Healthy Communities

Current Campaigns

Right to Know

We deserve to know what polluters are dumping into our communities. But the Bush Administration is working to take the right to know away. More.

Safer Alternatives

Every year tons of harmful, dangerous waste is released into our air and water. Maryland PIRG is working to create and implement safer, healthier alternatives to this industrial pollution. More.

Overview

All Marylanders deserve to live in a healthy and toxic-free environment. Unfortunately, conditions like cancer, birth defects and childhood asthma are all linked to chemicals commonly found in popular consumer products, released into our air and water, or dumped into toxic waste sites right in our neighborhoods. Marylanders PIRG stands up to polluters to ensure that the American public has full knowledge about hazardous material in our communities and that polluters stop using the most dangerous chemicals.

Results

Maryland PIRG helped pass legislation to make restaurants and bars in Maryland smoke-free. The law takes effect February 1, 2008 and makes Maryland the 18th state to go smoke-free in all public places.

"Every day, millions and millions of Americans, including people in Baltimore, are put at risk unnecessarily with exposure to deadly chemicals like chlorine gas," said Johanna Neumann, Maryland PIRG Policy Advocate.