The Weekly Toxic Times
From the Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health
News highlights from January 22 - January 25, 2008
A recap of the top stories on toxins in Michigan, National, and International news.
Michigan News
Editorial: Statewide ban on phosphorus makes good sense
Bay City Times, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008
“What makes a lot of sense to help clean the waters of Saginaw Bay has the potential to blossom into a statewide, even a nationwide, movement to ban the use of phosphorus in lawn fertilizers…”
http://www.mlive.com/columns/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-1/
1201191307169740.xml&coll=4
Letter to the editor: Put Dow dioxin
Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
“Your articles ‘EPA: Dow, state downplayed dioxin’ and ‘Fed up with dioxin, they want out’ and the editorial ‘Keep push on for dioxin cleanup’ (Dec. 11) were simply a biased rehash of old issues. We are greatly disappointed in the Free Press for splashing huge, sexy headlines over information that has been around and known, at least to those of us actively working to get an agreement between the Dow Chemical Co., the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency for many years…”
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080123/OPINION04/
801230336/1068/OPINION
National News
Unexpected human impact on Antarctica
Environmental Science & Technology, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
Article discusses study of PBDEs in Antarctica.
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2008/jan/science/
kb_antarcticpbde.html
Toymaker fights state recall
Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008
“In what could trigger the first test of Illinois' strict law against lead in toys, a major toymaker [Ty inc] is refusing to pull a popular, but tainted, doll from store shelves across the state…”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-leadjan22,0,2124646.story
Follow-up story:
Ty takes high-lead doll out of stores
Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lead_23jan23,0,2692671.story
Lawmakers mull ban on lead toys
Baltimore Sun, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
After a wave of recalls of lead-tainted toys from China that frightened many consumers and parents, Maryland legislators are pursuing a bill to ban the hazardous products and allow for random inspections of factories, warehouses and stores.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-md.lead23jan23033219,0,
4342523.story
State lawmakers move to stop toxic toys in face of federal inaction
The Olympian (Washington), Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008
Article discusses Washington’s legislation about toxins in children’s products.
http://www.theolympian.com/legislature/story/334863.html
Bill aims to increase lead testing for children
The Oregonian, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008
“Olympia – As concerns grow that toys and candy from China and Mexico are exposing children to lead, a bill in the Washington Legislature seeks increased testing for lead in children younger than six…”
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2008/01/bill_aims_to_increase
_lead_tes.html
City parks officials seek safety review of synthetic surfaces
New York Times, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
“For more than a decade, the city’s Parks Department has extolled the environmental and safety benefits of replacing the grass or asphalt at dozens of its play spaces with synthetic material made from recycled tires, despite safety concerns expressed by some scientists and children’s advocates. But on Tuesday, the department said it had asked the city health department to investigate potential health and safety problems associated with the synthetic material, even as it continued to insist the surfaces were safe…”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/nyregion/23turf.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Plastic ingested, study finds
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008-01-25
“Scientists furious at conclusions reached by a federal panel charged with assessing the safety of a common household chemical have retaliated. And they're using science as their weapon. In a paper released online this month in the journal Reproductive Toxicology, a team of researchers at the University of Missouri published a study that strikes at the core of the panel's findings on bisphenol A, a chemical found in baby bottles and the linings of food cans…”
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=710303
Perchlorate in food raises alarm
Chemical & Engineering News, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
In the wake of a study showing widespread perchlorate contamination in food, members of Congress and environmental activists are calling for EPA to set a national drinking water limit for the chemical. Perchlorate, used as an oxidizer in rocket fuel, interferes with uptake of iodine by the thyroid and can reduce the production of thyroid hormone. Adequate thyroid hormone is necessary for brain development and normal growth in fetuses, infants, and children…”
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i04/8604news3.html
Board acts to limit new schools near freeway
Los Angeles Times, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2008
“Making broad pronouncements about the need to protect the health of children in their care, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday restricted the district's ability to build schools near freeways and other sources of air pollution…”
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-freeways23
jan23,1,4177407.story
“Thomas” toymaker settles suit over lead for $30M
“The maker of Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toys has agreed to a $30 million class-action settlement stemming from last year's recalls, the first in what's expected to be a wave of settlements related to millions of toys recalled because of lead paint…”
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/regulation/2008-01-22-thomas-
tank-lawsuit_N.htm
Chinese toys: No fun and games
The Economist, Thursday, Jan 10, 2008
Article discusses Hong Kong toy fair and the concerns of businesses.
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10498655
International News
Toxic devils prompt health review
The Australian (Australia), Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
“Public health authorities will examine whether there are implications for people from the discovery of toxic flame-retardant chemicals in the fatty tissue of Tasmanian devils…”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23094394-30417,00.html
Some immigrant children fed led, mercury
The Star (Canada), Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
An alarming number of Toronto-area children are being given traditional remedies containing lead and other heavy metal toxins, a leading Hospital for Sick Children poison expert said yesterday. Dr. Gideon Koren, head of the hospital's Motherisk program, said many children of immigrant families are being fed remedies imported from their parents' homelands that contain high levels of both lead and mercury…”
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/296591
Articles were researched and compiled by Diane Sherman, MNCEH Intern.
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