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Monday June 27, 2005                                                                           Laura E. Everett

                                                                                                            617-523-2771 x 14

“On the agenda of the caring churches”: Massachusetts Council of Churches speaks up for Healthier Children

Boston, MA -  Today, the Massachusetts Council of Churches offered testimony before Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture is support of the principles of “An Act for a Healthy Massachusetts: Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals” (H-1286 & S-553). With the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, a Massachusetts Coalition of citizens, scientists, health professionals, workers and educators proposing protective policies that will make the world safer for our children and our selves, the Massachusetts Council of Churches voiced the hopes of Christians concerned about the dangerous effects of toxic chemicals on our children and our neighbor’s children. “An Act of a Healthy Massachusetts,” co-sponsored by Representative Jay Kaufman and Senator Steven Tolman, initially targets ten of the worst toxic chemicals in wide use in Massachusetts that are currently replaceable with feasible safer alternatives for many of their current uses.

The Massachusetts Council of Churches is an ecumenical partnership of seventeen different Orthodox and Protestant denominations in the state, with approximately 1700 congregations. Laura Everett, Massachusetts Council of Churches’ Program Associate, testified on behalf of the Strategy and Action Commission, the policy and advocacy arm of the churches together through the Council.

The Strategy and Action Commission has worked on many issues of just public policy in the past. Everett told members of the committee that, “in a position paper from 1984, The Massachusetts Council of Churches declared ‘every social and political issue which affects human well-being -- whether the nuclear arms race or the unemployment rate, whether starvation or pollution—is simultaneously a moral and spiritual matter. It is, therefore, a concern on the agenda of the caring churches.’  Twenty years later, we are still obliged to speak on matters that affect the common good and it is with that obligation that I come before you today.”

Concern for safer alternatives to toxic chemicals comes out of the churches commitment to loving our neighbors as ourselves. The testimony from the Massachusetts Council of Churches declared,  “we can speak out for safer alternatives in dry cleaning chemicals so that we don’t bring toxins into our homes with our shirts and suits, but also so that dry cleaning workers can do their jobs without being exposed to carcinogens. We can advocate for safer alternatives not just because our own child has asthma, but because our neighbor’ child does too.  We can support Safer Alternatives because we care for ourselves and our neighbors.  Being able to live and move and having our being safely and without unnecessary exposure to toxic chemicals is not a privilege that should be afforded to a select few, but should be the reality for all people in Massachusetts.”

After the well-attended hearing, Everett continued, “as people of faith, we are concerned with those who do not have voice in the political process, so churches together can speak for our children in support of just policies that would make all children in Massachusetts safer.” Those who also are concerned can call their legislator about this important issue.  Legislative contact information can be found at http://www.wheredoivotema.com/ or by calling the Massachusetts Council of Churches at 617-523-2771.

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