testimonyofpetermontague.docVIP

This document is online with live links at /yljbos Testimony of Peter Montague on behalf of The New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, Central Jersey Chapter November 27, 2006 Trenton, N.J. My name is Peter Montague. I live at 153 Nichol Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey. I am here today representing the Central Jersey Chapter of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. The New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance is a statewide interracial coalition of groups and individuals concerned with (a) the fair and equitable treatment of people of color and people with low income and (b) their meaningful involvement in decisions that affect their lives. Thank you for this opportunity to testify today on the important subject of toxic chemical exposures of New Jersey residents, especially children. The bill you are considering (S2261/A3529) is exceedingly narrow in scope and, as written, would improve the lives of relatively few children and even fewer adults in N.J. by reducing their exposures to toxic chemicals in a day-care setting. But the general problem you are considering -- toxic chemical exposures of residents of New Jersey -- is a major public health problem. As we shall see, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) estimates that routine non-occupational toxic exposures are causing about 4100 new cases of cancer among New Jersey residents each year and many thousands more illnesses. It is important to acknowledge that New Jersey is the No. 1 state in the nation for new cases of cancer each year.[1] DEP also estimates that 92% of New Jerseys newborn children have been exposed to toxic methyl mercury in the womb each year. Of these, DEP estimates, somewhere between 11,000 and 24,000 infants are exposed at levels high enough to negatively affect their brain development.[2] We therefore ask you to consider the much broader problem of toxic chemical exposures as you deliberate about the narrow (though urgent) proble