Silent Spring Institute Inc.

“A copy of the form 990 is distributed to all board members for review and approval before it is filed.”

“Silent spring institute annually distributes a conflict of interest questionnaire to be completed and returned by all key employees and board of director members.”

“The executive director's salary is reviewed and approved annually by the board of directors at an executive session meeting. Salaries of executive directors at comparable agencies are used to determine the executive director's salary.”

“Governing documents, policies and statements are available to the public upon request.”

“Founded in 1994, silent spring institute is a leading scientific research organization dedicated to uncovering the links between chemicals in our everyday environment and women's health, with a focus on breast cancer prevention. With about 170 peer-reviewed scientific articles to date, the institute's research supports the development of safer chemicals, market shift away from toxic chemicals in products, and more health-protective regulatory policies. Our accomplishments over the past year include: safer chemicals program- we are working to identify chemicals that increase breast cancer risk and create a roadmap for strengthening regulations of cancer-causing chemicals. Breast-cancer-relevant chemicals: with tens of thousands of synthetic chemicals on the market, and new ones in development all the time, knowing which ones might be harmful is a challenge both for the federal agencies that regulate them and the companies that use them in products. Through our safer chemicals program, we are developing new methods to quickly predict whether a chemical is likely to cause breast cancer based on whether the chemical harbors specific molecular traits. In our most recent study, appearing in the journal environmental health perspectives, silent spring scientists identified 921 chemicals that induce mammary tumors and/or increase estrogen or progesterone signaling. About half of these chemicals (420) also damage dna, and 90 percent are found in consumer products, food and drink, pesticides, medications, and industrial processes. This study provides a roadmap for regulators and manufacturers to quickly flag chemicals that could contribute to breast cancer in order to prevent their use in consumer products and find safer alternatives. Exposure science- understanding where and how we are exposed to cancer-causing chemicals remains a cornerstone of our work, in particular toxic exposures in indoor air and dust and consumer products. We are also leading experts on pfas (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in drinking water. Corsi-rosenthal air filters: silent spring and our collaborators at brown university published the first peer-reviewed study to show how affordable, easy-to-assemble corsi-rosenthal boxes can mitigate indoor air pollutants. These accessible air filtration systems were found to protect against covid-19 and reduce exposures to pfas and phthalates from consumer products. The paper provided a basis for silent spring scientists to submit a proposal to the national institutes of health (nih) to study this intervention in childcare settings. California's proposition 65: we investigating the effectiveness of california's right-to-know law, proposition 65, at reducing the public's exposure to toxic chemicals. The law requires businesses to warn consumers about exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, and reproductive harm. Silent spring and our collaborators at uc berkeley published a high-impact paper showing that more than 5,000 tons of toxic chemicals are released from consumer products every year inside california homes and workplaces. Although prop 65 has been successful at incentivizing companies to reformulate their products with safer ingredients, people continue to be exposed to harmful chemicals. The study identifies which types of products and chemicals are the most worrisome and should be prioritized by regulators and manufacturers. Massachusetts pfas and your health & pfas home studies: we are in the fifth year of the massachusetts pfas and your health study, which is part of a national multi-site study by the u.s. Centers for disease control and prevention to understand how pfas exposure through drinking water affects human health. In 2023, we finished recruiting participants in hyannis and ayer, where nearby use of firefighting foams containing pfas contaminated public drinking water supplies. We recruited more than 600 adults and 76 children, and will complete recruitment in september 2023. Thank”

“Occupational risk factors for breast cancer among immigrant women: with our partners in california, we are working to understand why immigrating from a country of low breast cancer incidence to the united states increases a woman's risk of breast cancer. In phase one, we studied which occupations have a high number of immigrants who may be exposed to potential breast carcinogens in the workplace. In phase one, we interviewed 47 immigrant women working in roles including nursing, patient care assistance, and environmental service/custodial work. About two thirds of the women reported concerns about toxic exposures and related health issues at work. In phase two of this study, our scientists will collect personal chemical exposure data for 150 women through wearable wristbands and biomonitoring. Additionally, the team will expand their network of immigrant women workers to include domestic cleaners and health aids who, in california, are not protected by the state's division of occupational safety and health.”

“The organization has a committee that assumes responsibility for oversight for the audit of its financial statements and selection of an independent accountant. This process has not changed during the year.”