4kviewsDid you get a drink or throw in a load of laundry before starting to read this blog? You probably could have, given the easy access most of us who live in developed countries have to clean water. One person of every three on the planet today isn’t nearly so fortunate, according to the International Water Management […]
Investigative journalist Nena Baker is the author of The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being (North Point Press/Farrar, Straus and Giroux). I first met Nena when we both spoke at the Women, Health & Environment Conference sponsored by the Heinz Endowment in 2008. Since then, I’ve been a fan […]
Part 2 – by Nena Baker, author, The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being (North Point Press/Farrar, Straus and Giroux “Thirty years ago, about the time that PBDEs were introduced, veterinarians began noticing an uptick in feline hyperthyroidism, the most common endocrine disorder in cats. It causes […]
In 1974, an environmental scandal rocked my world. I and millions of other people living in the state of Michigan were informed that the milk we’d been drinking had come from cows that had accidentally been fed fire retardant instead of cow feed. I don’t remember how much milk we’d all drunk before the mistake was discovered. […]
Toxic chemicals keep turning up in lipstick. Previously, I reported on dangerous lead levels in lipstick. Now, according to research done in Canada, two other chemicals used in lipstick and other personal care products pose a significant threat to human health. The chemicals, known as D4 and D5 siloxanes, have been linked to uterine tumors and […]
Thinking about buying some handy ‘germ fighting’ dish soap or bathroom cleanser? Think again. In all likelihood, those cleaners contain triclosan, a toxic pesticide that’s marketed as an “antibacterial agent” but is powerful enough to threaten children’s health and pollute mothers’ breast milk. According to a study by researchers at the non-profit Environmental Working Group […]
My cat Midnight has been suffering the last few years from an over-active thyroid. The vet could never tell me what might have caused her condition. A new study suggests that pets like mine and maybe yours are being contaminated with high levels of some of the same synthetic industrial chemicals that researchers have found […]
With climate change on the upswing and even dogs needing to worry about exposure to toxic chemicals, I’ve come up with five things I’d ask Mother Nature for this Earth Day 2008 if I believed wishes really came true. * President Bush signs a bill that will cut U.S. greenhouse gases 50% – starting tomorrow. […]
