Wednesday, 18 Oct 2006

You've been programmed to use them since the day your parents forced you to start doing your own laundry. Put the clothes in the dryer, then toss in one of those springtime-fresh fabric sheets to make them come out all soft and static-free. Sounds so cuddly! But you're actually coating your clothes in a chemical cocktail, says advice maven Umbra Fisk, who suggests some alternatives.

Nothing Could Prius Away

Toyota Prius tops EPA's list of most fuel-efficient cars for 2007

Yesterday, the U.S. EPA released its 2007 ranking of the most fuel-efficient vehicles, with gas-electric hybrids sweeping the top four spots. The Toyota Prius, ranked No. 1, gets 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 mpg on the highway, according to the EPA. (Data from real-world drivers puts Prius gas mileage at an average of 47.2 mpg, but that still beats the competition.) Toyota and Honda vehicles took seven of the top 10 spots, although hybrid versions of Ford's Escape and Mercury Mariner also made it into the top 10. The least fuel-efficient car was the Lamborghini SpA L-147/148 Murcielago with automatic transmission, which gets 9 mpg in the city and 14 mpg on the highway. The ranking didn't include ginormous trucks or SUVs such as the Hummer H2, which, weighing over 8,500 pounds, are exempt from fuel-economy rules -- but not from ridicule.


It's been more than 40 years since Rachel Carson sounded the alarm over DDT. Use of that dangerous pesticide has now been phased out in many parts of the world, but plenty of others have sprung up in its stead. Today we're spraying more pesticides than ever, despite mounting evidence of their ill effects on human health -- particularly that of farmers and farmworkers. It hardly seems fair that a group of people who toil all day so you can heap seconds on your plate should suffer, but it's a nasty truth of modern agriculture. Tom Philpott explains why the meals you eat may be making others sick, and why it's high time to do something about it.

A Refine Mess

Bush admin plans to relax air-pollution regulations on ethanol refineries

President Bush has been hyping the environmental benefits of ethanol in recent months, even as his administration has been preparing to relax air-pollution regulations for new ethanol refineries. The U.S. EPA plans to increase the amount of toxic pollution refineries can emit -- from 100 tons a year to 250 tons -- before they are required to undergo an intensive permitting process under the Clean Air Act and dramatically reduce their emissions by installing pollution controls; most of the more than 40 new ethanol plants expected to be built in the next year aim to emit just a few tons less than 250. The industry contends that relaxed rules are necessary to sustain the ethanol boom; critics point out that the boom has been booming even with current environmental regulations in place. Less than four years ago, the Bush administration promised to crack down on ethanol-plant pollution, after discovering that several refineries in the Midwest were emitting cancer-causing toxins at levels far greater than they were reporting. So much for that. The new rule needs only to be published in the Federal Register to go into effect.


The "cradle to cradle" concept -- which says every material used to create a product should either biodegrade or be used again -- is getting bigger, literally. The first entire house built upon the philosophy is rising in, of all places, rundown Gainsboro, Va. Allison Milionis reports that the house looks average from the outside, but represents a whole new way of doing things -- and at $95,000, is a bargain to boot.

Filet of the Land

New studies give conflicting advice about the benefits and risks of eating fish

Two studies released yesterday are likely to confuse you even further about the benefits and risks of eating fish. A report from the Harvard School of Public Health claims that fish consumption can reduce the risk of coronary death by 36 percent, and total mortality by 17 percent -- benefits that far outweigh the risk of exposure to toxins like PCBs and dioxin, it says. "Seafood is likely the single most important food one can consume for good health," says coauthor Dariush Mozaffarian. But a study by the Institute of Medicine concludes that while chowing down on salmon, mackerel, and other fatty fish "may" reduce the risk of heart disease, different populations should follow different fish-eating guidelines, and women of childbearing age and children should be particularly cautious. Consumers Union criticized both studies for not giving enough attention to the dangers of mercury in tuna and PCBs in most fish. Nutrition expert Marion Nestle of New York University recommends that consumers make sense of the morass by following advice from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Environmental Defense about fish choices that are safe for people and ecosystems.