Exposure to the pesticide chlorpyrifos has been linked to brain damage in infants and children. California banned it earlier this year, and last August a federal court ordered EPA to ban the chemical. EPA announced last week that it would not ban the pesticide, citing insufficient data. <Read more>
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Category: News Archive
Two thirds of the continental United States is facing a heat wave this weekend, with temperatures predicted to rise into the high 90s, but to feel much, much hotter. While it’s easy to dismiss the implications of extreme weather, heat waves can be incredibly dangerous, especially for low income Americans. The documentary “Cooked” covers an extreme heat wave in Chicago in 1995, where high temperatures and mismanagement by the city lead to the deaths of over 700 people. <Read more>
This weekend, remember to take care of your health!
As the Huffington Post Reports, according to recent data from the EPA, the amount of unhealthy air days in major cities across the US have increased in the past two years, even though polluting air emissions have decreased overall. <Read more>
Recent studies have unveiled the potential long term effect of toxics spread by natural disasters. Evidence shows that in areas where homes were destroyed by wildfires in California there was a higher incidence of toxic chemicals than in areas without homes. Hurricane Maria has been found to cause the spread of PCB contamination throughout Puerto Rico. In a world where toxic chemicals are often common household items, stronger storms have the ability to cause long term contamination. <Read more>
Currently, the action standard for lead for New York schools is 15 ppb— but research from the NRDC suggests that this is too high, as no level of lead intake is safe for children. They propose lowering New York’s lead action standard in schools to 1 ppb, in order to protect children from the affects of lead poisoning. <Read more>
A mining company involved in the Bonita Peak Mining District Site by the Animas River in Colorado is rejecting EPA’s order to participate in the clean up of the area. The Superfund Site in question is made up of several inactive mines that have been leaching waste into the nearby Animas River. The site was first established in 2015, when EPA inadvertently triggered a spill from Gold King mine, contaminating river systems with 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater.
Sunnyside Gold Corp, the company EPA initially ordered to conduct a groundwater assessment of the area, is now refusing to take action to clean up the area, saying that they are not responsible for the polluting spills. EPA said they would review the company’s leader before taking further action. <Read more>
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PFAS are toxic chemicals that are used commonly in packaging and other household products. They tend to accumulate in the environment rather than break down, so PFAS contamination is common in water systems throughout the US. This is particularly dangerous because PFAS consumption has been linked to increased risk of cancer.
Last month, PFAS containing foam spilled into the Farmington River in Connecticut, near Windsor. Residents were upset and concerned about the implications of the contamination for their water systems.
One of the most common uses of PFAS is in the foam firefighters use in order to put out fires. While there are alternatives products, firefighters are currently required to use PFAS foam in their trucks. The spill in question was caused by a firefighting hangar at Bradley International Airport dumping foam into the river. <Read more>
This past month, Philadelphia was rocked by a massive refinery explosion that released smoke and toxic chemicals into the sky. The explosion occurred at 4am and was visible throughout the city, and residents were warned to shelter in place until the fire was more contained.
Luckily, reports indicate that no one was killed, but five workers were injured in the explosion. The refinery in question, Philadelphia Energy Solutions, has been responsible in the past for 72% of Philadelphia’s toxic emissions. After this explosion, the refinery will close.
However, the explosion was nearly deadly, as the fires could have moved to burn tanks containing Hydrogen Fluoride, an incredibly dangerous chemical that can be lethal even if inhaled in small doses. Hydrogen Fluoride is a commonly used in oil refineries across the US, and these refineries commonly burn— like the Husky Superior Refinery in the Twin Ports area of Wisconsin in April of last year. In the Husky Refinery explosion, the HF tanks were about 200 feet away from the fires and narrowly missed being hit by debris. If the HF tanks had been detonated in the Philadelphia Refinery explosion, hundreds of thousands of people’s lives would have been at risk.
While the Philadelphia refinery is closing, the Twin Ports Refinery is not, nor are many HF using refineries across the United States. Even though many citizens have demanded that these refineries remove the chemical from there practice, it is not currently banned in the United States. Why, then, are oil companies continuing to risk disaster? <Read More>
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Last Monday, Keurig Dr. Pepper announced they would be pulling their bottled water brand Peñafiel from the shelves, as a report found the arsenic levels in their water to be non compliant with FDA bottled water standards.
One of the reports in question, by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), found both Peñafiel and Starkey bottled water to contain high levels of arsenic. Peñafiel is sold at Target and Walmart, and Starkey is sold at Whole Foods.
Arsenic in water bottles may be more common of a problem than we think: a study conducted last April found 11/130 bottled water brands sold have detectable levels of arsenic. <Read more>
As Laura M. Holson from the New York Times reports, as climate change dialogue is increasing across the country, be it through realistic portrayals or fictionalized Hollywood movies, children are increasingly nervous about the prospect of impending disaster. Children, especially, are feeling the impacts of our overall anxiety about climate change because much of the messaging is directed at them, explaining how our children are the ones that will feel the worst impacts of our warming planet.
As climate change becomes a very real issue weighing on our kids’ minds, here are some ways to explore the topic to help our kids feel as though they have agency over their futures. <Read more>
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