THE PLASTIC DETOX

Dr. Shanna Swan is an Environmental and Reproductive Epidemiologist. She is Professor of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and an Adjunct Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California San Francisco.

She currently is the director of the Action Science Initiative, a program that conducts rapid interventions and larger, longer-term studies that look at the impacts of environmental pollutants on reproductive health.

Her work examines the impact of environmental exposures on reproductive health and neurodevelopment. Since 1998, Dr. Swan has conducted multi-center pregnancy cohort studies, which now include more than 1,500 mothers and their children, to better understand how prenatal and early childhood exposure to stressors can impact children’s health and development. In 2017, Dr. Swan and colleagues published “Temporal Trends in Sperm Count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis,” which was updated in 2022. In 2021 Dr. Swan and co-author Stacey Colino published “Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Health, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race,” which has been translated into nine languages.

Dr. Swan is committed to broadening the impact of this science to protect public health and the environment.

Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP is an internationally renowned leader in environmental health.  His research focuses on identifying the role of environmental exposures in childhood obesity and cardiovascular risks, and documenting the economic costs for policy makers of failing to prevent diseases of environmental origin in children proactively.  He also holds appointments in the Wagner School of Public Service and NYU’s College of Global Public Health.  He is perhaps best known for a series of studies that document disease costs due to endocrine disrupting chemicals in the US and Europe of $340 billion and €163 billion annually, respectively. Most recently, his team has documented $249 billion/year in disease costs in the US due to chemicals used in plastics. Dr. Trasande leads a cohort center in the National Institute of Health’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program.  He is Principal Investigator on numerous other NIH-funded projects. These include a study on preconceptual and prenatal and childhood phthalate and bisphenol exposures in a Dutch birth cohort to examine obesity and cardiovascular risks, a study of effects of glyphosate and other contaminants on kidney development and a study of epigenetic risks for liver disease. He is also Multiple Principal Investigator for a research project exposomic signatures of exposure in early life to the World Trade Center disaster. He also directs a Collaborative Center in Children’s Environmental Health Translation funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, with Dr. Lorna Thorpe and Dr. Chau Trinh-Shevrin. He has served as a member of numerous scientific committees and expert panels, including: the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Executive Committee of the Council for Environmental Health; the Science and Technical Advisory Committee for the World Trade Center Health Program; the National Children’s Study Methodological Review Panel of the National Academy of Sciences; the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Steering Committee on a Global Outlook for Chemicals; and the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He represents the Endocrine Society as an observer to the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, and is an author on the forthcoming World Health Organization/UNEP Second State of the Science Report on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals. After receiving his bachelor, medical and public policy degrees from Harvard, he completed the Boston Combined Residency in Pediatrics and a legislative fellowship in the Office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Pediatrician and public health leader. Dr. Landrigan is former chair of the National Academy of Sciences committee on environmental health and a global authority on pollution-related disease and its impact on children and communities.

Jasmine A. McDonald, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. A molecular epidemiologist and educator, her research focuses on environmental exposures, breast cancer disparities, and critical windows of breast development—particularly among socially marginalized populations. She is the Principal Investigator of multiple NIH-funded studies and is nationally recognized for her work on postpartum breast cancer and endocrine-disrupting exposures.

Dr. McDonald was awarded Columbia’s 2021 Presidential Teaching Award and teaches Cancer Epidemiology at Mailman. At Columbia’s Cancer Center, she serves as Co-Director of the Cancer Research, Training, and Education Coordination (CRTEC) Office and directs the YES in THE HEIGHTS program, a training initiative dedicated to advancing equity in cancer research careers.

Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, she brings to her work a legacy of community, justice, and intergenerational excellence.

John C. Warner is a globally recognized chemist, inventor, and educator, widely known as the co-founder of green chemistry. With a PhD in Chemistry from Princeton and a BS from UMASS Boston, his career spans industry, academia, and entrepreneurship. John coauthored the field-defining book Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, articulating the now-standard 12 Principles of Green Chemistry, and holds over 360 patents across fields ranging from solar energy to pharmaceuticals.

Currently Dr. Antonio Ragusa is Director/Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit at the Sassuolo Hospital, Italy. Dr. Ragusa is associated with the Institute on Atmospheric Pollution with a collaboration assignment as a Senior Researcher to carry out collaborative activities to study the impact of environmental pollution in the prenatal and perinatal age.

He was scientific consultant for the Italian Ministry of Health and has published more than one hundred and thirty scientific papers and 20 books and / or book chapters on a national and international level.

Currently, he mainly deals with perinatal medicine, evaluating new techniques for reducing unnecessary caesarean sections, and the consequences of plastic pollution on fetal / neonatal and human health.

Lydia Wendt, Founder and Design Director of California Cloth Foundry, coined the term Natural Fashion to redefine how clothing is made in collaboration with nature. From NY, trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology, she has worked with iconic designers and brands including Tom Ford, Calvin Klein, and Jones New York.

While faculty at the Academy of Art University, Wendt founded CCF to transform fashion through ingredient purity—building a textile and dye supply chain free from petrochemicals. CCF’s pilot program was The North Face Backyard Project for the nonprofit Fibershed. Her company has since collaborated with global partners including Gaia Herbs and their wellness ambassador Gisele Bündchen’s wardrobe.

A runner, sailor, and athlete, Wendt is pioneering performance athletic wear powered by green chemistry—plants, minerals, and proteins formulated to deliver stretch, wicking, and color without toxins. Her work is driven by a commitment to protect her daughters—and future generations—from the harmful chemicals in textiles.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is the President & CEO of Hip Hop Caucus — a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization celebrating 20 years of advancing civil and human rights through hip-hop culture. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is a Senior Advisor for Bloomberg Philanthropies and is one of today’s most innovative advocates for racial and climate justice. He was one of 50 changemakers selected for Forbes’ inaugural Sustainability Leaders list in 2024. He has been recognized as a White House Champion of Change for Climate Leadership and has been called a “New Green Hero” by Rolling Stone. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is a leader in climate storytelling and entertainment, executive producing the standup comedy special ‘Ain’t Your Mama’s Heat Wave’ and hosting the award-winning climate and environmental justice podcast The Coolest Show. Above all, he is a devoted father, bringing purpose and passion to both his family and his work.

Sharon Cayette Lavigne, a native of St. James, Louisiana, dedicated 38 years to teaching Special Education in the St. James Parish school system. After being compelled to protect her community from Formosa Plastics, she founded RISE St. James in 2018 and retired in 2019, embracing the transformative journey as a pioneering environmental justice advocate.

RISE St. James is a faith-based grassroots nonprofit dedicated to ensuring clean air and clean water and halting petrochemical industry expansion in St. James Parish and throughout Louisiana. Sharon’s advocacy, which began humbly with a small group of about ten committed individuals meeting in her home, has since blossomed into an influential movement, a testament to her leadership and the impact of her work.

Sharon’s unwavering commitment has earned her international recognition, including the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize (June 2021). Her accolades include the Mary Magdalene Award for Courageous Women of Faith (Church of St. Ignatius Loyola), Laetare Medal (Notre Dame University), and Urban League of Louisiana honors. She has also received the St. James Parish NAACP Image Award, Girl Scout Women of Distinction honor, LA Center for Women & Business Award, Community Centennial for Environmental Stewardship Award, recognition as one of TIME100’s Most Influential Climate Leaders in Business, and the Climate Reality Green Circle Award. In 2024, she was named among TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and her leadership was further celebrated when RISE St. James and its members were collectively recognized on the 2024 Independent Climate 100 List.

Beyond her activism and achievements, Sharon is a devoted mother of six and a beloved grandmother of twelve, whose love and support fuel her passionate advocacy. Sharon Lavigne’s inspiring journey embodies resilience, unwavering dedication, and profound hope. Her vision for a better, cleaner future is contagious, continuously driving change and uplifting communities worldwide.

Dr. Sonya M. Schuh, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biology at Saint Mary’s College of California. She is a proud mother of three, passionate teacher, scientist, artist, environmentalist, and “STEMinist.” She earned her B.S. in Marine Biology and Zoology from Humboldt State University, her Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Washington, and did a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Stem Cell Institute at Stanford University. Her research focuses on toxic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found in everyday products and plastics, including bisphenol A (BPA) compounds and phthalates, and their effects on human and animal stem cells and embryonic development. Dr. Sonya’s research findings, published and presented in dozens of journal articles and talks around the country, have revealed that these plastic chemicals are highly toxic and teratogenic (birth defect-inducing), even at doses comparable to human exposure levels. Importantly, this work provides links and implications for human developmental defects, disease, cancer, and infertility – all of which have been rising. With a strong emphasis on cultivating future compassionate, creative scientists, she has spent her entire career teaching and mentoring young women and men in STEM, most of whom go on to become scientists, doctors, and healthcare professionals. Dr. Sonya and her undergraduate research team have been featured in various documentaries, magazines, and news media, including the acclaimed HBO docuseries, Not So Pretty; which highlights their research and exposes some of the harmful chemicals used in the beauty and plastics industries. For all of her research and work in promoting and inspiring women in STEM, Dr. Sonya was awarded as the Judith Pool Woman Scientist of the Year, by the Association for Women in Science, Northern California chapter. Schuh says, “Science is critical for better understanding our world, uncovering the effects of everyday exposures, developing new technologies and cures, informing the public, improving public policy, and saving lives. It can also open minds, inspire, and unite people. With great care, creativity, and communication, I truly believe scientists can facilitate impactful change, especially at a time when we need it most.

John Peterson (Pete) Myers coined the term “endocrine disruption” at its founding scientific workshop in 1991. Along with Theo Colborn and Dianne Dumanoski, he co-published in 1996 the first book about how chemicals interfere with hormones for the general public, Our Stolen Future. In 2003 he founded Environmental Health Sciences, a non-profit focused on the impacts of chemicals on human health, especially endocrine disrupting chemicals, and has worked to advance the science and public communication of EDCs ever since.

Rob Bonta serves as the 34th Attorney General of California, where he oversees the state’s Department of Justice and its work on public safety, consumer protection, civil rights, and environmental enforcement.

As Attorney General, he has addressed issues including fentanyl trafficking, organized retail crime, gun violence, human trafficking, and hate crimes, while also pursuing cases involving consumer protection, housing, and corporate practices.

Before being appointed Attorney General in 2021, Bonta served more than eight years in the California State Assembly, representing the Oakland area. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Deputy City Attorney for San Francisco and as a civil rights attorney in private practice.