“If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones – we had better know something about their nature and their power.”
This Women’s History Month, Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition (MBCC) honors the incomparable Rachel Carson. With strength, intelligence, and compassion, she alerted the world to the link between environmental contamination and human health effects, including breast cancer. In both her words and actions, Carson’s legacy inspires MBCC every day to pursue a healthy world for future generations.
On January 25, 2017, MBCC was at the State House once again advocating for drinking water quality research. Over 60 Massachusetts state legislators and aides attended the Educational Forum on Water Quality Research hosted by MBCC and Representative Paul K. Frost (7th Worcester). Dr. Laurel Schaider, Research Scientist at Silent Spring Institute, provided an update on Silent Spring Institute’s ongoing research on hormone disruptors and other unregulated chemicals of emerging concern in drinking water and groundwater across the Commonwealth.
In 2016, MBCC was successful in working with Representative Frost and other legislators to secure $25,000 in funding for water quality research in Massachusetts. Currently, we are awaiting a bill number and committee assignment for new legislation to provide a Drinking and Groundwater Trust Fund to be used for the purposes of establishing a research project in collaboration with Silent Spring Institute. We will be reaching out to you to contact your state legislators once a bill number is assigned. In the meantime, we would like to share with you those legislators who have co-signed the new bill, and if your state legislator is listed, we encourage you to contact them to say thank you for making quality drinking water a priority in Massachusetts.
Sponsor: Representative Paul K. Frost, 7th Worcester
Representative F. Jay Barrows, 1st Bristol
Representative Kate D. Campanale, 17th Worcester
Representative Mike Connolly, 26th Middlesex
Senator Cynthia S. Creem, 1st Middlesex and Norfolk
Senator Anne M. Gobi, Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Middlesex
Representative Kimberly N. Ferguson, 1st Worcester
Representative Susan Williams Gifford, 2nd Plymouth
Representative Steven S. Howitt, 4th Bristol
Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives, 1st Essex
Representative Hannah Kane, 11th Worcester
Representative Mary S. Keefe, 15th Worcester
Representative Kevin J. Kuros, 8th Worcester
Representative James J. Lyons, Jr., 18th Essex
Representative Joseph D. McKenna, 18th Worcester
Representative Paul McCurtry, 11th Norfolk
Representative David K. Muradian, Jr., 9th Worcester
Representative Elizabeth A. Poirier, 14th Bristol
Representative Denise Provost, 27th Middlesex
Representative Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr., 12th Hampden
Representative Todd M. Smola, 1st Hampden
Senator James E. Timilty, Bristol and Norfolk
Representative Chris Walsh, 6th Middlesex
You can find the contact information for your state legislator by clicking here.
As MBCC continues to work to affect legislative changes on behalf of all citizens of Massachusetts, we hope that you will please consider supporting our ongoing advocacy efforts by clicking the button below.
