The Weekly Toxic Times

From the Michigan Network for Children's Environmental Health

News highlights from February 23 – February 29, 2008

A recap of the top stories on toxins in Michigan and National news.

Michigan News

 

State is out of money to clean up remaining toxic sites

Detroit Free Press, Sunday, Feb 24, 2008

“With a bond program that has provided up to $100 million a year to clean up hundreds of toxic sites across Michigan out of cash, the state's top environmental official says he wants voters this fall to approve a replacement…”

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080224/NEWS05/802240681

 

Con: More leachate testing is needed

Traverse City Record-Eagle, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2008

Article by the Executive Director of the Three Lakes Association, also a former professor in nuclear fusion at Princeton, about the organization’s concerns regarding the plan to inject leachate from Bay Harbor cement kiln dust into rocks beneath Alba in Antrim County.

http://www.record-eagle.com/opinion/local_story_054094621.html

 

Tests divide Dow, state

Saginaw News, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008

Article discusses Dow’s filing of a petition in the state circuit court against the MDEQ over the state agency’s scope of the work plan for cleaning up Saginaw Bay. Dow claims that the DEQ plan requires Dow to extend cleanup beyond the Bay.

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginawnews/index.ssf?/base/
news-25/1204129936130730.xml&coll=9

National News

 

Fire retardants linked with health problems

CBS 5 (San Francisco), Saturday, Feb. 24, 2008

Informative article discusses exposure to flame retardants from furniture and a proposed state bill to ban three flame retardants. Included in article is the video clip which shows use of an XRF machine.

http://cbs5.com/local/consumer.watch.flame.2.661700.html

 

Outspoken scientist dismissed from panel on chemical safety

Los Angeles Times, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008

“Under pressure from the chemical industry, the Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed an outspoken scientist [Deborah Rice] who chaired a federal panel responsible for helping the agency determine the dangers of a flame retardant widely used in electronic equipment…”

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-epa29feb29,0,6191299.story

 

Legislators consider banning chemical

News Record (North Carolina), Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008

Article briefly discusses PBDEs and indicates that the North Carolina legislature is considering proposing a bill to restrict the use of them.

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20080224/NRSTAFF/25351529

 

Ban sought on chemicals in child products

Pioneer Press (Minnesota), Monday, Feb. 25, 2008

“If Minnesota bans certain plastics chemicals from baby bottles and other children's products this year, it might be the first state to do so. While other states have considered a ban on bisphenol-A (BPA) — which some research has linked to developmental problems in children and reproductive issues — they never passed one into law. San Francisco prohibited BPA from child products in 2006, but the city repealed the ban last year…”

http://www.twincities.com/ci_8363103?nclick_check=1

 

New Jersey joints states seeking to ban toxic chemicals in baby products

Star-Ledger (New Jersey), Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008

Article discusses legislation being proposed in New Jersey that would ban Bisphenol A and phthalates from children’s products.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/02/new_jersey_is_joining_a.html

 

Group seeks pesticide, toy chemical changes

Bemidji Pioneer (Minnesota), Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008

Article discusses the efforts of the Minnesota-based coalition group Healthy Legacy to get three state bills passed, one about notifying homeowners when pesticides are used in nearby fields, one about banning phthalates and Bisphenol A, and one to phase out Deca-BDE.

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/politics/index.cfm?page=article_bureau&id
=41207&legislative_tag=1

 

Toys for a green generation

Financial Times, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008

Article is about development of environmentally-friendly toys.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/371ca4ae-e617-11dc-8398-0000779fd2ac.html

 

Remember DDT

Los Angeles Times, Feb. 16, 2008

Article discusses challenges the EPA faces in trying to ban the pesticide carbofuran.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/
la-ed-pelican16feb16,1,6887344.story

 

Mercury leaks found as new bulbs break

Boston Globe, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008

“Compact fluorescent lamps - those spiral, energy-efficient bulbs popular as a device to combat global warming - can pose a small risk of mercury poisoning to infants, young children, and pregnant women if they break, two reports concluded yesterday. But the reports, issued by the state of Maine and the Vermont-based Mercury Policy Project, urged homeowners to keep using compact fluorescents because their energy-saving benefits far outweigh the risk posed by mercury released from a broken lamp…”

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/26/
mercury_leaks_found_as_new_bulbs_break/

 

Study: Contaminant levels high in parks

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008

“BILLINGS, Mont. – Pesticides, heavy metals and other airborne contaminants are raining down on national parks across the West and Alaska, turning up at sometimes dangerously high levels in lakes, plants and fish. A sweeping, six-year federal study released Tuesday found evidence of 70 contaminants in 20 national parks and monuments…”

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_park_contamination.html

 

Mom’s cleaning products tied to kids’ wheezing

Reuters, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children exposed to cleaning products and other household chemicals before or after birth may be at increased risk of breathing problems, results of a study published Wednesday hint. British researchers found that young children whose mothers frequently used household chemicals during pregnancy were at greater risk of wheezing than their peers…”

http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2008/02/27/eline/links/20080227elin002.html

 

Two articles that debate whether concerns about plastics and toys are supported by research:

Is plastic dangerous?

ABC7 (San Francisco), Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=5984153

Toy concerns center on chemicals, plastics

KTIV (Soix City, IA), Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008

http://www.ktiv.com/News/index.php?ID=22890

 

A poison pill

The Economist, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

Article discusses the controlled study of the ecological effects of adding oestrogen to a Canadian Lake, a chemical not controlled by some water treatment systems.

http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10717945

The following article provides thorough coverage of this study:

Side effects

American Chemical Society’s Chemical and Engineering News, Monday, Feb. 25, 2008

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/86/8608cover.html

 

---

View Archives

Articles were researched and compiled by Diane Sherman, MNCEH Intern.

Subscribe to Toxic Times

Unsubscribe to Toxic Times – send an email to melissa@ecocenter.org with UNSUBSCRIBE TOXIC TIMES in the subject line.