By Charles J. Moore25 August 2014 LOS ANGELES (The New York Times) – The world is awash in plastic. It’s in our cars and our carpets, we wrap it around the food we eat and virtually every other product we consume; it has become a key lubricant of globalization — but it’s choking our future […]
By Tony Barboza23 October 2013 (Los Angeles Times) – Exposure to the pesticide DDT could be playing a role in high rates of obesity three generations later, a new study says. Scientists injected pregnant rats with DDT and found no change in their levels of obesity or their offspring. But by the third generation, more […]
By Brian Bienkowski and Environmental Health News22 Novenber 2013 Only about half of the prescription drugs and other newly emerging contaminants in sewage are removed by treatment plants. That’s the finding of a new report by the International Joint Commission, a consortium of officials from the United States and Canada who study the Great Lakes. […]
By Genevra Pittman 4 November 2013 (Reuters) – Heavier girls tend to hit puberty at younger ages, according to a new study. Rising obesity rates seem to be a ‘prime driver’ behind breast development starting earlier. Girls are developing breasts at younger and younger ages, a new study confirms. And upward trends in childhood obesity […]
By Rhitu Chatterjee16 September 2013 (NPR) – How often do whales clean their ears? Well, never. And so, year after year, their ear wax builds up, layer upon layer. According to a study published Monday, these columns of ear wax contain a record of chemical pollution in the oceans. The study, published in Proceedings of […]
By Martine Valo 6 May 2013 (The Guardian) – On 15 April 2013 more than 100 fishermen demonstrated in the streets of Fort de France, the main town on Martinique, in the French West Indies. In January they barricaded the port until the government in Paris allocated €2m ($2.6m) in aid, which they are still […]
By Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent 24 May 2013 (The Guardian) – The majority of the 9 billion people on Earth will live with severe pressure on fresh water within the space of two generations as climate change, pollution and over-use of resources take their toll, 500 scientists have warned. The world’s water systems would soon […]
By Jeff Burnside8 May 2013 SEATTLE (KOMO News) – A chemical threat lies hidden in millions of American homes, and top government scientists believe it could be killing cats. Right now in the special session of the state legislature, lawmakers are fighting powerful interests to ban versions of the chemical. Dr. Dennis Wackerbarth is a […]
By Kate Sheppard29 March 2013 (Mother Jones) – The EPA announced this week that it will study the health and environmental risks of 23 chemicals, with an emphasis on chemical flame retardants that are found in many common products. [cf. Blood levels of flame-retardant chemicals doubling every few years in North Americans] Even though they […]
By Michelle Warwicker24 February 2013 (BBC Nature) – Otters’ reproductive organs may be affected by chemicals in our waterways, according to scientists. Experts studying the reproductive health of the mammals in England and Wales were concerned to find a decrease in the weight of otters’ penis bones. Other health problems in males included an increase […]
