Former Congressman to Lead Environmental Defense Fund's Health Program

NEWS RELEASE

(Washington D.C. - July 20, 2011) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has named former Congressman Andrew Maguire as its new vice president for health, bringing an experienced leader and renowned policy expert to lead the organization’s efforts to reduce public exposure to toxic chemicals.

“Andy Maguire personifies EDF’s mission to use the best science, smart economics and creative policy to solve our biggest environmental problems. He has spent his career finding the ways that work in the middle of the most pressing national and international health challenges,” said EDF President Fred Krupp.

Dr. Maguire served as a member of Congress from New Jersey for three terms beginning in 1975, where he was actively involved in environmental policy, especially Clean Air Act, toxic substances, and health legislation. He has a PhD in government from Harvard University, and broad domestic and international policy experience. After leaving Congress, Mr. Maguire served as vice president of policy affairs for the World Resources Institute, where he built a program to formulate policy regarding U.S. economic, security and political interests in world resource and environmental problems.

Most recently he served as a senior advisor to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization’s Every Child Campaign, and to Clean Air-Cool Planet where he built a bi-partisan outreach effort to engage opinion leaders and the public on climate change.

Dr. Maguire also demonstrated his leadership as president and CEO of EnterpriseWorks Worldwide, dramatically growing a non-profit organization that addressed poverty alleviation and economic growth in developing countries.

“Andy brings demonstrated leadership and extensive experience in public health protection. We look forward to having him apply his strong commitment and passion to advancing our work to protect the public from toxic chemicals and environmental pollution,” said EDF senior scientist Dr. Richard Denison.

As vice president for health at EDF, Dr. Maguire will lead a program at the cutting edge of efforts to reduce public health threats from chemicals used in consumer products and in industry and in releases from industrial facilities and the transportation sector, and to ensure the safety of emerging nanomaterials.

A top priority for the program is fixing the Toxic Substances Control Act, which is widely regarded as a failure and has not been updated since its passage in 1976. The law has failed to deliver the information needed to identify unsafe chemicals and safer alternatives. It has placed a nearly impossible burden of proof on the government to prove harm, rather than on manufacturers to show their chemicals are safe. EDF is waging an aggressive campaign with partner organizations to advance TSCA reform legislation in the U.S. Senate.

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Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org), a leading national nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. EDF links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships. See twitter.com/EnvDefenseFund; facebook.com/EnvDefenseFund