Your Fight the Right Activist links for June 16, 2008

** Greenpeace **
Last year, millions of toys were recalled from China because of lead contamination. But lead isn’t the only toxin in our children’s toys. Millions of vinyl toys—from rubber ducks to teething rings—are contaminated with toxic chemicals called phthalates. Phthalates aren’t there by accident—toy makers use them to make the vinyl soft and flexible—despite growing evidence that it also makes them toxic. And when kids put these toys in their mouths, the toxic chemicals can leach out and enter their tiny bodies.

Fortunately, Congress has the opportunity to make toys safer for children. A new piece of legislation is making its way through Congress that would ban the use of Phthalates. They have no place in children’s toys, especially since safe alternatives exist.

Take action by writing to your member of Congress and urging them to support the strongest version of this legislation. Together, we can make the planet a safer place for our children.
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** Human Rights First **
William Haynes, the former General Counsel of the Department of Defense, once advised the Bush Administration that waterboarding and death threats were "legally available" options.

Haynes will go before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow. The members of that committee have a unique opportunity to question him on the administration's interrogation policies.

Ask the Senators to demand answers!
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** BioGems **
The Bush administration has released a plan that would put vast swaths of the Tongass rainforest -- America's largest national forest -- on the chopping block. The new scheme opens 2.3 million acres of pristine forestland to clearcutting and roadbuilding -- threatening many of the undisturbed old-growth stands that form the wild heart of the Tongass. This ancient rainforest is a haven for grizzly bears, thriving salmon runs, bald eagles by the thousand and the elusive Alexander Archipelago wolf. Since taking office, the administration has repeatedly attempted to hand over the Tongass and our other remaining unspoiled forests to industry logging, mining and road-building -- but again and again, we've staved off these attacks on our natural heritage.

Tell the Bush administration to protect the extraordinary wild habitat of the Tongass National Forest.
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** Natural Resources Defense Council **
Most scientists are now warning that global warming could eliminate the polar bear's summer sea-ice habitat by 2040. Without dramatic cutbacks in global warming pollution, Alaska's polar bears could face extinction by 2050. Yet the Bush Administration's new plan to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act will do nothing to reduce global warming pollution or stop oil development in the heart of polar bear habitat.

Tell the Bush Administration to close the polluter loopholes and give polar bears full-fledged protection as an endangered species.