EHS Safety News Stars in “Toxic Hot Seat” on HBO!

Here I am watching this new documentary on HBO last night about the recently changed “Tech 117” Bulletin in California about the use of unnecessary cancer causing “flame retardants” in everything from furniture to child car seats to other household products. I had been following the series that the Chicago Tribune had begun about this issue in 2012. At that time I posted their article and video about the possibility of these flame retardants causing cancer back on May 16th, 2012. (Screen shot below)

As I was watching it last night I heard one of the great reporters of the story, Patricia Callahan, talking about with the popularity of the Chicago Tribune’s Series, and how the story spread rapidly. They then start showing photos of newspapers and news websites and then all of a sudden the 4th item that slides up in the movie is the screenshot above about a story that I posted on my Blog. Well, I tell you, my chin hit the floor and then I grabbed the remote and said, NAH, that’s not my Safety Blog! I roll it back on the DVR, hit play and sure enough, it was.

I have to tell you that as a safety professional who thought he was making a minimal impact in sharing news with my fellow EHS & Safety peers, I then truly was “struck” with a real “sense of pride” that a film maker thought that much of my Blog post, and its impact on this story, to put the screenshot in their documentary. I felt like a “kid in a candy store” and a “movie star” all at the same time.

I kept reversing it and replaying it thinking that it might not be true, but it was. Right there, on a TV and in theaters, on a movie screen… was my Blog! I started this Blog to keep abreast of all the EHS stories that were of high interest to all of us in the field, and so that I could brand myself in my job search for a new full time job as well. I never expected this!

I must say to the makers of the movie “Toxic Hot Seat”, is “Thank You!” I’d also like to thank the Chicago Tribune, Patricia Callahan and Sam Roe for such a wonderfully researched and time consuming endeavor. That was true journalism at its best.

But the SWEETEST part of all, was when I watched the credits roll by at the end of the film and there I was listed………. “Jack Benton – EHS Safety News America”……….Nothing can beat that, and the fact that I was noticed for my work as well. Again, I thank you all!

The short clip above is not the best video, since I could only obtain my proof, so to speak, by filming the part about the Blog with my iPhone! Thanks again to all involved, I am one PROUD Blog owner!

See the Documentary on HBO and for more information, Please visit the “Toxic Hot Seat” web site and get involved! This is something that affects all of us! http://www.toxichotseatmovie.com/

To the folks at HBO……………Can I get a clean copy of the video from  -20 minutes until the end of the movie? 🙂

Jack Benton –  – EHS Safety News America