Worst Performance in a Mystery
- Fracking Chemical Cocktail – Shaken and stirred, a concealed recipe for earthquakes and contamination.
- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) – A secret identity is good for heroes, not tomatoes.
- Halogenated Flame Retardants (HFRs) – It’s a couch, it’s a baby stroller, it’s Super toxic!
Worst Replacement in a Series
- Formaldehyde – An unbelievable comeback. From the morgue to your beauty salon.
- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) – OMG! GMO – What nature never intended.
- Halogenated Flame Retardants (HFRs) – A villain by any other name would smell just as toxic.
Worst Local Performance
- Lead – Painted the town toxic, one house at a time.
- Nitrates – Creating fertile fields for skin, heart and respiratory problems.
- Ultrafine Particles – Size matters. Especially if you live near a freeway.
Worst Workplace Drama
- Chloropicrin – From the fields to your table, this pesticide leaves a trail of tears.
- Perchloroethylene (Perc) – A wolf in dry-cleaned clothing, working overtime to ravage your health.
- Trichloroethylene (TCE) – A toxic solvent deserving a dishonorable discharge.
Worst Hair and Makeup
- Formaldehyde – Creating nasal cancer in a hair and nail salon near you.
- Phthalates – L’eau de cancer.
- Sodium Hydroxide – Straightening your hair while damaging your health.
Worst Ball-Breaking Performance
- Bisphenol-A (BPA) – Dude, plastics in your body can change the shape of your genitals.
- Dioxin – Burn plastic burn – to decrease your fertility.
- Phthalates – Your lotion’s no love potion if it jumbles your johnson.
Lifetime Achievement in Harm
- Lead – Responsible for centuries of learning disabilities. Lead is forever.
- Mercury – From mad hatters to air pollution; a maddening career.
- Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) – Old school and not cool – a history of harm.
Who won a Toxie in 2011?
- Bisphenol-A, Least Sexy Performance
- Dioxin, Worst Chemical Body Burden
- Formaldehyde, Worst Hair-Raising Performance
- Halogenated Flame Retardants (HFRs), Super Hot Mess
- Lead, Lifetime Achievement in Harm
- Mercury, Worst and Longest Running Performance
- Methyl Iodide, Worst Replacement Actor in a Series
- Perchlorate, Worst Special Effects
- Perchloroethylene, Worst Dressed
- Triclosan, Most Washed-Up
worst dressed: perchloroethylene
Perchloroethylene, Perc for short, is well known for keeping your clothes toxic…ahem…dry cleaned. His membership in California’s prestigious Proposition 65 List is just one claim to fame. Don’t be fooled by his charming smile and good looks – that dizziness and nausea you feel when you’re around him might actually be damaging your central nervous system, kidneys, liver, and reproductive system. The industry has lost wardrobe stylists all over town due to their unwillingness to work with Perc and his diva demands.
Perc is used in over 80% of the 35,000 cleaners in the United States, and is most often inhaled by the owners and workers in the dry cleaning industry, which are usually small mom and pop operations. He also leaves behind a toxic stain wherever he works, seeping into the ground and threatening our water supply. Attempts have been made to get rid of this bad actor only to be replaced by his buddies who pose other serious health threats or contribute to greenhouse gases. Perc and his buddies are tyring to muscle out the next generation of actors trained in the much safer and healthier “wet cleaning” method, but Perc doesn’t want you to find this out!!
Actor: Miguel Angel Caballero. Photo by: Patricia Mateos Ballestero
Learn more about Perchloroethylene.
most washed-up: triclosan
Since Triclosan’s debut role over thirty years ago, the FDA has allowed him to star in personal-care products, but has yet to implement a rule book for this bad boy. Companies cast Triclosan in a vast array of products we use on our skin and in our mouths, and on our babies and kids, even though he builds up in our bodies and has been linked to harm. His ties to cancer, thyroid disruption, and antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” may have begun to impact his career.
Triclosan has played several roles as an antibacterial hero; fighting germs, mold and odor, but as it turns out, this so-called clean chemical plays dirty. His work has opened many doors for fellow bad actors, such as Dioxin, Methyl Triclosan and Chloroform. Critics have found that the hype around Triclosan’s supposed ability to prevent illness isn’t fully warranted: Triclosan is no more effective than the timeless performers, Regular Soap and Water.
Actor: Kevin Carter. Photo by: Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
super hot mess: halogenated flame retardant
Oh Halogenated Flame Retardant. She’s a killer hiding behind a mask of good intention. Relaxing in our homes all day, every day, then running in, pretending she can stop a fire! Save children! Keep your lit cigarette from setting your mattress ablaze! But let’s be honest, HFR is a mess — a hot mess. She’s so clingy and needy, hanging on everything and getting all up in your business, covering you and anything that crawls from babies to kittens. Laying your head on a HFR laced mattress or couch can be toxic to your brain, endocrine and reproductive systems and has detrimental effects on your thyroid and liver function. Snap, did I do that? Yes, HFR, yes you did. She shows up in car seats, strollers, nursing pillows, cribs and sleep positioners and leaves a trail of toxic footprints in her wake. Like Wonder Woman, HFR’s producers have tried various makeovers to reinvent her image over and over again. But she’s still the same old HFR underneath all of that hair dye and spandex. When a fire does catch, she’ll fill the place with smoke and toxic gasses, and you’ll be lucky to escape. As soon as HFR spots those hunky firefighters on the scene, she is all too happy to jump in and cause a hot mess for their health too.
Actor: Iliana Carter. Photo by: Francisco Cortinas, Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
worst special effects: perchlorate
Perchlorate likes to get things started with a bang! She’s been typecast in action roles starring as an oxidizer in rocket fuel, explosives, airbags and fireworks. As ammonium perchlorate, she is also a major component of solid rocket fuel. Her performances as a bad actor chemical interfere with iodide uptake into the thyroid gland, causing hypothyroidism in mothers and negatively impacting proper childhood development such as decreased learning capability.
While no one denies Perchlorate’s ability to light up the sky and screen, her “special effects” aren’t contained…she’s made her way into the drinking water for tens of millions of Californians, and into the groundwater or soil of 43 states.
Actress: Denise Duffield. Photo by: Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
worst chemical body burden: dioxin
Dioxin’s got game. He’s been using the same cheesy pick up line since the ‘70’s. He debuted his deadly shtick as Agent Orange in Vietnam then made a splash at Love Canal! Dioxin sneaks up on you and then makes his move just as you turn away from your drink. He’s the seemingly normal guy at the bar, but beware, this gigolo is full of byproducts of the industrial process that will stay with you long after you have been exposed to them. That’s right, Dioxin is a legacy chemical. He travels through the food chain entering the air through the burning of waste or disposal of PVC (vinyl) plastics. He seeps into the animal food supply. Then we unwitting humans get a taste of it in our dairy and meat. The saddest part about Dioxin is that once you’ve been exposed, your experience with Dioxin stays with you for a very long time. No visit to a doctor is going to fix that. With his incredible staying power, you may be at risk for carcinogenic, reproductive, developmental, immunological, and endocrine side effects.
Actor: Alejandro Sandoval. Photo by: Francisco Cortinas, Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
least sexy performance: bisphenol-a
Bisphenol-A (BPA) began her career as an estrogen impersonator in the 1930s, making her a true grandame of the craft. She evolved into an incredibly versatile actor, now appearing in many major productions, including food packaging, water bottles, receipt paper, construction epoxies and more.
All this exposure, along with her off-screen drama of heart disease, reproductive problems, cancer, thyroid issues, plus highly publicized dalliances with decreased sex drive, obesity and autism has led to audience, reviewer, and producer fatigue; new leading ladies have been found for some roles, and are actively being sought for others.
Actor: Clara Gabrielle. Photo by: Francisco Cortinas, Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
worst replacement actor in a series: methyl iodide
Methyl Iodide has been ready to unpack his bags in California, but has been kept off the set for his cancer-causing ways. Only recently he appeared on the scene as a soil fumigant, registered in the final days of the Bush administration for use as a pesticide. Prior to his agricultural debut, he was used in industrial processes and laboratory research settings where, among other uses, Methyl Iodide was employed to induce cancer.
His propensity to produce cancer has landed him a spot on California’s prestigious Proposition 65 List, and he’s associated with neurotoxic effects and thyroid disease. Methyl Iodide is currently taking method classes at the Ag Actors Warehouse and auditioning as Methyl Bromide’s understudy in California’s strawberry fields.
Actor: John Hale. Photo by: Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
Learn more about Methyl-iodide.
worst hair-raising performance: formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is a classic performer, much lauded by other bad actors for her tour de force performances. Lest her reputation precede her, Formaldaheyde has shown that she still has the goods to deliver toxins around the world. Used for 150 years in embalming fluid, adhesive, fungicide, germicide and disinfectant, she has turned what should have been the twilight of her career into a resurgence. She has been tapped to appear in many common products, including particle board used for certain cribs and changing tables, paints, cleaning supplies, and some beauty products in which she shines as a member of the “Toxic Trio”. Depending on her specific role, Formaldehyde is an acting chameleon, having been linked to asthma and various types of cancers. A true veteran, her name has long graced California’s Proposition 65 List.
Actor: Vivia Thi. Photo by: Francisco Cortinas, Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
Learn more about Formaldehyde.
worst and longest running performance: mercury
Mercury’s performances leave maddening effects on audiences around the world. Although his reputation for causing nervous system damage and birth defects precedes him, many still don’t appreciate just how many performances Mercury continues to star in. A slick character, his metal beginnings are as a shiny, odorless liquid, but he’s versatile enough to become a colorless, odorless gas when heated. And with this leading man’s temper, that happens all the time. His airborne roles occur during coal burning and waste incineration. Keep an eye out for him in fluorescent light bulbs, thermometers, dental fillings, batteries, auto switches, and more. The build up of Mercury in fish and other animals gets passed up the food chain. So, combined with airborne effects, Mercury has put about 60,000 children born each year at risk for his neurodevelopmental effects. This special kind of actor drives audiences crazy.
Actor: Edward Enriquez. Photo by: Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
lifetime achievement in harm: lead
Lead has solidified his place as one of the most versatile, household names in bad acting. He has touched and poisoned the lives of millions from Ancient Rome to today’s urban dwellings – Silverlake, watch out! Even though his performances have been recognized as toxic for hundreds of years, his complex ability to cause damage has only recently been understood. So subtle were his performances, that before anyone knew it, Lead had penetrated everything from paint, piping, children’s toys, baby bibs, jewelry, handbags, lunchboxes, artificial turf, wheel weights, candy, and a range of industrial applications.
Lead has a profound ability to damage children’s intellectual and behavioral development. Serious, parental discretion is advised. No safe threshold for Lead has ever been discovered, and his performances continue to be linked with learning disabilities, infertility, cancer, and increased risk of heart attacks. Lead is a proud, charter member of California’s Proposition 65 List.
Actor: Juan Rodriguez. Photo by: Patricia Mateos Ballestero.
