"Can BPA Make You Fat?"
"The food industry likes to portray obesity as a matter of personal responsibility: People who eat too much gain weight, and it's their own fault."
Source: Mother Jones, 05/31/2012
Chemicals
Clear Channel Mounts FBI Billboards Promoting Trade Secrecy
Claims of trade secrecy — often unsubstantiated — are a huge barrier to environmental reporters and others trying to find the truth about chemicals that may harm human health and the environment. But the FBI's billboards urge Americans to be vigilant against corporate insiders who may appear suspicious, and presumably to turn them in.
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New Ohio Law Limits Disclosure of Fracking Fluid Ingredients
The Ohio legislature cleared a fracking bill May 24, 2012 that increases inspections of wells and requires drillers to hold liability insurance. But Reuters reports: "Many Democrats said the bill paves the way for the industry to hide information about toxic chemicals that could contaminate groundwater."
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Illinois Sues Wood River Refinery, Alleging Water Pollution
"Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued current and past owners of Phillips 66's Wood River, Illinois, refinery on Tuesday, alleging the ground water in the nearby town of Roxana, Illinois, was contaminated by the plant."
Source: Reuters, 05/30/2012
"Lyme Disease Tick Study Stirs Dispute"
"Hundreds of Baltimore-area families have volunteered for a government study to spray their suburban yards with pesticide, which researchers hope can protect them from Lyme disease but that environmentalists warn is unsafe."
Source: Baltimore Sun, 05/30/2012
SEJ Member Spotlight: McKay Jenkins
McKay Jenkins has been writing about people and the natural world for 25 years. He is the director of journalism at the University of Delaware, and the author of numerous books, including What’s Gotten into Us: Staying Healthy in a Toxic World, which chronicles his investigation into the myriad synthetic chemicals we encounter in our daily lives, and the growing body of evidence about the harm these chemicals do to our bodies and the environment.
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"PERC Leaves Toxic Legacy State Must Pay For"
"A dangerous chemical used in dry cleaning is being phased out in California, but state regulators say we may still have to live with a toxic legacy for years to come."
Source: KGO-TV, 05/29/2012
"Autism's Rising Rates Increasingly Blamed On Toxic Chemicals"
The incidence of autism seems to be increasing, and genetics does not account for all the cases. Researchers are asking whether environmental factors like toxic chemicals are partly to blame, but definitive answers have not yet been found.
Source: Huffington Post, 05/28/2012
"Kentucky Tests Find Lead-Tainted Soil Near Homes"
"Environmental regulators in Kentucky have found high levels of lead contamination at a former foundry site in Newport that is located next to homes. In Portland, Ore., state officials said Thursday that they will start canvassing a neighborhood near a former lead factory site as they prepare to test yards there for contamination."
Source: USA TODAY, 05/25/2012
White House Blocking EPA Rules on Nanomaterials, Advocates Say
"The White House appears to be blocking Environmental Protection Agency efforts to tighten oversight of engineered nanoscale pesticides and other chemicals, according to environmental and safety advocates."
Source: BNA, 05/25/2012
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