In The News / Mar 12

Ground Zero workers reach deal over health claims.

MAG Photography Studio/flickr

A settlement of up to $657.5 million has been reached in the cases of thousands of rescue and cleanup workers at ground zero who sued the city over damage to their health.

City officials said that the settlement would compensate about 10,000 plaintiffs according to the severity of their illnesses and the level of their exposure to contaminants.

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Feds recall more children jewelry in cadmium probe.

Federal safety regulators recalled a line of Christmas-themed bracelets Thursday, expanding their effort to purge children's jewelry boxes and store shelves of items containing high levels of the toxic metal cadmium.

The commission said the recall may not be the government's last action as it continues to investigate items highlighted in an Associated Press investigation earlier this year. While the full extent of cadmium's presence in children's jewelry is not known, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is apparently not conducting wider market surveillance to see what other items on store shelves may prompt concern.

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New Science

Understand the latest scientific findings
  • PCBs alter key brain chemical that stops nerve-to-nerve signals. 10 March 2010

    Certain types of PCBs can affect the way a brain chemical responsible for halting signals sends its chemical messages from nerve to nerve, according to research conducted on frog egg cells These results further tease apart PCBs' complex effects on brain chemicals and better explain how these interactions can result in abnormal brain function. more…

  • Exposure to weed killer associated with lower birth weight. 10 March 2010

    Babies born to women with higher levels of the herbicide metolachlor in their babies' umbilical cord blood weighed less than babies born to women with lower measured levels of the pesticide. Metolachlor is a weed killer that is applied to soil to prevent the growth of weeds. It is widely used in agriculture and along roadsides. Metolachlor is frequently found in ground water due to agricultural runoff. more…

Media Review

Scientists critique media coverage

Editorials

  • Protect the aquifers.

    With two of the Great Lakes lapping the state's shores and thousands of inland lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands, it would appear that water supply shouldn't be a problem for Wisconsin. But appearances are deceiving in this case. more…

  • Interbasin transfers: Still all wet..

    More conservation, less waste, smarter growth plans and construction of reservoirs in water-starved areas are better options than interbasin transfers. Yet it refuses to die. more…

Opinions

  • From my generation to yours: Kids trying to take care of an old mess.

    When my teammates practice lacrosse three times a week at our park, we have to worry about the safety of the air we breathe and the soil we play on. Now Boeing is trying to rid itself of its responsibility to clean it up. more…

  • 'Slow Death by Rubber Duck'.

    Does the threatening appearance of chemicals like PFCs (in nonstick pans) and BPA (in plastics) on America's most renowned TV series, "The Simpsons", mean concern about toxics has finally gone mainstream? more…

More news from EHN From Environmental Health News

Cyber bullying rises as climate data are questioned.

The e-mails come thick and fast every time NASA scientist Gavin Schmidt appears in the press. Rude and crass e-mails. E-mails calling him a fraud, a cheat, a scumbag and much worse.

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Derived from flowers, but not benign: Pyrethroids raise new concerns.

Chemicals derived from flowers may sound harmless, but new research raises concerns about compounds synthesized from chrysanthemums that are used in virtually every household pesticide.

more…

Too much pavement, too little oversight: EPA to tackle stormwater runoff.

Across the country, stormwater runoff hammers thousands of rivers, streams and lakes. Communities are left to struggle with the consequences of too much pavement and too little oversight.

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In The News (CONTINUED) / Mar 12

  • Waiting for the rain: Haiti's next disaster looms.

    Only weeks after the country was hit by an earthquake, Haiti is threatened by the next potential calamity. The upcoming rainy season could turn overcrowded refugee camps into hotbeds of disease. Der Spiegel.

  • Everglades deal clears hurdle, but faces several more.

    Gov. Charlie Crist's half-billion-dollar Everglades restoration land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. cleared a key hurdle Thursday, when South Florida water managers voted unanimously to extend the closing deadline for the 73,000-acre purchase by six months. Palm Beach Post.

  • Growing pains.

    A series of scientific tests have suggested that plantation gum trees in north-eastern Tasmania could be playing a role in poisoning the George River. Environmentalists fear the toxicity of the trees may be enhanced if the nitens have been selectively bred for greater strength and resilience. Melbourne Age.

  • Rapid rise in seed prices draws U.S. scrutiny.

    In a market that Monsanto dominates, the jump in seed prices has been nothing short of stunning. Corn seed prices have risen 135 percent since 2001. Besides irritating many farmers, it has caught the attention of the Obama administration. New York Times.

  • PepsiCo tests fertilizer to cut Tropicana CO2 emissions.

    How green is your orange juice? An effort to size up the carbon footprint of Tropicana found that the single biggest contributor to its carbon footprint wasn't the transport of the juice to stores. It was the fertilizer being used to grow the orange trees. Time Magazine.

  • Fears over toxic sunscreen.

    Nanoparticles used in some sunscreens to make them transparent might also be toxic, according to Australian research that adds to uncertainty about the safety of some sunscreens. Melbourne Age.

  • Are fire retardants putting us at risk?

    Flame retardant chemicals help keep foam and plastics from catching on fire. But hundreds of studies are suggesting links to problems with brain development, and thyroid and fertility problems. What are the alternatives? Environment Report.

More news from today
>170 more stories today, including:
  • Thalidomide mystery solved
  • Climate: No women on U.N. climate panel; Western US, Canada part ways; Migratory bird populations threatened
  • Is green insurance worth the price?
  • Stories from UK, Malta, Kuwait, Mozambique, Angola, China, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Australia, Ecuador, Canada
  • US stories from ME, VT, MA, NY, NJ, PA, DE, VA, WV, GA, FL, MN, WI, OH, KY, OK, WA, CA
  • Editorials: Unconventional gas; Mining threatens to make our water undrinkable; Landfill water pollution an issue