About Us

GSP was founded in 2008 in Berkeley, California by Executive Director Arlene Blum after she learned that the same chlorinated tris that her research had helped remove from children’s pajamas in the 1970s was back in furniture and baby products. Since its founding, GSP has stopped ten unneeded flammability standards and prevented hundreds of millions of pounds of toxic flame retardants from being added to consumer products.

Our Mission:
The Green Science Policy Institute provides unbiased scientific data to government, industry, and non-governmental organizations to facilitate more informed decision-making about chemicals used in consumer products. We are currently focusing on reducing the use of organohalogen flame retardants due to their adverse impacts on human and environmental health and our extensive experience in this area.

Green Science Policy Institute addresses toxicity issues by:
• Serving as a watchdog for emerging regulations and standards that could adversely impact human health and the environment.
• Motivating and participating in academic research for innovative solutions to key health and environmental challenges.
• Disseminating objective scientific research to industry, regulatory bodies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).







Our Accomplishments:
2007 stopped legislators in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York State from enacting ineffective requirements for chemical flame retardants in furniture
2008 contributed to a draft Consumer Product Safety Commission standard to increase furniture fire safety without toxic flame retardants
2008 headed the campaign to stop five international standards that would have led to the addition of approximately 1.7 billion pounds of flame retardants in consumer electronics cases each year
2009 suspended a proposed flammability requirement in California for pillows, comforters, and mattress toppers which would have done nothing to promote fire safety, but would have functionally required the use of toxic chemicals in these products
2010 initiated the San Antonio Statement on Brominated and Chlorinated Flame Retardants, signed by more than 210 scientists from 30 countries, which is contributing to reducing toxics worldwide
2010 based, in part, on our education campaign, the U.S. Green Building Council is giving a LEED Pilot Credit for not using halogenated flame retardants and phthalates inside buildings
2010 based on our study finding that many baby products in the U.S. contain toxic flame retardants, California exempted four products (strollers, infant carriers, bassinets, and nursing pillows) from flammability requirements that would have required use of chemical flame retardants
2011 contributed to the state of California listing Chlorinated Tris as a carcinogen under Proposition 65

Our People:

Arlene Blum, Ph.D.
Founder and Executive Director
Dr. Blum is a biophysical chemist, visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Department of Chemistry, and author of Annapurna: A Woman’s Place and Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life. Blum’s research contributed to the regulation of two cancer-causing flame retardants used in children’s sleepwear in the 1970s, and prevented unnecessary flammability standards that would have led to the use of hundreds of millions of pounds of persistent toxic chemicals each year. Dr. Blum was selected by the National Women’s History Project as one of 100 “Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet,” received the Society of Women Geographers’ Gold Medal, and a top Purpose Prize from Civic Ventures. Please see www.arleneblum.com for more information about adventures and a calendar of events.

Andrew McGuire
Policy Director
Since 1973, Andrew McGuire has been an advocate for health policy issues that have faced state and national policymakers. As the first director of Action Against Burns he successfully lobbied for a flame resistant sleepwear standard for Massachusetts and, as a burn survivor established one of the first in the nation self-help groups for burn survivors. In 1978 he began a national campaign for fire-safe cigarettes which has led to mandatory fire safety standards for cigarettes in all 50 states, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Russia, the European Union and other countries. Andrew has received a MacArthur (“Genius”) Fellowship, Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship, and was presented an Emmy Award in 1982 for “Here’s Looking At You, Kid”. He holds the position of Associate in the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and Lecturer in the Sociology Department of Sonoma State University

Rebecca (Daley) Fuoco
Project Director
Rebecca Fuoco joined GSP in 2010 after graduating with a B.S. from Cornell University in environmental chemistry and biology . She is a Center for Health Leadership Fellow and an Arthur Ferreira Pinto Foundation fellow at U.C. Berkeley where she is currently pursuing her M.P.H. in Environmental Health Sciences.

Leslie Leasure
Development Coordinator
Leslie Leasure has been a development director for nonprofit organizations for the past thirteen years. She also received an M.F.A. in creative writing from Indiana University.

Our Advisory Board:
Lauren Heine, Ph.D., Senior Science Advisor, Clean Production Action, Lauren Heine Group LLC

Don Kennedy, Ph.D., President Emeritus of Stanford University, former editor-in-chief of Science magazine and former FDA Commissioner

Richard Luthy, Ph.D., Silas H. Palmer Professor and Department Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University

Nina McClelland, Ph.D., former Chairman of the Board, American Chemical Society; President of Nina I. McClelland, LLC

William Nazaroff, Ph.D., Professor, Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley