Posted by Elaine Shannon | Editor-in-chief, EWG
Yale researchers may have solved a fundamental medical mystery: how bisphenol A (BPA), a ubiquitous plastics component, changes genetic chemistry and impairs fertility.
The Yale team’s findings, previewed earlier this month to the Endocrine Society, a 14,000-member scientific and medical professional organization devoted to hormone system research and treatment, have intensified scientists’ concern that exposure BPA, a synthetic estrogen that disrupts the endocrine system, may have grave consequences...
Flame Retardants for Breakfast
Posted by Richard Wiles | Sr. VP for Policy and Communications
It’s not like we needed more proof that our chemical regulatory system is completely broken. But we have it anyway.
It appears as though the food industry is starting to ship fresh produce on plastic pallets, each made with 3.5 pounds of pure decabromodiphenyl ether – Deca for short, the neurotoxic cousin of banned flame retardants penta- and octabromodiphenyl ether.
Without Deca, plastic pallets...
Do clean schools make kids sick?
Posted by Rebecca Sutton | Senior Scientist
Whenever we walk into a recently-cleaned school classroom or bathroom, the harsh odor of industrial-strength cleaning products hits like a wave. The smell of “clean” can make us cough.
A little cough is the least of our worries. Asthma rates are on the rise – 1 in 6 kids in California develop asthma during childhood. Teachers also suffer significantly higher rates of this life-threatening condition.
Increasing...
Is this EPA Serious about Chemical
Posted by Richard Wiles | Sr. VP for Policy and Communications
The federal program to “assess and manage” industrial chemicals polluting the environment has never done either. Instead of ChAMP (for Chemical Assessment and Management Program, Orwellian Newspeak if we ever heard it), it should have been named KERCHING — for the millions of dollars the chemical industry reaped while escaping effective regulation.
Last week, Lisa Jackson, administrator...
Is Our Stuff Killing Us?
Posted by Elaine Shannon | Editor-in-chief, EWG
There’s a lot to love about the 21st Century. Wireless. Hybrids. Ipods. Hockey in June.
But modern life comes at the price of a body burden of pollutants. The stuff we like is amazingly light, pliable, tough, tiny, shatter-proof, stain-proof, waterproof, spongy, fire-resistant, explosive, clear, brilliant, fragrant, sleek, silky or some of the above because it’s made of complex mixtures of chemicals...
Coca-Cola’s Non-Answer on BPA
Posted by Elaine Shannon | Editor-in-chief, EWG
Earlier this month, EWG president Ken Cook wrote the Coca-Cola company to ask why a Coca-Cola representative had been part of a lobbyists’ strategy session during which, according to a leaked memo, food and chemical industry reps discussed countering proposed bans on the toxic plastics chemical bisphenol (BPA) with “fear tactics,” among them, warning consumers that no BPA in food packaging would...
Measuring Pollution In People
Posted by Nena Baker | Author, The Body Toxic
The mass spectrometers needed to measure traces of chemicals and their byproducts in human samples of blood and urine are big beige machines that, to the untrained eye, look like something you might find at your neighborhood photocopy store.
Commanded by researchers and technicians in clean suits seated at computer keyboards, these exquisitely sensitive instruments spin out findings that show how the...
Death by a Thousand Snapshots
Posted by Richard Wiles | Sr. VP for Policy and Communications
Nothing scares the chemical industry like the facts. That’s why big chemical companies are so afraid of biomonitoring.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, biomonitoring is the testing of blood, urine, breast milk, hair or other tissue for the presence of industrial chemicals and pollutants.
What could be worse for industry than people actually finding out how many industrial chemicals pollute...
Winning on BPA? Not so fast.
Posted by Richard Wiles | Sr. VP for Policy and Communications
It’s been quite a ride with the fight against the toxic plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA)– David vs. Goliath, public interest advocates and a handful of scientists pushing back against lobbyists and dealmakers, shady government contractors, bogus science, backroom strategy sessions.
The cascade of disclosures about the dangers of BPA, a synthetic estrogen used to toughen polycarbonate...
- sandraraven on Does BPA Cause Infertility?...
- Elaine Shannon on Pollution in 5 Extraordinary Women...
- Debbie on Pollution in 5 Extraordinary Women...
- Miriam G. on Is Our Stuff Killing Us?...
- Laurie on Pollution in 5 Extraordinary Women...
