We are all looking forward to the Oscars this weekend, but this week Hollywood played host to another awards ceremony: The Toxies.

This tongue-in-cheek awards ceremony hosted by Citizens for a Healthy and Green Economy (CHANGE) was created to bring attention to the "bad actors" of toxics and the place that they play in our lives.

California has a Green Chemistry Initiative, a program that was announced in 2008 with a goal of creating a list of chemicals of concern and replacing them with greener, safer alternatives where possible.

Guest post by Bobbi Chase Wilding, organizing director of Clean New York.

The New York State legislative session opened in January, and our coalition members are working hard to make sure that environmental health is a top priority.

Child-Safe Products

Our top focus this year is legislation to get toxic chemicals out of children's products. Maine has passed a Kids-Safe Products Act which requires manufacturer disclosure of chemicals and a move toward safer alternatives, and New York hopes to pass a similar law.

Great news this morning: Maryland may be the third state in the nation to pass a ban against bisphenol-A (BPA) .

The BPA Free Baby Bottle act is looking to ban BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups and would go into effect in 2012.

The bill has passed in the Maryland Assembly and Senate, and will now go to the Governor's desk for signature. If passed, Maryland will join Minnesota and Connecticut in banning BPA on the state level.

A similar bill has also passed both houses in Wisconsin and is awaiting approval from Governor Doyle. An article in Treehugger talks about the Wisconsin bill, and the remarkable bi-partisan support for the BPA ban.

We've been talking about TSCA a lot around here -- it's the reform of Toxic Substances Control Act that will soon begin wending its way through the congressional process in Washington DC. It's important because it will update a 1976 law that oversees what chemicals can legally be used by manufacturers -- and what chemicals we encounter in our everyday lives.

One family of chemicals under consideration is PBTs -- Persistent, Bioaccumulative Toxins. These chemicals include lead, mercury, the compound used to make Teflon and some flame retardants.

PBTs are uniquely dangerous because they pose a triple threat. They persist in the environment for long periods of time and can be transported long distances; they accumulate in living organisms and increase in concentration as they move up the food chain; and, they are highly toxic, often at very low levels of exposure.

We are deeply concerned about PBTs, and believe strongly that the phaseout of nonessential PBTs must be a critical piece of TSCA reform.

Good news out of California as they begin the slow march toward removing Bisphenol-A (BPA) from the lives of Californians.

Proposition 65 is a law that was passed by California voters in 1986. Under this law, the government must publish a list of chemicals that causer cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm. Businesses must then alert citizens if they are exposed to significant amounts of these chemicals.

It was announced last week that the California Environmental Protection Agency has started the process to add BPA to the list of chemicals.