Our Girls - March 6, 2018

ROYS: When I was in the state assembly, I learned about BPA which was a toxic chemical that was totally unregulated and it was everywhere, it was in can liners and in baby bottles and sippy cups and it gets into whatever the baby is drinking, and this was horrifying to me. How could our government let this dangerous chemical be in all these products? So I said well Wisconsin is going to be the first state to ban BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. I was putting together my legislative update and I went door-to-door to hand it out. Approached this one door and even before it opened it was a summer day and I could like hear the sound of kids, woman opens the door and I kind of hand her my legislative update and grabs it and like slams the door and like runs back to deal with whatever her kids are yelling about. I'm off to the next house already up the driveway [pause] and I hear her calling after me and she said “I just read that you are working on the BPA-Free Kids Act.” Yeah and I start to tell her, you know, bisphenol A is a neurotoxin and she said “I know, I know, I know our daughter's had some problems and the doctor said that it's because she was exposed to BPA. It really means so much to me that you're taking this issue to heart.” That's what's wrong with politics today. Are we taking our orders from people or are we taking them from chemical corporations that don't care at all about what people need? We still were able to, by working across the aisle, pass a bill to ban BPA and Wisconsin was indeed one of the very first states to do that. That was an incredible moment because you realize how totally important the work that we do is. Government should be about helping every person achieve his or her potential, and Wisconsin used to do it so well. Democracy only works when we all get involved.