WASHINGTON, DC, June 17, 2009 (ENS) - The first public health emergency ever declared by the U.S. EPA exists at the Libby asbestos site in northwest Montana, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced today. Vermiculite contaminated with asbestos was mined in Libby until 1990. Hundreds of asbestos-related disease cases have been documented in this small community, which covers the towns of Libby and Troy.
Hormone-like chemicals in plastics, pesticides and other products pose "significant concern for public health," possibly causing infertility, cancer and malformations, a medical society announced Wednesday.
It's lunchtime in a North Side high school, and the cafeteria lines snake into the hall. One line leads to fish nuggets, iceberg lettuce and canned peaches. Another is for burgers and breaded chicken patty sandwiches.
But the longest line leads to lunch workers grabbing paper dishes full of yellow corn chips, topping them with a ball of ground meat and then smothering the ensemble in hot orange cheese product.
BEREGA, Tanzania - A handwritten ledger at the hospital tells a grim story. For the month of January, 17 of the 31 minor surgical procedures here were done to repair the results of "incomplete abortions." A few may have been miscarriages, but most were botched operations by untrained, clumsy hands.
ATLANTA - When Seema Shrikhande goes to work, she drives. When she takes her son to school, they drive. And when she goes shopping, to the bank or to visit friends, she gets into her car, buckles up and hits the road.
Driving is a way of life for Americans but researchers say the national habit of driving everywhere is bad for health.
The more you drive, the less you walk. Walking provides exercise without really trying.
Ideally, people should take 10,000 steps a day to maintain wellness, according to James Hill, professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado.
LOS ANGELES - School cafeteria meals like low-fat pizzas with whole grain crust don't taste too bad to Paola Villatoro, a 17-year-old at Downtown Magnet High School in Los Angeles.
"Some of it is pretty good," she said.
But West Adams Preparatory School student Alfredo Segura doesn't like them. "It tastes like prison food," said Segura, 16, as he and other students ate snacks at a fast-food joint near the school.
WASHINGTON - Cigarette companies systematically lied for
decades to hide the dangers of smoking, a U.S. appeals court said on
Friday as it upheld a trial judge's racketeering verdict.
But in a blow to anti-smoking groups, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia also upheld U.S. District Judge Gladys
Kessler's 2006 rejection of plans to force the companies to fund
smoking cessation programs, which could have cost them billions of
dollars.
SHUSHUFINDI, Ecuador - Mention to Anita Ruíz the name of the giant oil company Chevron, and she trembles with rage. At her wooden hut here in the Amazon forest, where oil-project flares illuminate the night sky, she points to a portrait of her youngest son, who died seven years ago of leukemia at age 16.
"We believe the American oilmen created the pollution that killed my son," said Ms. Ruíz, 58, who lives in a clearing where Texaco, the American oil company that Chevron acquired in 2001, once poured oil waste into pits used decades ago for drilling wells.
London's High Court will on Wednesday hear allegations of dirty tricks in the biggest class action ever brought before the British courts.
It arises from the dumping of toxic waste three years ago in Ivory Coast's largest city, Abidjan.
In the aftermath, up to 100,000 people fell sick and 16 died.
The waste belonged to a multi-national oil trading company, Trafigura. In the wake of the incident, 30,000 Abidjanis are suing them for damages.
The City Council's vote Wednesday to make Chicago the first U.S. city to ban bisphenol A in baby bottles and sippy cups is the latest act in a groundswell of public concern about a widely used chemical that has been linked to cancer, diabetes and other ailments.
With retailers and manufacturers already phasing out use of BPA, the unanimous vote is largely symbolic. But it adds the city to a growing list of states and countries moving to eliminate the chemical from household products, especially those made for infants and children.
