Our values and mission won’t change; our strategies will

After the sobering results of last week’s election, I’m reflecting about what this means for our work to promote a healthy and safe environment free of toxic chemicals. Voters clearly said they wanted change at all levels of government, including in our own Bay Area. While there will be much post-election analysis, our own polling shows that an overwhelming majority of American — across both parties — want the government to do a better job of keeping our air and water clean, ensuring that products are free of toxic chemicals, and protecting people from harmful exposures.

This is where we’ve fallen behind: we haven’t fully countered the decades-long strategy by powerful corporations and their wealthy backers to undermine science, capture regulatory agencies, and roll back protections that limit pollution and safeguard health and the environment. Their plans are clear—in Project 2025 and in the new administration’s support for the fossil fuel industry.

We’re tackling the root of these problems by holding accountable the corporations that have polluted our bodies, our planet, and our ecosystem of ideas. For over a year, we’ve been laying the groundwork for a new Center focused on holding corporations accountable for health harms while defending science and democracy. We’ll make a formal announcement in early December, followed by events in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. early next year.

We look forward to working with our partners and collaborators to hold regulators and government accountable to ensure everyone has access to clean air, water, food, and that people and communities are safe from harmful chemicals and pollutants.

About the author

Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH is the former Director of PRHE and is current Director of the UCSF EaRTH Center. She is a recognized expert on environmental pollution exposures and impacts on health, with a focus on pregnancy, infancy and childhood, and her innovations in translating and communicating scientific findings for clinical and policy audiences. She has authored numerous scientific publications and book chapters, and has been quoted widely in the press, including USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Woodruff was a senior scientist and policy advisor for the U.S. EPA’s Office of Policy.