by Amy Mathews Amos
Consumers imagine that slathering up with antibacterial soap makes them safer. But maybe not: antimicrobial products kill beneficial bacteria, pollute waterways and may actually help cause disease. The best, most cost-efficient solution: good old soap and water.
Archive for the ‘Public Health’ Category
by Sharon Guynup
The U.S. House just passed the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which could return environmental regulation to 1890s standards – when corporations polluted water with impunity.
by Ben Lowe
We are poisoning our children with mercury warns a former Illinois Congressional candidate and Evangelical Christian. But if we all stand together, we can make Congress implement standards to end power plant mercury emissions.
by Sharon Guynup
: “Roughly one-third of our lakes, wetlands and estuaries are polluted,” writes journalist Sharon Guynup, and “315 contaminants have been found in U.S. drinking water, including lead, chromium, pesticides and rocket fuel.” Despite this, the GOP has launched an unprecedented attack on the Clean Water Act and other U.S. water protections, threatening ecosystems and endangering public health.
by Lowell Bliss
Lowell Bliss sweeps aside debates over causality and policy. Instead, he sees the human face of natural disasters devastating our globe and urges that we all respond with decisive action and compassion.
by David Lillard
Hydraulic fracking is harming the U.S. environment and public health. Even U.S. Energy Secretary Ken Salazar is worried that fracking could kill the industry if Congress doesn’t regulate its excesses.
by Glenn Scherer
The New York Times had revealed that as long ago as 1972 the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (precursor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) knew of fatal design defects in the General Electric nuclear reactors now gone critical in Japan, but instead of banning the design, they stamped it as “safe” for nearly four decades.
by Josh Schlossberg
With every form of energy jumping on the “clean and green” federal subsidy bandwagon, Josh Schlossberg contends that biomass power incineration – the burning of forests to make electricity – should be ruled out. It pollutes the air, threatens public health, and worsens climate change, despite industry claims otherwise.
by Erica Gies
U.S. agribusiness has done a phenomenal job of feeding the world, but at a cost to the environment. Journalist Erica Gies raises concerns about contamination of U.S. groundwater by nitrates, chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and animal excrement – and she proposes solutions.
by Jeff Feldman
Jeff Feldman is nervous about what’s all around us: especially the 80,000 synthetic chemicals in current use of which only 200 or so have been safety tested by government. Of these, Bisphenol A (called BPA) and phthalates are especially worrisome. Feldman updates readers on new U.S. toxic chemical legislation and offers ways to protect families from BPA and phthalates.
