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| Above the fold. News aggregated by www.EnvironmentalHealthNews.org | Read today's editorials |
| Dust in used cars contains high levels of potentially toxic flame retardant chemicals, known as PBDEs, reports a study that measured them in older autos found at US dealerships. The findings show that car interiors represent another source of exposure to the compounds. Levels of one type of PBDE -- called BDE-209 -- were particularly high. Its levels varied by the vehicle's year, manufacturer and country where it was made. More... Europe leads effort to push for design of European Union requires environmental review of new drugs. Sweden leads the way, creating database so doctors can check whether medications are "green" before prescribing them. Environmental Health News Cancer rates soaring in developing countries. Cancer now kills more people in developing countries each year than AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria, health experts said here on Monday. Agence France-Presse Study finds possible cancer link. Researchers have found a potential link between incidents of a rare blood cancer in northeastern Pennsylvania and environmental contaminants in areas with hazardous material, including waste-coal power plants and EPA Superfund sites. Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, Pennsylvania. Mountaintop mining. One of the last things the Bush administration did was change a rule to allow coal mining companies to dump debris into streams. That means one mining company will be able to remove one of the last mountaintops in a West Virginia county. Environment Report, Michigan. 14 cited in protests at Massey operations . Fourteen people were cited by State Police on Tuesday in two separate protests against Massey Energy's mountaintop removal operations in Southern West Virginia. Charleston Gazette-Mail, West Virginia. California farms, vineyards in peril from warming, U.S. energy secretary warns. California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming, the new Secretary of Energy said. Los Angeles Times, California. [Registration Required] Its clout waning, auto industry losing ability to steer policy. The ousting of Rep. John D. Dingell late last year from his chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was a public step in what politicians and lobbyists say has been a gradual erosion of the auto industry's clout in Washington and in state legislatures. Washington Post [Registration Required] It's not easy being NIMBY. With members of Congress stuffing the economic stimulus with green energy projects, they may be overlooking one of the biggest obstacles to getting them in line: the NIMBY crowd. Politico Home renovation may expose kids to lead: CDC. Home renovation and related activities continue to be an important source of lead exposure for young children, health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn in their weekly bulletin. Reuters Inside 'nasty' nut processor. Former workers say rodents, roaches, and mold were commonplace at the Blakely peanut plant, and that problems were obvious and long-running, raising questions about why it took so long for inspectors to fully uncover them. Chicago Tribune, Illinois. Old appetites die hard. There has been a steady drumbeat of high-profile food safety scares in the past several years: spinach, ground beef, jalapeño peppers and now products traced to a Georgia peanut processor. But many Americans are not rushing to change the way they eat. Washington Post [Registration Required] 10 years after New Carissa, threat of new spill remains. It was the ship that wouldn't go away, or even die. Ten years ago today it spilled 70,000 gallons of fuel oil along Oregon's fragile coast, which cost tens of millions to clean up and spawned several lawsuits. And the same maritime calamity could happen today. Portland Oregonian, Oregon. Research center proposed for spill site. A group of seven scientists is proposing that the Tennessee Valley Authority turn the Kingston fly ash spill site into an independent educational and research center rather than try to completely clean up the sludge. Knoxville News Sentinel, Tennessee. Ailing West Virginia towns with bad water sue over slurry. The lawsuit filed recently in Boone County Circuit Court claims decades of surface and underground mining activities near the communities of Prenter and Seth fractured the geologic strata that had contained the slurry, a byproduct of cleaning the coal. Associated Press Groups sue Pittsburgh company over chromium pollution. A Pittsburgh-based corporation blamed by New Jersey environmental regulators for chromium pollution was sued in federal court today by an environmental group and a community organization claiming a stalled clean-up at a former industrial site that poses health risks for people in Jersey City. Newark Star-Ledger, New Jersey. KU to pay $1.4 million fine in Clean Air Act settlement. Kentucky Utilities will pay a $1.4 million fine, spend $3 million on environmental projects and install $135 million worth of pollution controls at a Mercer County power plant to settle violations of the federal Clean Air Act. Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky. New rules govern cleanup of tailings ponds. A controversial byproduct of oil-sands operations at the centre of an environmental scandal last spring involving 500 dead ducks will be subjected to tougher rules by Alberta's energy regulator. Toronto Globe and Mail, Ontario. Argentines pray for rain to end drought. Argentina’s agricultural heartland is suffering the worst drought in nearly half a century. It has not rained properly since November and at the edge of Sergio Paparini's parched field only the occasional tiny green leaf pokes through the hard ground. London Financial Times, England. Environmentalists' laments receive presidential backing. An impassioned plea by Tzipi Iser Itzik, director-general of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, for the incoming government to make the environment an urgent priority, was fully endorsed by President Shimon Peres. Jerusalem Post, Israel. A company prospers by saving poor people’s lives. There are plenty of charitable foundations and public agencies devoted to helping the world’s poor. But private companies with that as their sole focus are rare. Even the best-known, Vestergaard-Frandsen, is not remotely a household name. New York Times [Registration Required] Smokeless tobacco to get push by venture overseas. Swedish Match AB and Philip Morris International Inc. announced a joint venture Tuesday to market smokeless tobacco world-wide, signaling the possibility of an intensified industry effort to lift government bans on sales of snuff. Wall Street Journal [Subscription Required] Bird flu virus still cause for concern. The H5N1 bird flu virus, which has now sickened more than 400 people globally, is infecting birds and people all across China and is still a cause for serious concern, flu experts said on Tuesday. Reuters More news from today Shortcuts to stories from today about The good news, Avian flu, Katrina, Climate, Children's health, Air pollution, Cancer, Reproductive disorders, Endocrine disruption, Birth defects, Learning and developmental disabilities, Immune disorders, Environmental justice, Superfund, Water treatment/sewage, Food safety, Integrity of science, Green chemistry. You can also read last weekend's news. 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Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Links to articles in today's press about environmental health
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