The Weekly Toxic Times
From the Michigan Network for Children's Environmental HealthNews 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
Articles were researched and compiled by Diane Sherman, MNCEH Intern.
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