While everyday objects such as cell phones and iPods may seem relatively innocuous, there may be some hidden dangers behind them. Freelance environmental journalist and award-winning author Elizabeth Grossman has researched and studied these risks and will be presenting her findings in a lecture at Portland State today.
“Thinking upstream: Hidden toxics, human health and the promise of green chemistry” is an examination of the potentially toxic risks that lie dormant in our every day high-tech devices. The lecture will be held at PSU in the Parson’s Gallery in the Urban Center Building at 1 p.m. today. The event will be hosted by PSU’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions.
“Her talk is for aspiring writers and journalists who may want to do some kind of great investigative work [like] she has, and also for anyone who cares about highlighting the risks of toxics that they’re personally interacting with every day,” said Jenny DuVander, communications director for the Institute for Sustainable Solutions.
Grossman has been investigating environmental hazards since 1999 and has written for several publications including Scientific American, Environmental Health Perspective and The Washington Post.
Grossman has also written four books, Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry; High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health; Watershed: The Undamming of America; and Adventuring Along the Lewis & Clark Trail. She is also the co-editor of Shadow Cat: Encountering the American Mountain Lion.
Her work focuses on looking at “green” chemistry solutions that are changing the way products are designed and manufactured. Grossman began her environmental research testing the water quality in the Willamette River. Since then, she has explored international environmental,occupational and public health issues, as well as chemical management policies that result in alternatives to toxic chemicals.
“I have been working on topics related to Ms. Grossman’s work, specifically exploring how we in Oregon can be leaders in advancing the use of approaches such as green chemistry that offer safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. Ms. Grossman has really contributed to helping the general public better understand both the challenges of our current chemical policies and the opportunities that green chemistry provides,” DuVander said.
Grossman has a reputation of investigating all details in her subjects. “One thing I like about her is that she looks at the whole picture. With High Tech Trash, she not only visited the mines where they extract the materials that are used to make high-tech devices, but she also visited chip fabrication plants, communities that are affected by pollutions from other factories, and working conditions of the factories themselves,” DuVander said.
The most recent book by Grossman, Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, will be the main focus of her presentation. Grossman will talk about the environmental effects from toxics hidden in everyday items. She will also discuss occupational hazards. “There’s so many circumstances of what you’re breathing or touching on the job,” Grossman said.
In Chasing Molecules, Grossman explains that the sources of toxic items can be found in many everyday household items: “These synthetic chemicals—used in electronics, upholstery, carpets, textiles, insulation, vehicle and airplane parts, children’s clothes and strollers, and many other products—have proven very effective at making petroleum-based materials resist fire.”
The problem, Grossman found, is that these chemicals can turn up in unusual places. “…many of these compounds have also turned out to be environmentally mobile and persistent—turning up in food and household dust—and are now so ubiquitous that levels of the chemicals in the blood of North Americans appear to have been doubling every two to five years for the past several decades.”
There are several reasons why people use certain items that are labeled toxic. For instance, plastic shields water and people are addicted to their electronic devices. However, very few people are aware of the dangers behind them. “We all have our phones and gadgets that we love, but few of us know what is involved in making those,” DuVander said.
“I got into all these chemical issues used in electronics, in manufactured in cell phones and computers. The chemicals that are used in clothes and textiles; I got into why we use them,” Grossman said.
She strongly feels that students should care about the dangers in everyday products. “If you’re at all concerned about the chemicals in the food you eat, what you breathe in the air, or if you’re drinking clean water, you might care about what’s in your everyday products,” Grossman said.
Students are also curious about what Grossman has to say about environmental hazards in her lecture. “I would want to see this presentation to see how potentially dangerous they could be. I think students should know because it’s better to know and not need it than to need it and not know,” film junior Sean Scott said. “Some people like to know about potential dangers no matter how miniscule,” he added.
Currently, Grossman is still continuing her work and is writing a new book, as well as working on other projects. “I’m always working on lots of new things and my next book is on occupational health issues,” Grossman said.