Posted on August 30, 2015

UdallJon Whelan is one of the most interesting people I have met on Twitter.  I still remember how our friendship began.  Feeling defeated and struggling to get the real story out about asbestos exposures in the U.S., Jon’s clever tweet with a satirical graphic of Senator Udall caught my eye. I quickly reached out via Twitter, and viola, we become colleagues.

He is clever, bold, and relentless when it comes to raising awareness and action to draft and pass real Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) legislation. Jon and I share a sad but common fact, we both used to be ignorant about where toxins could be in our home, community, and consumer shelves. Through Jon’s investigations and filmmaking, he learned that companies don’t legally need to disclose the deadly toxins.

Below you can find Jon’s interview with ADAO and his trailer for Stink!, an incredible documentary about the weaknesses and loopholes of the 1976 TSCA.  Jon, thanks for all of your help as we join together in the fight of our lives for real TSCA reform.

Follow our Twitter conversations by using @NetReturn and @Linda_ADAO 

Linda Reinstein

Linda: Please tell us a bit about you?

Jon Whelan

Jon Whelan, Filmmaker

Jon: I live in New York City with my two young daughters and I have been working on the documentary “Stink!” for nearly five years. Film is a second career for me. My background is primarily in digital media and technology.  I’ve spent the last decade focused on something completely different – investing in and advising start-ups while starting a family. Then something happened in my life (I don’t want to spoil the documentary for you) that got me thinking about the hidden chemicals that Americans are exposed to every day. And from there sprung the idea of “Stink!”.

Linda: Why is it important to you to pass real TSCA reform legislation?

Jon: The 1976 law that was supposed to regulate chemicals in America, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), is completely broken but most people don’t know this. In fact most have never even heard of TSCA. This law makes it legal to use chemicals in everyday products that can cause cancer, birth defects and disrupt hormones. It also makes it legal for companies not to disclose any of these chemicals on product labels. We need to fix this badly broken law so that regulators can get the chemicals of greatest concern off the market.

Linda: What do you hope to accomplish with your film?

Jon: I hope people come to understand that just because a product is on the store shelf it doesn’t mean that it’s safe. That’s the way it should be but that’s not the way it is. Unfortunately, our political system is stained by special interest money and that has enormous influence over how the system works, or doesn’t work. People need to understand that too.

Once you know how things really are, you can’t unknow it. I hope that people walk out of Stink! as better, informed consumers who understand how the system works and what needs to happen to make the system better. The more people know, the better chance that real change can be effected.

Linda: During your filming, what one interview most surprised you?  

Jon: One interview stood out, not because it surprised me, but because it infuriated me. I spoke with former California Congressman Calvin Dooley after a Senate hearing on TSCA. Cal is now the  CEO and head lobbyist for the American Chemistry Council. I asked him the simple “Yes” or “No” question: “Do Americans have a right to know if they are buying a product that contains a carcinogen?” but he wouldn’t answer. I repeated the question four more times but he would not answer my question. Instead he stated that his organization (that represents the trillion dollar chemical industry) does just what Congress and policy makers want them to. Trade Associations like the American Chemistry Council spend hundreds of millions of dollars influencing the political process but at the same time they get to hide behind the toothless laws and regulators that they influence. I am hoping Stink! exposes some of this hypocrisy.

Linda: As you well know, asbestos claims the lives an estimated 15,000 Americans each year.   How do you feel about Senators Udall and Vitter’s bill S. 697?

Jon: In general, I am concerned over this horrible trend of “reverse regulation” in America: bills that seem to protect business instead of consumers.

The Udall/Vitter TSCA “reform” bill would not prohibit known human carcinogens in everyday products. Does that sound like reform to you? What’s also troubling is the way Senator Udall is trying to garner support for his TSCA bill online.

His misleading graphic and tagline suggests that his bill would get the known human carcinogen formaldehyde out of carpets; another suggests his TSCA bill would get carcinogens out of cleaning products. His TSCA bill doesn’t even address asbestos – a deadly substance with its own  signature disease (mesothelioma) that claims 15,000 Americans a year. They can call this a reform bill and they can boast that it’s bipartisan, but if it cannot even regulate asbestos then they need to go back to the drawing board.

Linda: How can our ADAO community help you, promote your video, attend a screening?

Jon: We haven’t announced this yet, but Stink! is going to open in New York City on Black Friday, Los Angeles the following week and then to twenty other markets after that. There will be a few dozen festivals and screenings between now and then. The Black Friday open is no coincidence.  It’s of course great to buy gifts for family and friends, but once you learn that it is legal to sell products with dodgy chemicals then you start asking more questions about what’s inside the stuff we buy — and make different, and better choices. Black Friday is all about cost of things but the question is: what price are we paying for being exposed?

I hope the ADAO community will come out and see Stink! if it’s playing near them. It will also be released digitally across all major platforms in 2016. In the meantime, we would love to have your supporters tweet us, share the Stink! trailer online and use our hashtag #SecretsStink.

Stink! Domestic Festival Trailer from NetReturn Entertainment on Vimeo.