http://www.podclimate.org/frontpage/in_the_news/inspector.html
In The News /
Feb 8
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As the first cases in a massive battle over illnesses linked to 9/11 near trial, an Associated Press investigation has found that several of the initial 30 suits contain inconsistent or exaggerated claims about how the workers got sick or how much time they spent at ground zero.
Associated Press
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Exposure to the industrial solvent trichloroethylene increases a person's risk of developing Parkinson's disease nearly sixfold, California researchers said Sunday.
Los Angeles Times, California
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Civic leaders are alarmed that the Minnesota giant met privately with EPA about Scotchgard and other chemicals as new safety rules are weighed.
Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota
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The New York City government and manufacturers are locked in a contentious legal battle over whether producers should take a lion's share of responsibility for collecting discarded electronics.
Gotham Gazette, New York
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Obtaining the permits and approvals needed to build a mine in the U.S. takes an average of seven years, among the longest wait time in the world.
Permit delays are partly due to public opposition because of mining's checkered history and reputation for pollution.
Wall Street Journal
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James Hardie and CSR have been accused in court of joining forces during the 1960s and '70s in a bid to dissuade regulatory authorities from restricting or controlling the use of their potentially lethal asbestos products.
Melbourne Age, Australia
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Black lung is China's No 1 occupational disease. Experts warn that the high number of victims reflects serious flaws in the monitoring of occupational safety across China, and have accused local labor and health authorities of failing to protect workers.
China Daily
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In response to energy companies' plans to extract billions of dollars worth of gas from the area's underground coal, normally conservative farmers are shaping up for a fight with big business.
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
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Folks in Dish, Texas were giddy when drillers started offering up the fat checks. But tests have shown elevated levels of cancer-causing benzene near the tiny town, spooking residents who now fear that what once looked like found money could end up harming their health.
Associated Press
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The nearly decade-long fight over whether to construct a 130-turbine offshore wind farm near Martha's Vineyard has spurred numerous state and federal regulatory reviews.
Washington Post
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The Indian head of the UN climate change panel, already under fire over errors in a key 2007 report, is raising eyebrows again after publishing a raunchy environmental novel and accepting help in promoting it from BP and the head of India’s biggest gas producer.
London Times, United Kingdom
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The main impact of climate change will be on water supplies, experts said on Sunday. Desertification, flash floods, melting glaciers, heatwaves, cyclones or water-borne diseases such as cholera are among global warming impacts inextricably tied to water.
Reuters
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The rich seaweed beds stretching 8,000 hectares and brimming with fish in the western coast of the bay off Shizuoka Prefecture have been transformed into a barren wasteland. Pollution, climate change, and other factors are suspects, but the exact causes are unknown.
Asahi Shimbun, Japan
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Thousands of tons of trash are thrown into the sea each year, endangering humans and wildlife. A classified German government report indicates that efforts by the United Nations and the European Union to clean up our oceans have failed entirely.
Der Spiegel
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Every day, kids in the Chicago Public Schools district throw out nearly a quarter of a million lunch and breakfast trays made of polystyrene foam. That's more than 1 million a week, about 5 million a month.
Chicago Tribune, Illinois
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Typhoons. Hurricanes. Cyclones. Tidal waves. Sharks. As if designing a boat to cope with all of that on the 11,000-mile voyage from San Francisco to Sydney isn’t daunting enough, this one also has to be environmentally irreproachable.
New York Times
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By Clarke Canfield
Associated Press
8 February 2010
Auntie_P/flickr
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The federal government says to throw most unused or expired medications into the trash, not down the drain, but they can end up in the water anyway, a new study finds. The results come as Maine lawmakers consider a bill, among the first of its kind, that would require manufacturers to collect and dispose of unused drugs.
Tiny amounts of discarded drugs have been found in water at three landfills in the state.
more…
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By Robert D. McFadden
New York Times
8 February 2010
A power plant under construction in central Connecticut exploded with earthquake force that shook homes across much of the state on Sunday as workers purged natural gas lines in preparation for the plant to open this year.
Witnesses said the explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, 15 miles south of Hartford, occurred at 11:17 a.m. in a thundering convulsion of flames and smoke seen for miles around and felt as far away as cities and towns on the shore of Long Island Sound, 30 miles away.
more…
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New Science
Understand the latest scientific findings
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As one class of flame retardants is phased out due to health concerns, new types – sometimes with widespread exposure and unknown effects – may be phased in. A new study examining one type of potential replacement chemicals called organophosphorous flame retardants finds that men exposed through house dust had lower thyroid hormone levels and reduced sperm concentration. This is one of the first human studies to look at potential health effects of exposure to these types of flame retardants. more…
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Exposure to very low concentrations of the plasticizer bisphenol A (BPA) causes cellular damage and death in cultured human placenta cells, researchers report. The doses used for this study are similar to blood levels found in pregnant women. Particularly concerning was the observation that effects were most pronounced at the lowest - rather than the highest - concentrations of BPA. more…
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http://www.podclimate.org/frontpage/media_review/inspector.html
Media Review
Scientists critique media coverage
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A story in the New York Times highlighted a scientific breakthrough in self-cleaning coatings that would reduce the need for detergents, but it did not ask questions about the potential toxicity of the new materials. more…
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A well-written article in Time Magazine overviews the burgeoning field of epigenetics and how manipulating epigenetic changes holds promise for curing diseases, but the article neglects to explain that limiting current environmental exposures could prevent the harmful epigenetic changes that cause disease in the first place. more…
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http://www.podclimate.org/frontpage/editorials/inspector.html
Editorials
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By
Harrisburg Patriot-News
There’s one last thing Gov. Ed Rendell must do before leaving office, and that is get a severance tax enacted on Marcellus Shale.
It is the key issue for not only this year but for generations to come.
more…
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By
Sydney Australian
In the wake of Copenhagen, and the collapse of a consensus on what needs to happen next, it is clear that global edicts should not dictate our policies. Camels may not rate in Geneva or New York but they are worth counting, and killing, here.
more…
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Opinions
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By Walter C. Willett, Anne Underwood
Newsweek
It's time society stopped reinforcing the bad behavior that leads to heart disease - and pursued policies to prevent it.
more…
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By Sandy Bauers
Philadelphia Inquirer
Even as the chemical industry and manufacturers tell us we are safe, the evidence against several widely used chemicals keeps mounting.
more…
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http://www.podclimate.org/frontpage/syndicated/inspector.html
By Marla Cone
Environmental Health News
Children exposed in the womb to chemicals in cosmetics and fragrances are more likely to develop behavioral problems commonly found in children with attention deficit disorders, according to a study of New York City school-age children published Thursday.
more…
By Marla Cone
Environmental Health News
Women exposed to high levels of flame retardants take substantially longer to get pregnant, indicating for the first time that the widespread chemicals may affect human fertility, according to a study published Tuesday.
more…
By Andrew McGlashen
Daily Climate
Despite EPA gains with its Energy Star program, some 99 percent of American houses remain "sick" – damp, drafty, expensive to heat and cool – and could be made at least 30 percent more energy-efficient with "highly cost-effective, tried-and-true" improvements, according to experts.
more…
By Marla Cone
Environmental Health News
In a major shift, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it has “some concern” about the effects of bisphenol A on children’s health and is launching new research to answer key questions that may lead to regulation of the chemical.
more…
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Hot Topics
From today's news and archives
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In The News (CONTINUED) /
Feb 8
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The governors who called for Monday's White House Asian carp summit don't just want to talk about carp; they want to tackle the larger issue of invasive species in the Great Lakes, which have become an ecological stew teeming with at least 185 foreign organisms.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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A "Sassy and Chic" watch that Dollar Tree stores once sold for less than a dollar in Vermont contained 483,672 parts per million of lead - 1,600 times the federal cap for the amount of lead in children's products. Burlington Free Press.
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In 2006, Walmart announced that it was taking action against 20 “chemicals of concern.” For starters, the retail giant told vendors it didn’t want products that contain three suspect chemicals: two pesticides and alkylphenol ethoxylate surfactants. The company has dropped the program. Chemical & Engineering News.
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Roses are a traditional symbol of love. But flying a bunch from Kenya in a refrigerated plane isn’t everyone’s idea of romance. And there is also a human cost to growing cut flower crops in developing countries. Coventry Telegraph.
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Wouldn't life be simpler if power was invisibly beamed to your devices whenever you walked into a building with an electricity supply? A handful of companies are having a go at making it work. The technology is likely to meet some health and environmental objections along the way, however. New Scientist.
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China has found another 170 tons of tainted milk powder in an emergency crackdown that has made it increasingly clear many products discovered in the country's 2008 milk scandal were repackaged for sale instead of destroyed. Associated Press.
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The dead of winter may not be the time when you most feel the allure of a grilled hamburger. But it's probably the safest time. Industry and researchers are now looking to new technologies on the farm, the feedlot and at slaughter to knock E. coli O157:H7 down to winter levels year round. USA Today.
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