acidic and maybe also really fatty seemed to like suck the stuff up, so the highest levels were in those followed by i believe vegetables, my memory's a little rusty, especially if you're trying to pour your whole meal out of a can, that may be especially problem mat -- problematic, getting your things out of the soy boxes, or, you know, making a whole bunch of soup out of some fresh ingredients, freezing it in little glass containers, it's almost as easy as pulling a can out of the cupboard, do a big batch and you're going to know exactly what's in it, what was organic and what wasn't and you know it's not going to have bpa, but you're right, it's all

canned food. >> and then my second question, i just wanted to clarify something or bring it to your attention, a lot of us here today work for the administration in this building which is actually is a pump station still in use that uses diesel pumps to pump the water from the ocean so it's not just a fire house, it's also us being exposed to diesel exhaust, and so with you mentioned this gal, rachel, is she the person who's not here today, or when you were talking about the air quality, having your air quality tested, and the odd thing is now a different agency runs and maintains these pumps that are right beneath us now so it gets kind of complicated, but i think i've been exposed, i worked at the airport for 11 years and then worked here, i have this exposure to diesel smell that you don't notice it

here, i do notice it frequently, and so when you mention this gal rachel. >> so, just before this, we had a meeting because we're working on hopefully building a study to look at exposures among women in the fire course to understand what they're exposed to, this raises a really interesting kind of unique sub population within that, she is an environmental health scientist and has done a lot of work on measuring levels of chemicals in people and environments, so one study she did was with also in richmond california to looking at the different levels of chemicals, diesel exhaust in richmond which you would expect to be very different, and she's going to help us see if we can build

a study, so this was a great thing that you brought to our attention. >> i start to think about it over the years but especially working in an airport and now in an actively working diesel pump station. >> and it's not something you have any control over, and that's the same kind of fragmentation we're seeing at all levels, it's hard to make changes when jurisdictions move. >> but if i could get her contact information or something after the presentation, that would be great. >> okay, cool. >> i had two questions, one is you were just saying to use glass when you're cooking or microwave, what about -- i was told before that you could use plastic for the refrigerator or storage, are you saying avoid

plastics all together for food storage, and then the second question is water bottles, say for instance i have a case of like costco water in my trunk that i just keep, is it the heat that's leeching stuff into the water or is the sun breaking down the plastic, what is getting leaked into the water, is it the bpa or other toxins? >> these are great questions and they're kind of the same answer in a way. heat and light can both make plastic break down, either alone or in connection, i lived for a long time in arizona that if you leave your water in the car, it's cooking and getting exposed to light, but either one of those can lead chemicals to leak into the plastic, with

bpa, we know, for instance, that it's hundreds of times more is leaked in with high heat than with low heat, it's just the nature of plastics. but the chemicals in most food contacts like that and your water bottles are usually a number 1, the main chemical in most of those is usually relatively safe in the scheme of things, but then different companies will put different additives to give that plastic the property they want and so a study that came out in 2010 found that some of those additives can act like estrogen, so with the heat or with the uv light in particular, but even at room temperature, some of those additives that are estrogenic can get into the water and cause for instance cells that are sensitive to estrogen to grow more quickly which many

breast cancers are, so limiting use like in your car, get some stainless steel or aluminum water bottles, fill those with the water and you can leaf -- leave those in the car, you can have three or four so they're go and grab ready, plastics in the refrigerator, it's a personal decision, but sometimes i'll store stuff in plastic myself, but i kind of switched over to almost only glass just because it's easier to have one set of stuff ultimately. >> [inaudible]. >> obviously i'm not leaving it in there for months but i might leave a case in there, i might have that for a couple of weeks. >> studies they've done have usually been 72 to 108 hours, so relatively short-term, but also somewhat higher heat exposure than what we probably get most of the time in san

francisco, so conditions are really variable and then it's usually controlled rather than kind of normal. yeah? >> so, in general where possible, staying away from plastic water bottles is not only making your life a little bit healthier, it's decreasing our dependence on plastic which is more important as a broader environmental issue, but even water bottles, even if you leave them in a cold environment, you don't know where they've come from or they've been in ship holds which is really hot, just as a number one rule, if you smell something plastic don't drink out of it. >> that's good advice. >> i have two questions, they're a little bit unrelated but the first one goes on the scheme of plastic, so plastic

wrap, plastic bags, you know, it's great to say we should all use glass but we know what's used out there is plastic, and it's reusable, you can come up with all these ways to avoid it but there's plastic everywhere and it's accessible and cheap, so plastic wrap gets used a lot, there aren't that many alternatives that can do what plastic wrap does, i don't use a lot of it and it's harder to store things long-term and same question applies for the freezer, it's easier to put things in a freezer bag. >> so, a little tip for that is i do admit to using plastic bags, i reuse them and if something is not -- i don't use them for liquids and if something isn't somehow already kind of like a solid or whatever, parchment paper around that and then use the

plastic just as the thing that keeps it from leak-proof or if i'm taking soup to work, i have my soup in a glass jar but i will throw it in plastic because i don't want it all over my backpack and there's also more stainless steel options which are a little more expensive but that's a one-time investment, just don't lose it, so a box of plastic bags, it lasts me like three year, parchment paper, it's the layer that touches your food and then aluminum foil isn't really bad, but parchment paper is a good thing. >> plastics in kids toys and kids products, they're not really labeled, i don't find the same symbol on them and i do a lot of the reuse and

recycle, but mostly reusing things so we have hand-me-downs and all kinds of toys that have been through many generations and i sometimes think about it, i can only worry so much about what my son puts in his mouth, but when you talk about chemicals, where do you start, besides i know wooden toys are best and that was the plan originally, only wood in our house and glass and ceramics, that's all lovely in theory, it's not what happens unless you're a waldorf parent and you're strict and it's really your principle, so good will has a lot of plastic, so you know, anymore words on that, i realize it's a matter of what you can do, but -- >> i have not encountered some of those challenges because i'm not a parent but i have been around a lot of kids, important

note is that in 2008, a law was passed that mra*s sites could not longer be used in kids toys , for right now, if you're buying new toys off the shelf, they're not going to have that particular compound, plus skish shi ones, they're not going to have that, i know you have a small child, is when they're at that mouthing stage of putting everything in their mouth, that maybe be the time to be most concerned about the specifics when they get to the older stage where, you know, there's some pretty nifty plastic toys out there, let's get real, and i like that i had legos as a kid and those were plastic, you know, maybe that's when you loosen it up a little bit and

make, you know, judicious decisions, but when they're putting everything in their mouths, you want to be the most careful about what that is, parents may have other added tips. >> [inaudible] because most of the toys for kids, we don't really check sometimes where they're made. >> it's for toys sold in the united states, so regardless of where the manufacturer is, if they're sold in the u.s., they have to comply with those standards, other countries could well have different laws on their shelves and my guess would be vary from laws that would be more health protective to less

>> good morning, everyone. thank you for being here. you know, as we look through this year, there's obviously some incredible events that have occurred. and for me as mayor of san francisco, i know that the chief and i and supervisor cohen and dr. campbell and the whole public health staff have always had dialogue and been concerned especially when there is an uptick in june of this year on violent crime and homicides in san francisco. and, so, we've been working

together on creating a program which i announced some months ago, the ipo program, the ability to work on things that would interrupt and intervene earlier in the behavior patterns of people that would be both victims and perpetrators of violent crime in our city. to support the police department and law enforcement system of doing more predictive policing using both data and technology to help us do that. and then, of course, i think the most important part is to organize our communities and work with community-based organizations, families, religious groups, and everybody that's on the ground to find more ways to intervene in violent behavior out there and utilize resources such as education systems, our community jobs programs, others that might allow people to go

in different direction. the unfortunate and very tragic incident in connecticut in sandy hook elementary school of course heightened everybody's awareness of what violence can really be all about. and as we have been not only responding, reacting to this national tragedy that i think president obama has adequately described as broken all of our hearts, and in every funeral that has taken place, for those 20 innocent children and six innocent adults in the school districts, and school administrators, we obviously have shared in that very tragic event, all of us. it has touched everybody across this country. san francisco is no different. and i have shared that emotional experience with the

supervisor and everybody here, in our law enforcement, and in our health department as well. the question for us, then, is what do we do about it? and not only can we share in this tragedy and signal our sympathies to the families as we've done, but we've got to do something more. and this is where i want to make sure i recognize all of the people that are in that effort of doing something about it, including the officials in san francisco. and some have been at this longer than others to try to do something about it, have reached limitations. yet again, i think this tragedy at sandy hook reminds us that we've got to keep trying and we've got to keep doing more about it. and, so, i want to first of all recognize that senator feinstein, in my conversations

with her, and the tragedies she's experienced as mayor of san francisco as well as her attempts to ban assault weapons and had done so in the past, and that her federal assault legislation, while ended, she will reintroduce that in january and we will be big supporters of that. and she will continue dialoguing on a national level, and we will support her efforts and the efforts of all of our federal officials to do more, along with the president of the united states and congress to act. and, in fact, i joined over 750 other mayors across this country, using social media and the technology that's available to us today to signal a demand to our congress that we really need a plan and a plan and an action to follow that, to ban these assault weapons and to make sure that we do everything we can to create a higher level of safety throughout the country. assault weapons and the types of things that we've seen in

the hands of people who are doing evil or can do evil really have no place, in the home or in the schools or in our streets. and, so, with that we ask ourselves what we can do locally. i also want to recognize the three state senators, senator de leon, state senator leland yee and state senator ted gains, all three of which are sponsoring some five different pieces of state legislation aimed at banning assault weapons and munitions, getting higher levels of background checks and registries, and also i think senator gains is attempting to also make sure that those that have backgrounds of mental health challenges are lifetime bans of possessing these weapons. again, in an attempt to do what we can. in san francisco, we tried to

ban assault weapons some years ago. we were unsuccessful in the courts in being able to do so. we are going to renew these efforts in light of the sandy hook sentiment and i know there's just a higher level of sentiment that causes us to focus even more on what we can do locally. in fact, this higher level of sentiment, as you'll hear from the police chief, has even caused one of the highest rates of gun return. certainly we paid some money for that, but he's going to tell you there are some individuals out there, in light of sandy hook, that returned their guns and without even asking for remuneration of those guns. and he'll explain that level of detail. but it was the highest level of gun return this past weekend that we were honored to share with our community partners in making sure that we get these guns off the streets. two pieces of legislation that we are introducing to the board

of supervisors with the support of our police chief, our health department, and certainly being led by supervisor cohen whose district has experienced an inordinate amount of violence throughout this year. we talk about it all the time. what can we do? for one, the ammunition that has been designed especially by law enforcement for military use has no reason to be in our homes and on our streets. and, so, we are introducing legislation focused on what has been labeled to be the hollow point bullets, but there are other types of bullets that are designed for more massive destruction of the human body that should only be in the hands of law enforcement and the military, and not in the civilian hands at all. and we want to ban them from possession in our city of san francisco.

so, we're introducing legislation aimed at that kind of ballistics ammunition and banning them from possession in our city. the second piece of legislation is we believe that any person who purchases more than 500 rounds of any type of ammunition, notice should go to our police chief so that we have time to investigate as to reasons why that purchase should be made and understand who is making it. so, we are introducing a second piece of legislation about notification to our police chief of any of that kind of high level of purchase. these are at least two things that we are introducing today. there are potentially more to come, but we wanted to begin by taking action on this. and i stand here in front of you with a full display of some of the armory that was collected, turned in by people with the incentive of providing

them with some remuneration of these weapons that were in their homes or other types of possession of this. and, of course, some of the ammunition that we will let you see that is not just body piercing, but designed to even be even more destructive. that's the reason why i have dr. campbell here. there have been many occasions, doctor, that i've been very thankful for you and your expert way of treating our patients whether firefighters or police officers are injured. but he has seen more than he should ever see of young -- youth who are victims of these bullets and the guns that we are talking about today. and he wants to explain the human side of this with our public health department officials. but i'd like to have further testimony by supervisor cohen of her experience and her

leadership in helping me establish this. i will want to again put it in context that our city wants to intervene at an earlier stage. we want to do predictive policing. we want to support efforts throughout our community to organize them better so that we can prevent violence. this was at the heart of our work, introducing more support for our domestic violence advocates as well that we did just a few weeks ago. that with the heightened awareness of guns and the kinds of things that happen nationally, this is consistent with what we're willing to do. so, let me introduce at this time a good partner and the one that will be introducing this at the board, supervisor malia cohen. >> thank you. thank you, mr. mayor, for your leadership. and chief, thank you for your continuing efforts to be a tremendous advocate and partner. and our collective effort to address gun violence in our

city. as the mayor mentioned, the tragic event that occurred at sandy hook elementary school last week was truly horrifying. and painful for all of us to sit back and witness. but i'm here today not to speak of last week's events in connecticut, but i'm here today because of the phone calls that i regularly get from many of the police officers that are here in this room today in the middle of the night. department officers informing me and alerting me of the violent shootings that are happening right here in our own neighborhood. i'm here today because i have personally visited too many families as they grieve the loss of loved ones, largely due to gun violence. i'm here today because of the time that i've spent at general hospital consoling innocent victims of gun violence, some as young as five years old. i'm here because we have to do more and use every legislative and executive power that are available to us to continue to address the causes as well as

the impacts of senseless gun violence occurring in our neighborhoods. now, what we know is that many of the shootings that are occurring are increasingly involving young adults under the age of 25 years old. they are often related to disputes over turf and status and they're fueled by the fact that it's easy to obtain -- too easy to obtain and possess military style assault weapons and hollow point ammunition. as you will hear today from dr. campbell, thea hollow type ammunition especially [speaker not understood] to victims because the ammunition is designed to expand and shred an individual's internal organs upon impact, making it nearly impossible for a medical professional to repair and save lives. last week i had the pleasure of joining the police department as well as our community partner the omega boys club headed by dr. joe marshall and one of the most successful gun buy back programs.

we collected approximately 2 96 guns off the street, 300 we were able to get guns off of out of hands of folks. not just in the southeast neighborhood, but all across san francisco. and i think we have a collective understanding that there is a growing awareness on the part of san franciscans about the need to do more to address gun violence and to believe -- and i believe that there is a desire for us as elected officials to take greater steps in implementing institutional solutions to these issues. * these weapons and this ammunition over here to my right don't belong in the hands of san francisco and online suppliers, online suppliers have an obligation to disclose to law enforcement officers information about residents buying large amounts of this lethal ammunition. i just want to say thank you for being here. i look forward to introducing this legislation. as soon as we hit the ground

running in january. i appreciate your support, mr. mayor, and i look forward to continuing to working together. thank you. * >> thank you, supervisor. chief has been a great partner in not only law enforcement, with ideas of what else we could do. * chief sur i'm going to ask the chief to come up and talk about why we need to ban this ammunition, what it takes to create a system where we have reporting of individuals or entities that might want to buy 500 rounds of ammunition, and why it's important that that get reported. in addition to the very successful gun buy back that supervisor cohen had mentioned, there's also other things that we are doing as well. i have instructed chief sur to make sure we introduce to the new cadets in the police academy as well as retrain every officer in our police department on school safety

tactics in light of the sandy hook elementary school disaster. and he's going to do that. it's already begun. the curriculum is being designed for that. that's as important, making sure that we work in concert with our school district to make sure every campus is safe. that means school safety tactics have always been around, gets a refreshed training by everyone. chief suhr. >> thank you, mr. mayor. i want to start off by reassuring everybody that what you saw play out on television, however unimaginable it was, that the heroism and the courage of the teachers at that school and the actions of the officers to respond directly in was a product of training after the columbine incident in colorado. across this country, all law enforcement agencies have been trained not to wait when there is an active shooter, but to go in immediately. and you actually saw that play out on television. and i think that for them doing

that coupled with the fact that the teachers did as they were trained, and secured in place versus evacuating those kids into the hallways, had what is a horrific tragedy as far as it went, being far less than it might have been as a result of that training. as the mayor said here in san francisco, we have also trained to that standard. and as we're going through a high right now where we'll pick up a thousand police officers over the next six years, they, too, will be trained to that standard. * hire we've developed a crisis management handbook that's online and the link has been sent to every school in san francisco so that they can refresh their training on secure in place. there is a time to evacuate and then there's a time to stay put, wait as it was said in the media, to wait for the good guys. so, they did that in sandy hook and it saved lives. we will do that exact same thing should that event happen at any point in san francisco, and we're going t