Local takes stand against harmful chemicals

LYNN – When Sophie Alcindor, 11, learned there were chemicals in many of the items carried by local retailers, she decided to do something about it.”I wrote a letter to retail companies asking them not to sell products that contain toxic chemicals,” she said. “I haven’t sent it yet, but I will, mostly to larger stores like Walmart, Target and CVS, because they’re the ones that sell the bigger name brands.”Alcindor learned about the problems with toxic chemicals through a program run by Keisha Conigliaro, owner and proprietor of La Chic Mentoring Plus. Conigliaro said she received a grant from the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at UMass Lowell to teach her students specifically about what toxic chemicals are and are not used in and why people shouldn’t use certain products.”When I got the grant I was not up on toxic chemicals,” Conigliaro said. “Bleach was my friend, but I’ve learned so much.”While Conigliaro discussed the repercussions of chemical use, Dr. Maru Colbert, an Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer, conducted experiments to prove her point.Alcindor said Colbert showed them how to drop food coloring into a pool of milk, dip a toothpick into Dawn dishwashing detergent then into the food coloring.”It disperses the color to the sides of the dish,” she said. “It’s a chemical reaction.”Conigliaro said they also showed the girls how to make crystals using Borax, hot water and a pipe cleaner.Conigliaro said she is proud of the letter, which Alcindor’s older sister, Rhode, also worked on.”It lets their voices be heard,” she said. “These kids have brilliant minds and it’s nice for people to see and hear that.”The letter invites stores to create a safe environment for its customers and possibly attract more customers by weeding out their stock and making products easier to find and safer.”Start small by taking out toxic products then go big and take out products with bad chemicals for our body,” states the letter.When asked what she hopes will come of the letter, Sophie Alcindor said she expects the retailers to take a serious look at what they’re selling and respond.”I think they will,” she said confidently.Rhode Alcindor called the letter strong and said she also hopes the stores will respond.”I’d like to see what their opinion is and hear their side of the story,” she said.