthalates and bisphenols, chemicals with well-documented links to preterm birth, low birth weight, and fetal developmental harm. There is research that shows that exposure to levels of thyroid, sex hormone, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D in pregnant women or offspring, which results in preterm birth, preeclampsia, maternal glucose disorders, infant cryptorchidism, infant hypospadias, and shorter anogenital distance in newborns, as well as growth restriction not only in infants but also in early adolescence and childhood The science is strong. These chemical classes cross the placental barrier. Food service, retail, and healthcare — industries that rely on these products — disproportionately employ women of reproductive age with repeated daily exposure. The burden falls hardest on lower-income workers with the least access to prenatal care. The solutions are affordable and available now. Nitrile gloves and phenol-free receipt paper cost no more than their harmful counterparts. Minnesota, Connecticut, and Washington have already acted on thermal paper. Maine has banned phthalates in food contact materials including gloves. The EU banned bisphenols in receipts in 2020. Nevada has not yet acted — but it should. Please consider legislation phase out vinyl gloves in food service, in wrapped foods and healthcare, and prohibiting bisphenol-containing thermal paper in Nevada. Prevention is far more effective than trying to fix the impacts of exposure. The evidence is clear, the cost is low, and the population at risk is the next generation of Nevadans." Echo-study-finds-link-between-phthalate-exposure-and-preterm-birth-estimates-potential-costs ( https://echochildren.org/research-summaries/echo-study-finds-link-between-phthalate-exposure-and-preterm-birth-estimates-potential-costs/ ) The Endocrine Disruption of Prenatal Phthalate Exposure in Mother and Offspring - PMC ( https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7483495/ ) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014765132300711X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412021000684 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724052306