The Latest from EnviroBlog

Asbestos

Got Organic Milk?

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Many people buy organic food because of the humane animal care requirements and environmental benefits, but is it actually better for you?

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Cosmetics Safety Bill Gains Support from Industry and Advocates

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Cosmetics companies and health and consumer advocates are coming together to support the Personal Care Products Safety Act, which would strengthen federal regulations that have remained largely unchanged for more than 75 years. Cosmetics are a $60 billion-a-year business, and no other products are so widely used by American consumers with such few safeguards.

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Cosmetics

Cancer and the Environment: 10 Common Misconceptions Answered

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

As a cancer epidemiologist, I’ve spent a lot of time researching the links between environmental contaminants and cancer. One of the pitfalls of the Digital Age is that people come across a lot of information that isn’t based on sound scientific evidence or is, at best, anecdotal. That’s dangerous, because conjecture and falsehoods that masquerade as fact can hamper efforts to prevent and treat cancer.

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S.C. Johnson To Disclose Fragrance Ingredients

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Do you wonder whether your air freshener’s formulation is safe? Are you tired of reading product labels with the catch-all terms “fragrance” or “natural fragrance” but no specific ingredients?

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Cleaning Products

Mars Pledges To Drop Artificial Coloring

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Mars Inc., the multinational corporation that produces iconic candies such as M&Ms, Milky Way and Snickers, announced last week that it will phase out artificial colors from its products over the next five years.

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Chemicals in Food

Five Kid-Approved Tips for Healthier Valentine’s Day Parties

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and let’s face it: your kids will eat a lot of sugary treats come February 14. Thanks to school, team and neighborhood parties, many kids spend Valentine’s Day surrounded by candy and baked goods, most of which parents provide.

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More Than 60 EWG VERIFIED™ Products – and Counting!

Monday, February 8, 2016

Our verification program was created to help shoppers quickly and easily identify products that meet our strictest health and transparency standards. The program is gaining momentum and awareness, and the list of products in the pipeline for verification is rapidly growing. You can already find select EWG VERIFIED^TM products from Beautycounter, MyChelle and Rejuva Minerals.

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Cosmetics

UC Berkeley Scientist Developing Method to Identify Chemicals That May Raise Breast Cancer Risk

Monday, February 8, 2016

Megan Schwarzman, an environmental health researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, has come up with a novel approach to screening synthetic chemicals and pollutants for their potential to cause breast cancer. Her new method focuses on identifying chemicals that cause biological changes that scientists have associated with the development of breast cancer.

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EWG for the Win: Tips for Your Healthiest Super Bowl Yet

Friday, February 5, 2016

The big game is right around the corner and millions of Americans are making winning game plans for a Super Bowl party packed with quintessential football fare. Super Bowl Sunday comes in second only to Thanksgiving when it comes to eating holidays, with some reports suggesting that the average football fan consumes more than 2,400 calories during the game! That’s a pretty big number, even by linebacker standards. If you want to stay clear of nutritional penalties while still scoring a touchdown for great snacks with your guests, try these plays.

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Preventing Cancer is Not A Game of Chance

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Today is World Cancer Day, a perfect time to raise awareness and spur action in the fight against cancer. It’s a day to reflect on a very important question: What is the main cause of cancer? Is it driven by avoidable lifestyle and environmental factors or is it largely due to chance?

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What the elephant knows about cancer prevention

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Elephants are less likely to get cancer than humans, even though they have many more cells. Why? Teams of scientists from the University of Utah and the University of Chicago have separately concluded that the answer may primarily center around a critical cancer-defense gene called TP53, which detects cells with damaged DNA and either repairs or kills them off. Both elephants and humans have this gene, but elephants have many more copies in their genetic make-up. It’s highly significant that two research teams arrived independently at the same result: in science, replication and independent verification are crucial to validating findings. Read more about the elephant research…

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Will Chemical Safety Law Be Better?

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

In the coming months, congressional negotiators will try to reconcile two bills aimed at fixing the nation's broken and outdated chemical safety law, the Toxic Substances Control Act. As we’ve made lear time, time and time again, neither bill will fix what ails TSCA – a law so broken that the Environmental Protection Agency has only been able to regulate five chemicals since 1976.

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Chemical Policy (TSCA)

Quick Tips for Using a Humidifier Safely

Monday, February 1, 2016

Humidifiers are a popular tool to help parents treat problems ranging from dry skin and cracked lips to stuffy noses and a nagging cough. But if they’re not used properly, humidifiers can harbor mold and bacteria, which can trigger allergies and asthma in kids, or even make them sick. Read these simple precautions to keep your family safe and healthy.

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Clear Advice on Healthy Eating: Introducing EWG’s New Dietary Guidelines

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

News outlets around the country covered the Obama administration’s release of new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, praising the good, scolding the bad and shining a bright light on the ugly.

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Chemicals in Food

What Caused Your Child’s Allergic Skin Reaction?

Friday, January 15, 2016

Your child has developed a red, itchy, or sore rash. Your little one may have a case of contact dermatitis, an eczema-like skin condition caused by touching something that triggers an allergic reaction or irritates the skin. If the reaction is serious, talk to your doctor about a referral for allergy testing to determine the source. But for minor reactions, some easy sleuthing at home can help you figure out if a common allergen is to blame.

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Children’s Products

Great Lakes Gull Eggs Contaminated by Non-Stick Chemicals

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs – the class of chemicals used in DuPont’s Teflon, 3M’s Scotchgard and many other products – pollute the bodies of people and animals in every corner of the world. In the latest findings, Canadian scientists have detected PFCs in virtually all of the eggs of herring gulls sampled in the Great Lakes region.

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Nonstick Chemicals

Maryland County Bans Lawn Pesticides — or Does It?

Monday, January 11, 2016

The Montgomery County, Maryland, Council has passed an ordinance banning what it calls “cosmetic pesticides” on private lawns. The devil, however, is in the details. The term “cosmetic” means “unnecessary.” Who decides what weed-killers are really “unnecessary?”

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EWG’s Top 10 Enviroblog stories of 2015

Monday, January 11, 2016

The EWG staff voted the landmark global climate accord approved on December 12 in Paris as the top environmental story of 2015. In our judgment, the achievement of the Paris pact is that, for the first time, representatives of 196 nations – large and small, rich and poor, heavily industrial and rural – agreed in principle that they must reduce carbon emissions and that they will report on their progress every five years.

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