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 Ari Phillips 26 November 2013 (Climate Progress) – If James Carville was giving the Chinese government public relations advice, he might say something like, “It’s the pollution, stupid.” But this wouldn’t be anything the Chinese government doesn’t already know. When eight-year-olds start getting lung cancer that can be attributed to air pollution, you’ve got […]
7 December 2013 (OCHA) – According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), approximately 4 million people remain displaced as a result of Typhoon Haiyan, including 94,310 people living in 385 evacuation centres (ECs). The number of people living in evacuation centres has decreased, mostly due to the increased availability of shelter materials […]
By Elizabeth Weise4 December 2013 (USATODAY) – Bridget Bahneman lost her daughter to an illness that wasn’t supposed to exist as far north as Minnesota. Seven-year-old Annie’s brain was destroyed by an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri that she was exposed to while swimming in a lake near their house. The “brain-eating amoeba” lives in fresh […]
6 December 2013 (Bloomberg News) – Shanghai ordered vehicles off the road and factories to cut production after pollution reached hazardous levels, as Hong Kong announced plans to introduce an air quality index that assesses health risks from smog. A heavy fog shrouding Shanghai caused widespread flight cancellations and sent an air quality index monitored […]
By Athena Yenko 14 October 2013 (IBT) – A leak draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) obtained by News Corp revealed major findings on what the world will be like under a changed climate. The report, Working Group II AR5, is due for release in March in Yokohama, Japan. A section […]
GAROWE, Somalia, 16 November 2013 (Garowe Online) – The survivors of a severe cyclonic storm that rammed into Somalia’s northeastern region of Puntland are desperate for food, medicines, and clean water but, with so much anxiety and chaos in the hardest-hit areas, the distribution is limited, Garowe Online reports. Despite the efforts of Puntland government, […]
By Justin McCurry in Tokyo 12 November 2013 (The Guardian) – Japanese officials have admitted for the first time that thousands of people evacuated from areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may never be able to return home. A report by members of the governing Liberal Democratic party [LDP] and its junior coalition […]
8 November 2013 (Al Jazeera) – The deadliest known outbreak of a measles-like virus in bottlenose dolphins has killed a record number of the marine mammals along the U.S. Atlantic coast in recent months, officials said Friday. A total of 753 bottlenose dolphins have washed up from New York to Florida from July 1 until […]
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 […]