Silent Spring Institute Honors Trillium’s Social Research & Advocacy Director(A)

At its Tenth Anniversary Celebration Dinner on May 12, 2005, the Silent Spring Institute presented Trillium Asset Management’s Social Research & Advocacy Director Shelley Alpern with the organization’s first Rachel Carson Award. The Silent Spring Institute is non-profit scientific research organization dedicated to identifying the links between the environment and women’s health, especially breast cancer. Silent Spring takes its name from the groundbreaking 1962 book by Rachel Carson that is frequently credited with sparking the modern environmental movement.
Shelley was recognized for her “invaluable guidance to breast cancer activists in their shareholder and consumer initiatives, asking cosmetics manufacturers to reformulate products by eliminating potential toxins.” In 2004 following a shareholder proposal by Trillium Asset Management, Avon Products agreed to reformulate its products to eliminate phthalates, which have been linked to reproductive disorders in male infants and boys. Trillium has continued to press Avon for greater transparency and accountability in connection with the fundraising and grant making activities of the company’s Breast Cancer Crusade.