David Steinman
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You may also be looking for David B. Steinman
, builder of bridges.
David Steinman is an environmentalist
, journalist
, consumer health advocate, publisher and author
. His major books include Diet for a Poisoned Planet (1990, 2007), The Safe Shopper’s Bible (1995), Living Healthy in a Toxic World (1996), and Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save the Planet Earth from Global Warming Meltdown (2007), which introduces a concept he calls Green Patriotism.
when he learned that fish in the Santa Monica Bay
were tainted with DDT and PCBs. He began to wonder how many poisons were in other foods he ate. He started doing research into the levels of industrial pollutants and pesticides in human blood and published his team’s findings in the Journal of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The resulting human blood study led to the Heal the Bay
movement that carried out a cleanup of Santa Monica Bay.
As a journalist, Steinman won awards for his reporting from the California Newspaper Publishers Association
, Sierra Club
, and the Society of Professional Journalists
(“Best of the West: Environment and Natural Resources Reporting”).
In 1986, Steinman testified before the Congressional Subcommittee on Health and the Environment as an expert witness on the levels of chemical contaminants in the blood of fishermen and women eating locally caught fish from the Santa Monica Bay. From 1989 to 1991, Steinman served as a member of the Committee on Evaluation of Safety of Fishery Products for the National Academy of Sciences
’ Institute of Medicine
. Steinman was also a contributing author of Seafood Safety (National Academy Press, 1991).
, a "detoxification" regimen created by L. Ron Hubbard
as part of the scripture of Scientology
. It was criticized by sectors of the food industry as well as by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and by C. Everett Koop
, the former Surgeon General of the United States
. The California Raisin Advisory Board
spent over $500,000 on a PR campaign to directly counteract Steinman’s warnings about industrial chemical and pesticide residues in raisins.
In 1995, Steinman wrote Safe Shopper’s Bible: A Consumer’s Guide to Nontoxic Household Products, Cosmetics and Food (Macmillan) with a foreword by Ralph Nader
, and which included a comprehensive review of products from pet supplies to carpeting to auto products. He held a press conference with Ralph Nader
challenging 12 manufacturers and distributors of the most dangerous products, calling them “the Dirty Dozen” in an effort to force manufacturers to reformulate their products or pull them from the market. The following year, Steinman wrote Living Healthy in a Toxic World: Simple Steps to Protect You and Your Family from Everyday Chemicals, Poisons, and Pollution (Perigree, 1996) with foreword by actress and Scientologist Kirstie Alley
.
Since 1996, Steinman has been an advisory board member for The Green Guide Institute, a national non-profit, organization for consumer research and information run by Wendy Gordon Rockefeller. In 2000, Steinman served as Chairman of Citizens for Health, a national nonprofit consumer advocacy group known as the voice of the natural health consumer. He has also been featured as a consumer health advocate in the media on TV, radio and in the press.
On February 8, 2007, Steinman led a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. regarding the presence of the undisclosed carcinogenic petrochemical 1,4-dioxane
in children's and adult's bath and beauty products. Held jointly with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
and with participation from the Environmental Working Group
, the conference highlighted a range of products including name-brand baby shampoos and bubble baths that were found in lab tests to have the carcinogenic petrochemical in significant amounts, although it was never included in product labeling. The press conference also called for official FDA oversight of the cosmetics and personal care products industry, which is currently self-regulated and subject only to suggestions from the FDA.
On March 14, 2008, Steinman led a similar press conference with the Organic Consumers Association
at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, CA regarding the presence of 1,4-dioxane in "organic
" and "natural" personal care products. This press conference led to the California Attorney General
suing four companies with 1,4-dioxane in their cleaning and/or personal care products in June 2008. On March 6, 2009, Steinman and the Organic Consumers Association announced at the Natural Products Expo that 16 major brands had cleaned up 1,4-dioxane from 23 of their products, and that they would bring legal action against several brands whose products still had high amounts of the chemical.
On March 12, 2010, Steinman and the Organic Consumers Association
, in cooperation with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
and Clean Water Action
, announced at the Natural Products Expo that Procter & Gamble
had agreed to reformulate 18 of their Herbal Essences products to reduce levels of 1,4-dioxane to 10ppm (parts per million) or below. They also released results of a new study testing 20 laundry detergents for 1,4-dioxane which found the highest levels in P&G brands Tide
, Tide Free, and Ivory Snow.
Steinman also wrote the introduction to 50 Simple Steps to Save the Earth from Global Warming by the Green Patriot Working Group (Freedom Press, 2008).
David B. Steinman
David Bernard Steinman was an American structural engineer. He was the designer of the Mackinac Bridge and many other notable bridges, and a published author. He grew up in New York City's lower Manhattan, and lived with the ambition of making his mark on the Brooklyn Bridge that he lived under...
, builder of bridges.
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, consumer health advocate, publisher and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. His major books include Diet for a Poisoned Planet (1990, 2007), The Safe Shopper’s Bible (1995), Living Healthy in a Toxic World (1996), and Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save the Planet Earth from Global Warming Meltdown (2007), which introduces a concept he calls Green Patriotism.
Early career
In 1985, David Steinman was writing for the LA WeeklyLA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
when he learned that fish in the Santa Monica Bay
Santa Monica Bay
Santa Monica Bay is a bight of the Pacific Ocean in southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume, in Malibu, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Its eastern...
were tainted with DDT and PCBs. He began to wonder how many poisons were in other foods he ate. He started doing research into the levels of industrial pollutants and pesticides in human blood and published his team’s findings in the Journal of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The resulting human blood study led to the Heal the Bay
Heal the Bay
Heal the Bay is a U.S. environmental advocacy non-profit organization based in Santa Monica, California.Heal the Bay is dedicated to protecting California's Santa Monica Bay, a region of the Pacific coast encompassed by Malibu's Point Dume on the north and the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the south...
movement that carried out a cleanup of Santa Monica Bay.
As a journalist, Steinman won awards for his reporting from the California Newspaper Publishers Association
California Newspaper Publishers Association
The California Newspaper Publishers Association is a nonprofit trade association founded in 1888 that represents the daily and weekly newspapers of California. Its diverse membership consists of over 500 newspapers that elect 35 individuals to its governing board of directors...
, Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
, and the Society of Professional Journalists
Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists , formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States. It was established in April 1909 at DePauw University, and its charter was designed by William Meharry Glenn. The ten founding members of...
(“Best of the West: Environment and Natural Resources Reporting”).
In 1986, Steinman testified before the Congressional Subcommittee on Health and the Environment as an expert witness on the levels of chemical contaminants in the blood of fishermen and women eating locally caught fish from the Santa Monica Bay. From 1989 to 1991, Steinman served as a member of the Committee on Evaluation of Safety of Fishery Products for the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
’ Institute of Medicine
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
. Steinman was also a contributing author of Seafood Safety (National Academy Press, 1991).
Environmental books and leadership
Steinman’s contributions to Seafood Safety led to his controversial book Diet for a Poisoned Planet (Crown 1990, Ballantine 1992; Thunder’s Mouth Press 2007). Steinman made hundreds of requests under the Freedom of Information Act for government studies on food safety and reviewed tens of thousands of chemical analyses on food. In Diet, he identified foods with the lowest and highest toxicity levels by classifying them as green-, yellow- or red-light foods. The book recommended the Purification RundownPurification Rundown
The Purification Rundown, also known as the Purif or the Hubbard Method, is a controversial detoxification program developed by Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard and used by the Church of Scientology as an introductory service. Scientologists consider it the only effective way to deal with the...
, a "detoxification" regimen created by L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
as part of the scripture of Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
. It was criticized by sectors of the food industry as well as by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and by C. Everett Koop
C. Everett Koop
Charles Everett Koop, MD is an American pediatric surgeon and public health administrator. He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and served as thirteenth Surgeon General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989.-Early years:Koop was born...
, the former Surgeon General of the United States
Surgeon General of the United States
The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government...
. The California Raisin Advisory Board
California Raisin Advisory Board
The California Raisin Advisory Board , Fresno, California, is most notable for the use of The California Raisins to market their namesake product, raisins.It was abolished in 1994. There is now a California Raisin Marketing Board....
spent over $500,000 on a PR campaign to directly counteract Steinman’s warnings about industrial chemical and pesticide residues in raisins.
In 1995, Steinman wrote Safe Shopper’s Bible: A Consumer’s Guide to Nontoxic Household Products, Cosmetics and Food (Macmillan) with a foreword by Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
, and which included a comprehensive review of products from pet supplies to carpeting to auto products. He held a press conference with Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
challenging 12 manufacturers and distributors of the most dangerous products, calling them “the Dirty Dozen” in an effort to force manufacturers to reformulate their products or pull them from the market. The following year, Steinman wrote Living Healthy in a Toxic World: Simple Steps to Protect You and Your Family from Everyday Chemicals, Poisons, and Pollution (Perigree, 1996) with foreword by actress and Scientologist Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Louise Alley is an American actress known for her role in the TV show Cheers, in which she played Rebecca Howe from 1987–1993, winning an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991...
.
Since 1996, Steinman has been an advisory board member for The Green Guide Institute, a national non-profit, organization for consumer research and information run by Wendy Gordon Rockefeller. In 2000, Steinman served as Chairman of Citizens for Health, a national nonprofit consumer advocacy group known as the voice of the natural health consumer. He has also been featured as a consumer health advocate in the media on TV, radio and in the press.
On February 8, 2007, Steinman led a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. regarding the presence of the undisclosed carcinogenic petrochemical 1,4-dioxane
1,4-Dioxane
1,4-Dioxane, often called dioxane because the other isomers of dioxane are rare, is a heterocyclic organic compound. It is a colorless liquid with a faint sweet odor similar to that of diethyl ether. It is classified as an ether. This colorless liquid is mainly used as a stabilizer for the solvent...
in children's and adult's bath and beauty products. Held jointly with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, women's, environmental and consumer groups with a goal to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth...
and with participation from the Environmental Working Group
Environmental Working Group
The Environmental Working Group is an American environmental organization that specializes in research and advocacy in the areas of toxic chemicals, agricultural subsidies, public lands, and corporate accountability...
, the conference highlighted a range of products including name-brand baby shampoos and bubble baths that were found in lab tests to have the carcinogenic petrochemical in significant amounts, although it was never included in product labeling. The press conference also called for official FDA oversight of the cosmetics and personal care products industry, which is currently self-regulated and subject only to suggestions from the FDA.
On March 14, 2008, Steinman led a similar press conference with the Organic Consumers Association
Organic Consumers Association
The Organic Consumers Association is a consumer protection and organic agriculture advocacy group based in Finland, Minnesota. It was formed in 1998 in the wake of the mass backlash by organic consumers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture's controversial proposed regulations for organic food...
at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, CA regarding the presence of 1,4-dioxane in "organic
Organic movement
The organic movement broadly refers to the organizations and individuals involved worldwide in the promotion of organic farming, which is a more sustainable mode of agriculture...
" and "natural" personal care products. This press conference led to the California Attorney General
California Attorney General
The California Attorney General is the State Attorney General of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" The Attorney General carries out the responsibilities of the office through the California Department of Justice.The...
suing four companies with 1,4-dioxane in their cleaning and/or personal care products in June 2008. On March 6, 2009, Steinman and the Organic Consumers Association announced at the Natural Products Expo that 16 major brands had cleaned up 1,4-dioxane from 23 of their products, and that they would bring legal action against several brands whose products still had high amounts of the chemical.
On March 12, 2010, Steinman and the Organic Consumers Association
Organic Consumers Association
The Organic Consumers Association is a consumer protection and organic agriculture advocacy group based in Finland, Minnesota. It was formed in 1998 in the wake of the mass backlash by organic consumers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture's controversial proposed regulations for organic food...
, in cooperation with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, women's, environmental and consumer groups with a goal to protect the health of consumers and workers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer, birth...
and Clean Water Action
Clean Water Action
Clean Water Action, an organization of 1 million members, organizes grassroots groups and coalitions to protect America's waters, build healthy communities and support environmental legislation and political candidates. Created in 1972, Clean Water Action focuses on canvassing and gaining support...
, announced at the Natural Products Expo that Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
had agreed to reformulate 18 of their Herbal Essences products to reduce levels of 1,4-dioxane to 10ppm (parts per million) or below. They also released results of a new study testing 20 laundry detergents for 1,4-dioxane which found the highest levels in P&G brands Tide
Tide (detergent)
Tide is the brand-name of a popular laundry detergent manufactured by Procter & Gamble and first introduced to the United States consumer in 1946. It is also marketed in Canada, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, India and several other countries...
, Tide Free, and Ivory Snow.
Steinman also wrote the introduction to 50 Simple Steps to Save the Earth from Global Warming by the Green Patriot Working Group (Freedom Press, 2008).
Freedom Press
In 1998, Steinman founded Freedom Press, a publishing house for books and magazines on health and the environment. In the same year he founded the science-based health magazine The Doctors’ Prescription for Healthy Living.Radio show
In January 2008, Steinman began hosting Green Patriot Radio with David Steinman, a weekly one-hour Internet radio show on www.blogtalkradio.com (previously on www.webtalkradio.net). The show features interviews with authors, journalists, scientists, corporate executives, politicians, doctors and other experts on a variety of environmental and natural health issues.Books by David Steinman
- Diet for a Poisoned Planet (1990, 2007) ISBN 1-56025-922-1
- The Safe Shopper’s Bible (1995) ISBN 0-02-082085-2
- Living Healthy in a Toxic World (1996) ISBN 0-399-52206-9
- The Breast Cancer Prevention Program (1998) ISBN 0-02-862634-6
- Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save the Planet Earth from Global Warming Meltdown (2007) ISBN 1-56025-806-3