Rachel's Democracy & Health News #914

[Guest guest]

Rachel's Democracy & Health News #914

" Environment, health, jobs and justice--Who gets to decide? "

 

Thursday, July 5, 2007..................

Printer-friendly versionwww.rachel.org -

 

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Featured stories in this issue...

 

New Toxic Chemicals Are Invading the Arctic, Carried on the Wind

http://www.precaution.org/lib/07/prn_new_pollutants_in_arctic.070626.htm

Using risk assessments of local exposures to determine what is " acceptable "

and " safe, " we routinely release " acceptable " amounts of chemicals in places

like New Jersey, Ohio and California. Temperature differences act like a pump,

steadily moving toxic chemicals from the mid-latitudes to the Arctic. As a

result people living in the Arctic are among the most polluted on the planet.

This

is one more face of environmental injustice.

 

Father's Day Report Notes Greater Environmental Risks To Boys

 

http://www.precaution.org/lib/07/prn_boys_faring_worse_from_chemicals.070615.htm

" All children are at risk from exposure to environmental hazards, but boys

appear to be at greater risk, " said Dr. Lynn Marshall, with the Ontario College

of Family Physicians. " For health outcomes such as asthma, cancer, learning

and behavioural problems and birth defects, the boys are faring worse than the

girls, " noted Loren Vanderlinden, with Toronto Public Health.

 

A Flame Retardant Is Linked To a Common Birth Defect in Boys

http://www.precaution.org/lib/07/prn_pbde_causes_cryptorchidism.070627.htm

A new study links the common flame retardant, PBDE, to a common birth defect

in boys.

 

The Mystery of the Missing Boys;

http://www.precaution.org/lib/07/prn_mystery_of_missing_boys.070411.htm

The sex ratio among newborns has shifted and boys are no longer being born at

the historical rate, compared to girls. Although researchers do not know why

boys are taking a hit, they suspect contributing causes could include

widespread exposure to hormone- mimicking pollutants by women during pregnancy

and by

men before they help conceive children.

 

Wasting Away: Superfund's Toxic Legacy

http://www.precaution.org/lib/07/prn_superfund_today.070426.htm

Toxic waste still plagues American communities 27 years after the U.S.

government set up a program to identify and clean up the country's worst sites.

Nearly half of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of one of the 1,304

active and proposed Superfund sites listed by the Environmental Protection

Agency.

A one-year investigation by the Center for Public Integrity reveals the

beleaguered state of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund effort,

uncovers the companies and government agencies linked to the most sites and

tracks

progress of the clean up.

 

'Safe' Levels of Lead May Not Be That Safe After All

http://www.precaution.org/lib/07/prn_safe_lead_levels_arent_safe.061002.htm

Although the removal of most lead from gasoline and paint in the United

States has driven exposure levels down -- way down from levels seen 30 years ago

--

new research sharply lowers the level of lead exposure that should be

considered safe. And it expands the population of adults and children who need

to

worry about the toxic chemical. See original studies here and here, and an

editorial here.