[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to Uptown Chats, a podcast where we share stories about environmental justice by and for everyday people. I'm your co host, Jaron, and today Lonnie's out sick. So instead I'll be joined by a familiar face and voice, Jama Joseph, to help me unpack our topic today.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Hey, it's great to be here. I'm glad I get to join you for this episode. We've got another familiar face joining us too. Brianna Cabrera is our react State Legislative manager.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: That's right. We've actually had Brianna on our show quite a few times now.
She got the number at four times, so that sounds about right. But she's slowly becoming our expert on everything state policy related. So today she's joining us to help highlight a couple of wins that we saw this last year and to unpack some of the items on WEAC's 2026 policy agenda. But before we get ahead of ourselves, Jama, can you share WEAC's mission?
[00:01:12] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: We ACT's mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and low income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and and practices.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Thank you, Jama. It gets easier every time, but I'm excited to jump into our interview with Brianna. But before we do that, I just want to say a few quick words about our policy agenda for folks that aren't familiar with it. We've included a link in the show notes for anyone that wants to take a closer look, but essentially it just outlines the campaigns and initiatives that we ACT is planning to work on this year. And it includes policies at the city, state and federal level.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: There are over 25 campaigns and initiatives in there, so we don't have time to cover everything in one episode. Instead, we decided to give you a little snapshot of some of the state level policies that we're excited about, which is where Brianna comes in. The priorities she's going to talk about with us are beauty justice and the environmental justice citing law.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah. So if any of those priorities pique your interest, stick around and learn more. Who knows, you might just want to join us for one of our advocacy events this year.
Thanks so much for joining us, Brianna. We're super happy to have you back on the podcast for I don't even know. I've lost track. I've lost track of how many times we've had you on the show. You're becoming a podcast favorite, so we appreciate you making time to chat with us about some things on our policy agenda, our 2026 policy agenda, specifically, some stuff at the state level, because, you know, you're kind of our expert in that. In that domain. So, yeah, do you want to just start us off? I know we had a big year this last year. Some wins, some things to celebrate. You know, we love to take any chance that we can get to celebrate because, you know, there's a lot of work that goes into these wins. So, yeah, just if you want to share a little bit about that before we get too carried away with the 2026 policy agenda stuff, sure.
[00:03:13] Speaker C: I'm still stuck in 2025 that we're talking about. 2025 policy agenda.
This is my fourth time back, Jaron. I'm keeping score, even though you might not be very excited to be back. And I'm more than happy to discuss our wins and what we're looking forward to in 2026.
So for our wins, we actually had a really big one. And that is thanks to all of our listeners, our dedicated audience that are advocates in and of themselves and are very active and passionate about making sure we are fighting for a healthier New York State.
And one huge win that we all won together was passing the Toxins out of Menstrual Products act that was championed by Senator Fernandez and Assemblymember Rosenthal. And this bill is incredibly important for women's health, but also for everyone across New York State that menstruates and has ever needed to use period products.
We are very, very excited to finally announce. I don't know why it's an announcement that needs to be made in the first place. But now, as of next year, I believe is when this law will go into effect. We will be seeing no more sales of period products that contain chemicals such as formaldehyde, lead, pfas and mercury. A whole host of other toxic chemicals that had no business being in our menstrual products in the first place are officially going to be eradicated and no longer sold to New Yorkers for sale, which is a huge, huge win. And I'm very excited that that is how we're kicking off this year.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: Thanks for that highlight. Yeah, I feel like one of the themes of this podcast and the different episodes that we've done is making announcements that shouldn't have to be announcements. Things that are like, wow, that's not already a thing. Like, that's not a law that already exists. I feel like it's a common theme that I've noticed and I appreciate that, you know, despite this being something that wasn't in place before that, you know, we act and other folks, including lots of our members, help to do the work to get this across the finish line and have such a big win and carrying on. You know, this thread, kind of some of this work related to beauty justice and to menstrual products and other things. I know that we have some things on the agenda for this upcoming year for 2026 that are exciting as well related to beauty justice. So do you want to just tell us a little bit about what's kind of on the radar and what we're thinking about in that domain?
[00:05:58] Speaker C: Yeah, of course. So for anyone who might be new to the topic of beauty justice or has experienced what it means, but not exactly sure what the term is, I'll just give some examples. Currently you could find parabens in a lot of personal care products.
They're often found in some shampoos and they disrupt hormones, they can increase proliferation of breast cancer cells. The others can reduce sperm production.
And this chemical has been banned or restricted in a number of other states like Maryland, California, Vermont.
Then there is ortho phthalates, which can be found in some nail polishes, some fragrances, eyelash glue. And phthalates are linked to hormone disruption, developmental reproductive harm, and also again, potentially cancer. Black women have have higher levels of orthothalates that were found in their urine compared to white women, according to a CDC study. And also this chemical is restricted in California and Maryland, also in Washington, Oregon, Vermont.
Then one other last example, but there are many more, unfortunately.
PFAS has been detected in some foundation complexion products, some shampoos, a couple of other products. It's often put in as a water repellent that's very good at making things nonstick, but they're incredibly harmful to our bodies. They can be linked to system toxicity, decreased immune response, eye irritation, again, developmental and reproductive harm. And they don't go away more you're exposed to it, particularly over longer periods of time. The more that builds up in our bodies and the more sick we get.
Also, this chemical has been banned in other states like California, Washington, Oregon, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, and have been prohibited in a number of personal care products due to its, you know, harm that it causes to humans. Now this is not, unfortunately, an extensive list of all the chemicals that can currently be found in our personal care and cosmetic products that are sold in the US Comparatively to the eu, they have banned thousands of chemicals that have been deemed unsafe to be sold to consumers in the U.S. i think that number is in the teens like 11 or 13 chemicals that have been banned. And so that means a lot, unfortunately of our chemicals that are sold in the US Are unsafe for use if you're not looking for particularly clean product or a product that is not harmful. But in order for you to really know what's harmful or not, you'd have to become a toxicologist. And sometimes the ingredients that are harmful are not always described on the label.
And maybe this problem could be made lessened if we were able to have companies disclosed. But in 2022, the federal government preempted states New York state from disclosing or passing disclosure laws from companies. So we're left with the better option of passing restrictions on these toxic chemicals being sold in products in personal care and cosmetics. And that's really important because particularly women and women of color that use more affordable products that can often be found in big name stores like Walmart or Dollar Store or, you know, some place that's local in their community are usually not looking as closely at the bottle to see if it's very safe because why should you need to. It should just be able to be clean or non toxic for you to be putting on your skin, on your body. And so that's what we are advocating for the Beauty justice act.
And this bill is different from other states. I mentioned a couple of other states that have banned chemicals that are toxic or have been found to be toxic for humans. But the Beauty justice act for New York State particularly lists chemicals that are simple for companies to not have to use and remove from their ingredient from their products and are based on a list that the Campaign for CF Cosmetic found to be most, most harmful to particularly black women and women of color. And so that's why the list of the ingredients or the chemicals that are looking to be restricted in the Beauty justice act are so important to New Yorkers for their health and safety.
And this bill will go if passed in the assembly, it's passed the Senate, it needs to pass the assembly this year, and we're working to be able to do that.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Thanks for that overview of just some of those data points of how people are being impacted, specifically women of color, by these products and the chemicals in them, and why this work is so important to get these chemicals banned and the context of other states and other countries that are doing this work. And oftentimes, especially when we think about Europe and all the chemicals that they've banned and why it's so important to be be doing this work in banning these chemicals. You set me up really well. Because my next question for you was just thinking about where things kind of left off at the end of last year with this bill. We were able to, like you said, move it through the state Senate. But I'm just kind of curious, what have been some of the challenges in getting the bill through, what work that you all have done to overcome some of those obstacles? Just hear a little bit more about what that work has looked like from your perspective.
[00:12:09] Speaker C: Yeah, I think, unfortunately, like most things, it comes down to money as that being a primary motivator for why this bill hasn't passed. It's not about health, it's about money. And really, I think it's important that we're understanding the Beauty justice act will not cost the state very much in terms of being able to regulate these industries and test these products.
Dec, the Department of Environmental Conservation, which would be the agency that would look to enforce this law, already has the infrastructure and staff set up to do this type of restriction. And we're hearing from our opposition on this bill, from the chemical industry, that if we were to pass this law, that there would be no products being able to be sold on the shelves, that prices would increase exorbitantly.
And we just know that's not the case. There are. There have been plenty of examples that we can point to that demonstrate that when we pass laws to regulate an industry, particularly when we're looking at toxic chemicals and getting them out of something, that they're very effective. We can think about lead paint, for instance.
It was seemed impossible and unheard of to have getting rid of lead from our paint and also getting rid of lead from our gas.
The same talking points were used by the industry saying it's going to be way too expensive.
Paint and gas will not be able to be sold. And we just know that's not the case. And we also know from a more recent piece of legislation that was passed, I think it was in 2019, regulating 14 dioxane in detergents that are sold in the U.S.
we know that when we do so, the companies comply.
We can test a lot of products from before and after something goes, a law goes into effect that restricts an ingredient and companies comply. And so we know that passing laws that restrict ingredients are so important.
Again, this is not going to be a big cost to the state. The onus for following this law will fall to individual industries.
And I believe this bill is very fair. It says that no products shall be sold, personal care or cosmetic, that contain these ingredients that I mentioned were toxic by and intentionally added to the product by 2029.
And before then, Dec, before setting the regulations to make sure folks are complying, will take the industry standpoint into account and we'll take their concerns into account when making the rules for following this law. They will also be they as in dec will be putting out a list of safer alternatives that in case an industry does not know how to switch out that coal tar on your on your mascara and what safer ingredients might use might they use to get the same color. DC would be putting out a safer alternatives list to be able to make that swap easier to using cleaner and unsafer ingredients.
So I believe this bill is a good bill. It's one that we know our listeners and our champions for beauty justice, particularly in northern Manhattan and Harlem, are really, really big fans and advocates of this piece of legislation. It's definitely needed. The more states that do pass these restrictions, the better our product shelves will look like and safer.
So I think it's important that all folks are really paying attention to this this year and that we get it over the finish line.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Assembly thanks for that, Brianna. I appreciate this context setting of the reality of what it means for this bill and kind of talking through some of the concerns and somewhat made up, largely made up opposition arguments and this narrative that like, oh, if you ban these chemicals, we're not going to have any products, all your favorite products are going to be gone, are going to be super expensive. It's like, well, you know, you just mentioned how, you know, in Europe there's thousands of chemicals that are banned and they still have products. Whoa, crazy. So, you know, it can be done and people can still have products and they can be safer and blah blah, blah. So I appreciate you kind of setting that narrative straight. And again this is such a big topic. So for the sake of time I want to transition to one of the other items. But for folks that are really interested in this topic, I will say we have a whole other episode that dives into beauty justice. So we're going to make sure to include that in the show notes. So for anyone who is maybe newer to this concept and wants to unpack it a little bit more that you can give that episode a listen. But for the sake of time, I want to transition here a little bit more about some of the other policies that are on we act 2026 policy agenda. So what else you got, Brianna? What else is on is on the radar for this year.
[00:17:37] Speaker C: Yeah, one other big thing that we act was involved in passing was in 2022 we passed the Environmental justice signing law. It is a groundbreaking piece of legislation that was a huge group effort. And really what it was seeking to change was this problem that most of us experience and don't often have a name for it. But if you're. I grew up in South Central Los Angeles.
I'm very familiar with living in a neighborhood that had many sources of pollution in it. Hell, I went to a school that was directly located under one of the major freeways in California. And I know there are many neighborhoods where unfortunately there's a large factory.
There is maybe in the case in the Bronx, there are a number of peaker plants that are close by. There are maybe a huge wastewater treatment plant that smells like rotten eggs as was the case in Harlem back in the early 80s. And so what we're looking to do is make sure that we are having more equitable siding and that not all pollutants and all polluting sources are being dumped in low income communities of color across the state.
What we're seeking to do is change that racist citing pattern by making sure the EJ Sighting law, we've already passed it, making sure it's working effectively for New Yorkers. Right now it's in the rulemaking process, which means that the state is currently developing the rules in ensuring public comment is being heard and that folks have an opportunity to weigh in on how they want this law to work for their communities before companies and industry officially have to comply with it or they know how to comply with it more. So the law is in effect, but it's more guidance on how exactly to comply in a way that directly benefits New Yorkers.
So exactly what is this EJ siding law and what does it do? Like I mentioned, it changed the patterns of historical patterns of citing in New York State and we're looking more towards moving to an equitable siting pattern. And exactly what that means is a permit for a large polluting source facility should not be issued for a new project if dec. That's the Department of Environmental Conservation again, a state agency determines that this facility will cause or contribute more than a small amount of pollution to the disadvantaged community.
And this managed community is a definition that exists at the New York State level for identifying a whole host of criteria. If you want to check that out, that's available on the NYSERDA website. But really we're trying to make sure that we're not allowing new sources of polluting facilities to be put into low income communities of color. Now moving into, you know, a new year 2026 and we're also wanting to capture existing polluting sources of facility and making sure we're ratcheting down the amount of pollution that they're putting out into the community. Those are the two big, big aspects of this law. There is much more complexity, but it's important that folks are paying attention to this because like I mentioned, we're in a rulemaking process and DC needs to hear from you, need to hear your stories, need to hear if you have experiences with the polluting facility that you want to see is captured by this law, making sure that DC is paying attention to it. And particularly which ones am I talking about? I'm talking about facilities that contribute to your water pollution, your air pollution, LNG facilities, gas facilities, solid and waste management facilities.
We're talking about these big landfills, talking about LNG plants.
Those are the ones that are going to now we have in dec, take a closer look and making sure that they are not contributing more pollution to the community.
And if there is one that wants to be newly built, they're going to have to put it in a place that's not overburdened with pollution.
So what's next for this law?
Like I mentioned, we're in the rulemaking process. We did see phase one. DEC split this up into a couple of different phases.
Phase one was dealing with how this law will change the rules of seeker, which is the State Environmental Quality Review Act. And so we want to make sure that rules for that phase one that we're seeing are finalized I think within the next couple of months. And then for phase two, which deals particularly with how DEC will be changing their processes for looking at siting of these facilities that we will be seeing come out sometime in the next couple of months as well. There will be opportunity, like I mentioned, for the public to make written comments, to show up in person to testify.
And if you're interested in any of that, please do reach on out to us and we will make sure to keep you updated on what's happening. The best way to follow along is by subscribing to our newsletter. That is always a great source of information. We keep you updated on the ways you can plug in.
So please do follow our newsletter. We'll make announcements there. And we have tons of resources on our website to learn more about this law and how it might impact our specific community.
So please also check out our website and there will be tons of information.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: Thank you for that. So comprehensive. See, this is why you've earned your spot for four episodes on the podcast but this thorough coverage of these important topics, including this environmental justice sighting law, which again, for folks who are interested, who are hearing this and want to get involved and want to participate in the rulemaking process this year, definitely check out the WEAC newsletter. I'll make sure to include a link in the show notes so you can click on it there. Subscribe if you haven't already and just get those updates as actions come about for you to participate in, because that's how this work gets done. Obviously, we ACT staff are here helping to lead the charge in a lot of ways, but it really comes down to community members, we ACT members, folks that are on the ground helping to move these things forward and talk to their representatives and let them know that this is an area that they care about and they want them to take action. And so with that, any last comments or other things that you want to highlight, Brianna, about the 2026 policy agenda, things that we got in store for this year or just other things that are top of mind for you?
[00:24:46] Speaker C: Absolutely. Let's talk about calls to action. I mean, that's why we're here, right, listeners? We are here to learn about issues that are directly affecting our communities and how we can get involved.
There are definitely a couple of exciting things coming up in 2026 that we're already planning and are in the works. If you're interested in beauty justice, we are planning a big event.
If you've been a loyal follower of WE ACT for a number of years, then you remember our 2024 Beauty Justice Fair. That was a big hit in New York City. We're doing it again this year in 2026. It'll be very fun. There will be prizes, there will be games, there will be diy. Make your own beauty product stations. There will be ways for you to take direct action by making a phone call, sending a letter. And overall, it's just going to be a day of fun. So please come out to our beauty justice fair on March 6 that is taking place at the City College of New York in the NAC Ballroom.
And so that is also happening from 5 to 8pm that day. It's a Friday, Friday night. Come spend it with us. We'll be there March 6th.
We also have lobby days that are coming up this year. Lobby days are when you all join me and a couple of our other colleagues in Albany for a full day of talking to your legislative representatives. Like Jaron said, you are your own best advoc and we cannot do this work without folks that are really passionate and wanting to get involved with these issues.
So that is a day when we will offer free transportation from Harlem to Albany and we spend the entire day in the Capitol talking directly to folks that can pass the Beauty justice act and you tell your story as to why it's important that you see this pass in your community.
We'll also have free lunch and it'll be overall another day of fun. That lobby day that's happening is going to be a big one this year. We're having it right on Earth Day April 22.
You will have to meet us at the Harlem office at WE act and I'm sure Jaron will include that address in the description.
But yeah, we'll love to see you there. And that's another great way to take action. In the meantime, like I mentioned, March and April are a couple months away. There are things you could be doing in the interim. Again in the newsletter we often send out one click tools like Action Network Tools for you to sign a sign on letter for you wanting to see a Beauty justice act passed or make a phone call to a representative that has a lot of power to move it and has not been. So those keep an eye out on your emails for those call to actions as well. They make a big big difference.
And then if you're interested in the Environmental Justice Signing law also newsletter will be putting out dates that DEC is opening up public testimony and where you can go show up and make a couple minutes testimony as to why this law is really important to you and what you want to see it do. We will also have more information and I'm sure workshops on how to do public testimony. If it's your first time, we don't expect you to do everything on your own. We're absolutely here to help and guide you. And then we'll also have other one click action tools that will be happening and be sent out via email. So again your email is really important. Following a newsletter is really important and overall I'm excited for 2026 and for us to pass Beauty justice and see the E.J. the Environmental Justice Signing Law. Be real soon.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Thank you Briana. You heard it here folks. Sign up for the newsletter. You got some things to add to your calendar coming up the next couple months. Some actions that are coming your way through the newsletter. So if you're interested, definitely check those things out. That's how we get these these big wins is through your help. So with that I'm going to thank you again. Brianna. I'm sure this is not the last time we'll have you on the show, but we appreciate every time that that you come and join us. So thanks for, thanks for making the time and we'll we'll see you again soon.
[00:28:48] Speaker C: All right, thanks you all.
[00:28:54] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: Thanks for listening. If you like this episode, make sure to rate and review the show on whatever platform you listen on. If you have thoughts about the show or suggestions for topics you want us to discuss, we encourage you to reach.
[00:29:09] Speaker A:
[email protected] and check out react on Facebook @weact4ej. That's W E A c t F O R e j on Instagram, bluesky and YouTube act4ej. That's W E A C T number 4ej and check out our website, react.org for more information about environmental justice.
Until next time, Sa.
