Your environmental health news crib sheet.
Something smells.There's "a veritable cocktail of dangerous and potentially dangerous volatile organic compounds" in your air fresheners, and a group of environmental organizations want the government to do something about it.
Mystery at Upper Mystic Lake. There are ten tons of arsenic and undetermined amounts of lead and cadmium in Upper Mystic Lake. Too bad no one got around to telling the beachgoers, picnickers and fishermen.
Power to the people FDA. Congress is in the process of passing legislation that would help the FDA protect the nation's pharmaceutical drug supply. Knowing that our prescription drugs will be more thoroughly examined? Sounds like power to the people after all.
"Natural" is only skin deep, too. Organic and natural cosmetics are booming these days, but does "natural" mean safe? One cosmetics retailer points out that "there are some interesting and legitimate sources of impartial ingredient information" on the internet. Anyone know of any?
Good news department.Researchers think that making mercury-loaded fish safe to eat again might be as simple as -- wait for it -- stopping mercury pollution. Fish apparently recover quickly from mercury contamination, but getting industry to stop contaminating is another problem entirely.