Prominent UC Berkeley alumna Arlene Blum was awarded the Purpose Prize Friday by a non-profit group for her lifelong efforts to ban toxins used in household products.

Blum was among six winners to receive $100,000 each from Civic Ventures, a San Francisco-based group seeking to recognize social activists over 60.

Blum's Green Science Policy Institute, a nonprofit she founded two years ago, provides research data to policy-makers to create environmentally sound policies on toxins.

"I'm hoping to get scientists and engineers to think more about how their research (on toxins) can help solve problems relating to human health and the environment," she said.

Jim Emerman, director of the Purpose Prize Initiative, said Blum's chemistry work and illustrious mountaineering career are inspirational examples for other baby boomers.

"At the stage of life where she could have retired and taken it easy, she looked for the next most important thing to do," he said.

Blum earned her doctorate in biophysical chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1971. During her studies, she discovered a carcinogen in fire retardants used in children's sleepwear, prompting a ban on the carcinogen in California.

In the 1970s, Blum balanced chemistry and mountaineering, conducting research when she wasn't climbing difficult summits like Mount Everest.

She is best known for her 1978 ascent of Annapurna, considered the world's most treacherous peak, when she led a group of female climbers to become the first Americans to reach the summit.

Last year, at the age of 62, Blum returned to UC Berkeley's College of Chemistry as a visiting scholar with the same determination she brought to mountaineering, said Richard Mathies, dean of the college.

"She's been very active in the area, developing policy on the effect of a variety of chemicals on both health and (the environment)," Mathies said.

Blum and Mathies plan to incorporate Blum's work to expand the role of green science in general education. Blum said the award money and public recognition would aid her fight for more green policies.

"It's very energizing to know that you're making a difference," Blum said. "I've been able to stop hundreds of millions of toxics that would have been a huge health problem for everybody."

Tags: ENVIRONMENT, GREEN SCIENCES POLICY INSTITUTE