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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
SKB on NPR re: PVC
Everything you wanted to know about toxic shower curtains, in my dulcet tones |
Sarah K. Burkhalter |
08 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Here I am again on the Environment Report, this time chatting about toxic shower curtains. Everything you ever wanted to know on the subject, complete with Psycho shower-scene screeching, allusions to shower-curtain licking, and quips about exhibitionism. |
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| Topics: green living, health, shameless self-promotion, shopping, toxics (all these topics) |
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Check Mate, CheckMate
California officials yank controversial urban spraying plan |
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22 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:07 PM on 22 Jun 2008 California officials have announced that they will not spray the urban Bay Area with a pheromone this summer, delighting activists who had campaigned strenuously against the plan. The pheromone with the ominous name CheckMate LBAM-F keeps the crop-gobbling light brown apple moth from reproducing, but also has been linked to complaints of respiratory trouble in humans. Spraying had ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, California, health, news, San Francisco, toxics (all these topics) |
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Missouri mystery
Why are sperm counts so low in the show-me state? |
Tom Philpott |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Surrounded by agriculture powerhouses Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois, Missouri sits at the southern edge of the heartland. Are the region's titanic annual lashings of agrichemicals -- synthetic and mined fertilizers, as well as poisons designed to kill bugs, weeds, and mold -- leaching into drinking water and doing creepy things to the state's citizens? And what about manure from the stunning concentration of concentrated-animal feedlot operations ... |
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| Topics: Agriculture, health, Missouri, toxics, water pollution (all these topics) |
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The Department of Defense (of itself)
DOD slows condemning research into its polluting behavior |
Liz Borkowski |
17 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Back in April, a Government Accountability Office report explained how the White House Office of Management and Budget was holding up the EPA's Integrated Risk Information System assessments. According to GAO, the OMB started requiring an 'interagency review' process allowing agencies that might be affected by the IRIS assessments to provide comments on the documents. As a result, some of these outside agencies can effectively block completion of IRIS assessments, whi ... |
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| Topics: US EPA, health, Department of Defense, climate, politics, toxics (all these topics) |
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Take My Breath Away
Fumes from Minn. dairy force neighbors to evacuate |
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11 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:25 PM on 11 Jun 2008 A giant dairy farm in Thief River Falls, Minn., is producing such noxious fumes that the state health department has advised nearby residents to evacuate. Excel Dairy's emissions of hydrogen sulfide have been calculated at 200 times the standard allowed by Minnesota law; neighbors' complaints include headaches, nausea, blurred vision, shortness of breath, and fatigue. "It's so strong and ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, air pollution, health, industrial ag, Minnesota, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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C6 of One, Half Dozen of the Other
Replacement for nasty chemical may be no less nasty, says EWG |
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10 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:40 PM on 10 Jun 2008 Under pressure from the U.S. EPA, eight chemical companies are phasing out perfluorooctanoic acid in nonstick, oil-resistant, and stain-resistant products -- but industry-favored substitutes may be no safer, says a new report from the Environmental Working Group. The chemical, known for brevity as PFOA or C8, has been linked to cancer, reproductive problems, and immu ... |
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| Topics: green living, health, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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Splash Animation
On kiddie pools |
Umbra Fisk |
09 Jun 2008 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, Regarding your obsession with vinyl, as pertains to summer parenting: Greenpeace's thorough Vinyl Alternatives list indicates that no good alternatives to vinyl kiddie pools exist. Do you think it is worth it to put a huge effort into manufacturing or finding a vinyl-free backyard wading experience? I can't stop thinking about this, and think it merits faking a question. Yours as always, Umbra Dearest Me, What a great questi ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, health, parenting, toxics (all these topics) |
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Leading to problems
Implications of the study linking childhood lead exposure and adult criminality |
Liz Borkowski |
30 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A study just published in the journal PLoS Medicine (and written up in the L.A. Times) suggests a link between childhood lead exposure and adult arrests for violent crimes. Studying 250 adults for whom they had prenatal and childhood blood lead level measurements, University of Cincinnati researchers found that each 5-microgram-per-deciliter increase in blood lead levels at age 6 was associated with a nearly 50 percent increased risk of arrest as a young adult (the ris ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, green living, health, parenting, scientific research, toxics (all these topics) |
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Candy-shaped rat poison on its way out
EPA gives manufacturers three years to adjust to new regulations designed to protect children |
Fawn Pattison |
30 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The U.S. EPA announced today that it would be tightening up the safety requirements on ten nasty rodenticides that are blamed for poisoning around 10,000 children -- mostly black and Latino inner-city kids -- every year. Those ten chemicals will no longer be available in the form of little pellets that look like candy, and that small children are so prone to stick in their mouths. The new rules will require non-agricultural users of rat poison to use it only inside tam ... |
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| Topics: green living, health, parenting, regulation, toxics, US EPA (all these topics) |
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Pb & Jail
Childhood lead exposure linked to criminal behavior, violence |
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28 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 6:36 AM on 28 May 2008 Childhood exposure to high lead levels leads to smaller brain mass and is linked to criminal behavior and violence, according to two new comprehensive studies. Researchers tracked kids from Cincinnati, Ohio, from before birth through adulthood and found that early exposure to lead resulted in a loss of brain matter of over 1 percent on average, particularly in the areas of the brain resp ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, health, news, scientific research, toxics (all these topics) |
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USDA: What pesticide use?
The agency cravenly stops measuring the poisons used in U.S. farming |
Tom Philpott |
23 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The USDA's 'Agricultural Chemical Use Database' is a wonderful thing. With a few clicks, consumers, researchers, and anyone else kind find all manner of information on pesticides, broken down by crop and by state. As an agriculture writer, I have an interest in industrial corn, by far our biggest crop. With a simple search, I find that corn farmers have increased applications of glyphosphate -- Monsanto's broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup -- by a factor of eight since M ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Department of Agriculture, health, shenanigans, toxics, websites (all these topics) |
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Organically killed
Are 'organic pesticides' the way forward for organic agriculture? |
Tom Philpott |
23 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| How are proponents of regenerative agriculture supposed to respond to news like this? Green pesticide and herbicide developer Marrone Organic Innovations is nearly done raising $7 million in a second round of funding, CEO Pamela Marrone said Wednesday. Wow, somebody's investing in organic agriculture -- millions, no less. That's news. But does it have to involve pesticides?Pesticides aren't just problematic because they're derived synthetically. They're also troubli ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, health, industrial ag, organic food, toxics (all these topics) |
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Nanotubes: the next asbestos?
Lessons from the asbestos crisis should guide the response to nanotechnology, but will they? |
Liz Borkowski |
21 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The story of asbestos in this country ought to serve as a cautionary tale: A seemingly miraculous fiber was widely introduced into common consumer products; only after it was already in millions of homes did the general public realize that it causes a particularly terrible form of cancer. Now, treating victims and cleaning up contaminated communities is costing billions of dollars, and thousands of people endure the toll of a debilitating and deadly disease. Nanotechn ... |
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| Topics: business, health, tech, toxics (all these topics) |
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The Lawn and Short of It
How to green your yard -- even more |
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13 May 2008 |
From A to Green |
| One of the most enduring truisms on earth is that all you need -- aside from love, of course -- is loam. Good dirt and a few seeds can get you a plot of paradise, whether you're nursing daffodils in a window box, planting a native tree, or cultivating carrots, cukes, and Incredible Hulk-sized zucchini in a perfectly preened organic garden. Go a few steps further -- grab a rake, shovel, spade, soaker hose, hemp gardening ... |
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| Topics: advice, From A to Green, gardening, green living, health, toxics (all these topics) |
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Flex and Effects
On plastic bottles and BPA |
Umbra Fisk |
12 May 2008 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I've been hearing a lot in the news lately about the dangers of certain kinds of plastic bottles. What's the lowdown? Thirstily, Ginger Littleton, Colo. Dearest Ginger, Always happy to be your source for the lowest lowdown around town. Today's lowdown: Don't use plastic bottles, and avoid canned food. All the latest plastics hullabaloo is over bisphenol A, a component of many plastic products. Serious Gristoholic ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food, health, toxics (all these topics) |
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Where the Lead Comes Sweepin' Down the Plain
Tornado ravages town already ravaged by pollution |
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12 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:41 AM on 12 May 2008 Six people were killed in Picher, Okla., this weekend as a giant tornado swept through. The not-so-bright bright side: It's likely that some fatalities were avoided, since many residents of Picher have already left. Picher is so polluted with mining waste that it's listed as a Superfund site; the town's booming lead and zinc mines closed decades ago, and its population ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, health, mining, news, Oklahoma, placemaking, severe weather, toxics, waste (all these topics) |
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SKB and BPA on NPR
Everything you wanted to know about bisphenol A, in my dulcet tones |
Sarah K. Burkhalter |
08 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I was on NPR talking about bisphenol A (that nasty chemical all up in our plastics). Audio is here. I expect these questions will be forthcoming: Do you always sound a bit froggy? No, I was a wee bit sick. Do you always make up rhymes on the spot? Yes. Yes, I do. |
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| Topics: green living, health, shameless self-promotion, toxics (all these topics) |
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Tough as Nails
A five-fingered review of less-toxic nail polishes |
Sarah van Schagen |
06 May 2008 |
The Bottom Line |
| If you've ever gone in for a manicure and, getting a good whiff of the stuff, wondered what sort of chemicals create a smell like that, you've hit the nail polish issue on the head. Those tiny little glass bottles of paint that we apply so gingerly to our fingernails and toenails -- and unless you're a manicure Michelangelo, often our skin as well -- contain a long list of chemicals, some of th ... |
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| Topics: advice, green living, green products, health, shopping, The Bottom Line, toxics (all these topics) |
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Soiled Again
On lead and gardens |
Umbra Fisk |
05 May 2008 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, In your reply to the question about pollution and rooftop gardening, you talked a fair amount about lead pollution. Since gasoline is no longer leaded, and since it's container gardening that wouldn't have any lead paint in it, and surely nobody has lead water pipes any more, why is lead even a concern? Teresa Brenham, Tex. Dearest Teresa, Our ecological history hangs around our necks like a lead weight. Still heavy after al ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living, health, toxics (all these topics) |
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Lipstick Bungle
An interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics |
Katharine Wroth |
02 May 2008 |
Grist Feature |
| Stacy Malkan. Beauty, they say, is only skin deep. But given the load of toxic chemicals in everyday products like shampoo, deodorant, and makeup, that superficial truth is still cause for concern. With increasing frequency, studies point to hidden dangers in the medicine cabinet: things like lead in lipstick, phthalates in baby lotions, aluminum in deodorant. While the am ... |
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| Topics: consumerism, grassroots activism, green living, health, interview, shopping, toxics (all these topics) |
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Getting Hard to Carrion
Wild Asian vultures going the way of the dodo |
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30 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:24 PM on 30 Apr 2008 Wild Asian vultures are likely going to the way of the dodo, a new study says. The white-backed vulture population has plunged by nearly 99.9 percent in India since 1992, and two other vulture species have seen a drop of 97 percent, say researchers publishing in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Researchers blame diclofenac, a drug given to livestock and ingested by the birds ... |
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| Topics: endangered species, health, India, news, scientific research, toxics, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Health Bent
EPA chemical-review process sucks, says GAO |
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29 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:32 PM on 29 Apr 2008 U.S. EPA reviews of the health risks posed by ubiquitous chemicals are hampered by extensive nonscientist involvement, says a report from the Government Accountability Office. The EPA review process, rejiggered by the White House in 2004, is cloaked in secrecy, causes years of delay, and has lost credibility, the GAO says. The Defense Department, Energy Department, and NASA, all of which have a vested inter ... |
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| Topics: Government Accountability Office, health, news, politics, toxics, US EPA (all these topics) |
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The Moth-Ban Prophecies
Bay Area escapes aerial spraying, for now |
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25 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:48 AM on 25 Apr 2008 A plan to spray Santa Cruz County with synthetic pheromones must be postponed until an environmental review is completed, a county judge ruled Thursday. The spraying, an attempt by agriculture officials to curb the invasion of the crop-gobbling light brown apple moth, was to begin in Santa Cruz County in June and expand to seven other Bay Area counties in August. But many of the 7 million resident ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, California, health, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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Down to the Last Drop
Nalgene, Wal-Mart back away from BPA |
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18 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:08 PM on 18 Apr 2008 Bottle manufacturer Nalgene will stop using plastic containing bisphenol A in response to concerns from the National Toxicology Program and the Canadian health department that the chemical probably shouldn't be sucked on by kids. Nalgene says it still believes its clear, hard plastic bottles "are safe for their intended use" but says it's responding to customers who "indicated they preferr ... |
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| Topics: business, food, green living, green products, health, news, shopping, toxics (all these topics) |
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Slurps of joy
Nalgene dumps estrogenic ingredient |
Fawn Pattison |
18 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Have you been fretting over the reports of gender-bending pollutants leaching from reusable water bottles? Finally, some good news: Nalgene is dumping polycarbonate plastic, according to a report in The New York Times today. Nalgene made its decision in response to Health Canada's announcement earlier this week that it would list bisphenol A as a toxicant. BPA is the estrogenic plastic additive that makes polycarbonate a dubious choice for food and beverage contain ... |
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| Topics: food, green living, health, toxics (all these topics) |
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