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September 2004 |
Women talk to Staples about paper and environment
By Kelly Martini
NEW YORK (UMNS) - United Methodist Women are continuing to remind corporations of their responsibilities regarding the environment.
A delegation from the million-member organization met July 21 with Staples company executives in Framingham, Mass., to talk about the deadly effects of dioxin on women and children's health and to remind the officials that prevention is possible.
United Methodist Women believes Staples can help achieve prevention by carrying and promoting processed chlorine-free or total chlorine-free paper in its stores. Chlorine, used in the paper-making industry to bleach paper, is known to create the dioxin linked to breast cancer and other forms of cancer.
The meeting with Staples came after UMW members visited more than 300 Staples stores across the country, including those in Indiana, to see if the stores carried chlorine-free paper.
Rebecca Szetela, a member of St. Matthew's United Methodist Women in Acton, Mass., has had a lifelong commitment to environmental issues. She went to the meeting to search for a common ground on which all could work to make the world a healthier place.
Szetela said she informed company executives that staff in the stores she visited did not carry the paper or know anything about chlorine-free paper and the health effects of regular paper production.
"I think it's laudable that they were willing to talk to us and I think we made our point clear," she noted. "We were two groups of people coming at things from different perspectives, but they were interested in the issue and will try some things on it, so that's common ground.
"A lot of people have families, children and friends sick with cancer. It's not new. But I hope the tolerance for it is getting lower."
As a result of the meeting, Staples agreed to work with UMW on educating store employees and communities around the nation on the dangers of chlorine, the dioxin it creates and the health effects of dioxins, according to the UMW delegation.
In return, United Methodist Women will recommend that universities, schools, hospitals and local churches hold forums on the issues, and they will invite representatives to be a part of the effort.
"Staples was extolling their environmental record, which isn't, bad and now we're part of a continuum to make them do more," Szetela said.
Sung-Ok Lee, an executive with the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, led the effort, and is pleased with the first step. But she wants a further commitment from the company. "We want to get to the point where Staples says, 'OK, we carry these products."
General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body, officially supports the drive for chlorine-free paper. And Lee credited the Rev. Vicki Woods, a clergywoman of the New England Annual Conference, for reinforcing the idea that the issue is a concern of the entire denomination.
Last updated on 08/24/2004