CONTACT INFORMATION:

For state-level issues and state trends:

Kimberly Larson

Deputy Political Director
State PIRGs
(206) 357-1788
(213) 251-3680 x323

For federal issues:
Elizabeth Hitchcock

Communications Director
U.S. PIRG
(202) 546-9707

Rachel Gibson
Environmental Health Advocate and Staff Attorney, Environment California
(415) 622-0086 ext. 304 ·

Expertise:environmental health, toxic pollution, chemical safety,

Background: Ms. Gibson works on statewide toxics issues and chemicals policy reform, and serves as the contact for Environment California on these issues. She is currently working on a campaign to ban toxic chemicals from children's products. She is also working to enact requirements for chemical manufacturers to provide to the state the methods for detecting their chemicals in our bodies and the environment. She is the co-author of "The Right Start: The Need to Eliminate Toxic Chemicals from Baby Products," a report that documents the presence of chemicals found in popular baby products.

Ms. Gibson serves on the Planning Consortium of the California Environmental Health Tracking Program, the Steering Committee of Californians for Pesticide Reform, and and the Technical Advisory Committee for the Bay Area IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Certification Project. She has testified before the state legislature on a proposed ban of toxic chemicals in children’s toys and feeding products. Ms. Gibson has conducted numerous television and radio interviews.

Ms. Gibson first joined the Public Interest Research Group organizations as a student activist at UC Santa Barbara in 1992. Prior to joining the staff of Environment California, Ms. Gibson worked as an environmental litigation associate at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, where she specialized in Clean Air Act litigation.  She previously clerked for the Honorable Michael R. Murphy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and participated in the California Senate Associates Program (now Senate Fellows Program) during which she worked for State Senator Patrick Johnston.

Education: B.A., Law and Society, University California at Santa Barbara, 1995; J.D., University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, 2000; M.P.P., Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, 2000

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