As a daily online environmental newspaper, Environmental Health News has its finger on the pulse of environmental exposures, and is an esteemed resource of mine. It has released this report, “Chemicals of High Concern’ Found In
Thousands of Children’s Products“
I’m learning about the prevalence of cobalt, for instance…..
Dr. Theo Colburn does awesome work and is an inspiration. Here’s a recent endeavor of hers, the Endocrine Disruption Exchange: http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/home.php
Environmental Working Group is an organization which impresses me no end with its environmental health research, and its easy-to-access resources for the public to use!
Here’s an example of some of the excellence:
Often we reach for the most potent, new-and-improved, commercial quality product to do the job, when a less-potent product or natural alternative would be safer and would suffice. Here, owls, hawks, and other wildlife are dying because people don’t want mice and rats around, and they grab the most potent product they can find.
Photograph by Stephen Dalton
One common type of post-hydraulic fracturing dispute between landowners and gas companies occurs over the landowners’ conviction that the “fracking” ruined the quality of their water, and, because baseline data documenting the quality of the water before fracking occurred was not obtained, the landowners are at a disadvantage to prove their point. Sometimes gas companies do pre-test the water, but the results are not made public.
Gov. Mead of Wyoming is considering making water quality testing prior to hydraulic fracturing mandatory, and this article suggests that there also be requirements that the data obtained be made public on an easily-accessed web site. A fine idea!
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=birnbaum-government-toxicologist-qa
Image: Courtesy of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)/Steve McCaw
Rocket Fuel for Breakfast, Gonad Soup for Lunch 