letters

Bravo to Target for taking steps to reduce the wasteful and potentially harmful PVC packaging that comes with so many products ("Major retailers find good things come from greener packaging," Aug. 6).

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), as the Business section article noted, is a known carcinogen linked to permanent liver damage, nerve damage and liver cancer. But PVC is not just used in packaging. It's also used to make hundreds of plastic toys and products that children play with, chew on and eat from.

PVC plastic commonly contains harmful additives like phthalates (softeners) and lead, which is a stabilizer. Both of these additives are harmful to children. Phthalates can disrupt hormones in the body and lead is a well-known brain toxin that can cause learning and behavior problems and reduced IQ.

Another chemical commonly contained in baby products and children's toys is bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in polycarbonate plastic products, like baby bottles and "sippy" cups. Studies suggest that BPA increases the risk of miscarriages and birth defects, as well as immune, neurological, and reproductive problems.

As a parent of two young children, I want to be able to go in a store and know that the products sold are safe for my children and won't harm the environment. Target, thanks for the baby steps. Now take the next steps and eliminate children's products made of PVC and polycarbonate and help protect children from exposures to these harmful chemicals.

KATHY-JO PETERSON, MINNEAPOLIS

Bell was wrong about Chicago rail system

Last Wednesday I listened to Peter Bell speak about the new Interstate 35W bridge plan on Minnesota Public Radio, a discussion that included a possible light-rail option for the new bridge.

Bell scoffed at that idea stating at one point that this is an interstate highway and that no other communities had light rail along their interstate highway corridors.

Ironically, at the time of his statement, I was stuck in traffic at the 35E-694 construction zone, and was unable to call in to tell Bell that I am a Chicago native, and that Chicago has light-rail lines down the middle of the major interstate corridors leading in and out of the city, and that the city would be brought to a standstill without them.

When a caller did correct him, Bell then said that Chicago's system was more like a North Star line and did not make the many frequent stops that a light-rail system would make, therefore reducing any benefit. Wrong again! Chicago's system stops at nearly every major street and seamlessly connects with transfers to the city's bus system. I know because I lived there!

It is an insult to all of our trust for elected and appointed officials to use public air waves to spread disinformation to promote a failed anti-tax ideology, through either ignorance or willful deceit. It is especially insulting at a time when they have already let a major piece of our infrastructure crumble in ruins at their feet. Can we please use this tragedy as a call to action for us to wake up, talk to each other honestly, and work together to rebuild this bridge the right way?

DAVID SPOHN, LINDSTROM, MINN.

On transportation planning, look at Washington, D.C.

World-class cities have world-class transportation. About 40 years ago the Washington, D.C.- area citizens embarked on building an excellent mass-transit system of trains and buses including connections with other systems. They built an extensive rail system that reaches 20 miles out from the center of the city, is fast, reasonable priced and, when connected with bus and other rail systems reaches nearly 50 miles. The Washington Metro Rail carried over 19 million people in June and over 19.2 million in July 2007.

The St. Paul and Minneapolis metro area needs world-class transportation that includes excellent public rail and bus systems along with improved highways. The Hiawatha line is only one step. Rebuilding the Interstate 35W bridge is another step. The Northstar line is one more step. The Central Corridor is another step. Put it all together and plan for the future.

GORDON KELLEY, DUNDAS, MINN.

NWA management is reaping what it sowed