A Petition to the businesses of New Orleans to stop using Styrofoam/ Polystyrene We, your loyal customers, ask the businesses of New Orleans to love and respect us, our children, and our earth back by not buying, selling, or serving Styrofoam products. We pledge to no longer frequent or spend our hard earned money at businesses that choose to harm our health and our earth by using or selling Styrofoam products. Styrofoam, also known as Polystyrene Foam, is harmful to our bodies and our environment. 1. Polystyrene is manufactured with HCFC-22, which is still a greenhouse gas and harmful to the ozone layer. In fact, according to a 1992 study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, HCFCs are three to five times more destructive to the ozone layer than previously believed. 2. Toxic chemicals leach out of these products into the food that they contain. These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems. 3. Polystyrene is made with petroleum, a non-sustainable and heavily polluting resource. 4. Styrene exposure increases the risk of leukemia and lymphoma and is a neurotoxin. 5. A 1986 EPA report on solid waste named the polystyrene manufacturing process as the 5th largest creator of hazardous waste. Many cities and counties have outlawed polystyrene foam (San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA, and over 40 other cities in the state of California.) It is time we do the same. More information and resources can be found at: http://www.way-to-go.org/doc/PolystyreneFactSheets.pdf http://www.earthresource.org/campaigns/capp/capp-styrofoam.html http://www.cleanwateraction.org/files/publications/ca/Polystyrene_Litter_Fact_Sheet.pdf http://nofoamchicago.org/NFC_Citiesbannedlist.pdf