health

Water problem? What water problem?

There’s no water problem. Dean Kamen solved it: More details here.

700 college students and the Clinton Global Initiative in New Orleans for spring break

Commitments to start social-change initiatives and spirited discussions of global issues -- these aren't typical results of 700 college students heading to New Orleans during spring break season. But last weekend, students from a diverse group of colleges, several dozen university presidents, and prominent social change agents -- not to mention Bill Clinton -- spent a day and a half on Tulane University's campus for Clinton Global Initiative University (with a cameo by Brad Pitt).

Trying to live-blog an event while you're also trying to finish your senior thesis -- not a good idea. Nonetheless, a belated report from the Clinton Global Initiative's new youth event:

New study: Ordinary soot second biggest driver of climate change

After carbon dioxide, the second largest contributor to global warming is ordinary soot, according to new research published Sunday in Nature Geoscience. So-called "black carbon" has up to 60 percent the warming effects of the more oft-noted culprit CO2. The implication is fairly radical: Quickly reducing soot could have substantial short-term effects on the rate […]

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria thrives in CAFO pork, and Wall Street gobbles up Big Meat shares

In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat industry. Back in December, Michael Pollan wrote a important article about the antibiotic resistant bacteria MSRA, which Pollan decsribed like this: … the very scary antibiotic-resistant strain of Staphylococcus bacteria that is now killing more Americans each year than AIDS — 100,000 infections […]

Umbra on burning paper

Dear Umbra, We heat our house primarily by wood, in an efficient, EPA-rated woodstove. My question is this: We recycle all of our paper, paperboard, cardboard, etc., but would it be better to burn it? As it is, we drive it to the recycle center, they ship it off somewhere, it is then processed, then […]

Conventional milk contains toxics, says the USDA

The Organic Center acts as a kind of shadow USDA, digesting the latest peer-reviewed research on organic food, translating it into English, and issuing summary reports. Consumers won’t want to miss the center’s newest one on pesticide residues [PDF]. It contains one of those handy guides on which conventional fruits and veggies convey the most […]

Umbra on tap water

Umbra, I was wondering where the H2O from the tap comes from, and where it goes to. Beth Swarthmore, Pa. Dearest Beth, It comes from and goes back to the water cycle, which I’ve been reading a lot about in Richard Scarry’s classic work What Do People Do All Day? The book answers the “where […]

EPA versus the antimicrobial keychain

The EPA is deciding whether to class an antimicrobial keychain as a pesticide, according to an article in the New York Times.

The product, called the handler, is basically a small, plastic pirate's claw impregnated with nanoscale silver particles. The particles prevent bacteria from getting a foothold on the hook. Have to go to the ATM and come into contact with filthy keys that other flu-ridden people have pawed? No problem, just pull out your hook.

Not so fast!

Apparently, the EPA thinks that, because of those pesky silver particles, the product may be considered a pesticide according to a 1947 law:

Public health pitted against polluter pressure

The EPA is about to decide if national health standards for smog should be made tougher. What's at stake is the quality of the air we breathe.

The EPA's independent science advisers unanimously think the standards should be made tougher. So do the EPA's career experts. So do lung doctors and many other medical groups. But big polluters are putting on a smog squeeze. They want the White House to keep the existing standards. And they are urging the Bush administration to break the law by considering costs (code for politics) instead of science.

The EPA is under a court order to make a decision by March 12.

Spokespeople from the American Lung Association, Clean Air Watch, Environmental Defense Fund, and the National Association of Clean Air Agencies are planning a briefing Thursday, March 6, at 12:00 p.m. EST.

Call-in Information: 1-888-206-2266

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