Studies and news reports that expand the scope of Environment & Human Health, Inc.'s (EHHI) research reports about health and the environment.
Bisphenol-A (BPA) is widely used in epoxy resins lining food and beverage containers. In a new study of 1,455 U.S. adults, published by a British team of scientiststs in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the more BPA in their urine, the higher their rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. They also found a link suggesting that the chemical alters liver function. Click here for full story.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a bill into law that prohibits the sale of bottles and cups that contain BPA, which is found in many plastics and in canned food coatings. Sippy cups and baby bottles containing a chemical suspected of being harmful will be banned in Minnesota starting Jan. 1, 2010. Click here for story.
Canada tells baby-product manufacturers to remove bisphenol A from baby bottles, declaring the chemical hazardous to human health. Click here for news story.
Health Canada tests found that three-quarters of soft plastic toys and items for young children for sale in Canada contained toxic chemical additives known to cause reproductive harm in children, despite a decade-old voluntary ban in North America. Toys and children's products with added phthalates have been banned by the European Union since 1999, and will soon be banned in the United States. Click here for full story.
Attorneys General from Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey are asking the manufacturers of baby bottles to produce them without using bisphenol-A (BPA). EHHI's June report on the harmful effects of phthalates and bisphenol-A recommended that (1) states ban the sale of baby bottles containing BPA; and (2) urged the federal government to ban both phthalates and BPA in all plastic products specifically intended for use by children under the age of three. In August 2008, the federal government banned the use of phthalates in products targeted to children under age three. Now Delaware and New Jersey have joined Connecticut's Attorney General in calling on manufacturers to stop using BPA in baby bottles and formula containers. Click here for news story.
Connecticut joined a growing number of state and local governments banning the sale of plastic baby bottles, food containers and cups containing bisphenol-A (BPA). Connecticut's new law will take effect Oct. 1, 2011. Click here for story.
Researchers worry that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may be linked to subtle, gender-specific alterations in children's behavior. Neurobehavioral risks during early development are the subject of the long-term Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) study at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. More than 99 percent of pregnant women tested positive for BPA, an estrogen-mimicking chemical, at least once during pregnancy. The study showed that girls whose mothers had the highest levels of BPA early in pregnancy tended to become more aggressive than normal, while boys became more anxious and withdrawn. Click here for story.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says the chemical industry used "confusion and concealment" and possibly violated Connecticut law in its unsuccessful attempt to kill legislation banning the use of bisphenol-A in baby bottles and infant food jars. Click here for story.
U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) criticized the Food and Drug Administation for ignoring the risks associated with bisphenol A, widely used in plastic food containers and cans. Environmentalists are pushing to ban the chemical, which may be especially hazardous for children and pregnant women. Click here for full story.
Each year, 290 million scrap tires are generated in the United States, according to 2003 statistics from the Rubber Manufacturers Association. One reason people are having so much trouble protecting children from scrap tire exposures is because our very own government (in the form of the EPA) is promoting the recycling of scrap tires for use in gardens and in places where our children play. This is really serious because it is the EPA that is meant to be protecting the environment and our health. Click here for EPA website.
Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, professor of pediatrics and director of the Children's Environmental Health Center at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine, outlines health risks posed by artificial turf athletic fields. Dr. Landrigan urges citizens and school boards to put off installing synthetic turf until a credible independent study has been conducted and published. Click here for OpEd.
Environment and Human Health Inc. (EHHI) comments on a new synthetic turf study released in May 2009. The New York Synthetic Turf Study tested two fields, and concluded that the "levels of chemicals in air at the Thomas Jefferson and John Mullaly Fields do not raise a concern for non-cancer or cancer health effects for people who use or visit the fields." Based on this conclusion, press releases have declared synthetic turf fields with crumb rubber to be safe. Click here for EHHI's response to the study.
Environment and Human Health Inc. (EHHI) remains concerned about the health effects of ground-up rubber tires that are being used both for children's playgrounds and as the in-fill on synthetic turf fields. In some states, used tires are considered a "hazardous" waste, and in other states they are considered a "special" waste. The Kentucky Post reports that the State of Kentucky is accepting grant proposals for projects that promote the use of recycled waste tires for athletic fields, playgrounds, and other crumb rubber or mulch applications. Although recycling is a good thing, certain materials should never be recycled. Click here for OpEd.
The herbicide, apparently carried by wind and rain, is turning up far from farm country, in pristine lakes in northern Minnesota. One of the most widely applied herbicides in North America, atrazine is used mainly to control weeds in cornfields. Click here for full story.
Alberta announced a ban on herbicide-fertilizer combination products. Known most commonly as weed and feed, the products contain a chemical called 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) that is "highly mobile" when it runs off lawns into storm drainage systems and subsequently drains into creeks and rivers. Click here for full story.
.A study published online in the journal Biology of Reproduction showed that atrazine affects the female reproductive system in rats. A common herbicide used extensively on crops to control unwanted weeds, atrazine disrupts the cascade of hormone signals needed to initiate ovulation in the rat brain. Click here for news story
The Boston Globe says a new study found that African-Americans born in this country are nearly three times more likely to have asthma than their black neighbors born abroad. The results of this study appear in the November edition of the Journal of Asthma. Click here for abstract.
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News items are not independently verified by EHHI and inclusion on this site does not constitute an endorsement.
