public health
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Fukushima workers prepared to die; don’t even know how much radiation they’ve been exposed to
A piece in today's Guardian reveals that TEPCO, the utility responsible for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactors, did not until very recently have enough dosimeters for all of the employees who are working to stop an even worse catastrophe at the plant. Normally, dosimeters would be worn at all times in order to measure cumulative exposure […]
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ADHD: It’s the food, stupid
Over 5 million children ages four to 17 have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the United States, and close to 3 million of those children take medication for their symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But a new study reported in The Lancet last month found that with a […]
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Pedaling away from the health care crisis
This is the third column in a series focusing on the economics of bicycling. In the United States, we have the most expensive health care system in the world. We collectively invest more than 15 percent of our GDP — that’s around $2 trillion, or $5,700 per person — into health care every year. The […]
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Congress is making ignoring science a habit
In a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee climate hearing, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) jokingly asked if some of his fellow colleagues were going to overturn the law of gravity, “sending us floating about the room.” It seems funny until you realize that it’s in response to a disturbing trend in Congress of misusing, manipulating, […]
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A little background on the EPA’s new mercury and air toxics rule
Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Today, the EPA announced the most important actions to clean up air pollution from dirty coal-burning power plants since the Clean Air Act was last updated in 1990. EPA’s proposed mercury and air toxics standards for power plants that burn coal and oil are projected to save as […]
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Hexavalent chromium pollution linked to coal ash disposal
The landmark $333 million court settlement that propelled legal researcher Erin Brockovich to environmental stardom involved the contamination of a California town’s groundwater with hexavalent chromium, a toxic compound known to cause cancer. Now the same dangerous heavy metal, usually associated with steel manufacturing and metal plating, has been discovered seeping from coal ash disposal […]
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Senators support polluters over asthmatic children
National health organizations are not scoffing at the link between pollution and asthma.Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. As my colleague David Doniger explained, there’s a new pollution promoter on the scene, and his name is Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). Barrasso has introduced a bill (S. 228) that would allow unlimited carbon dioxide pollution […]
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Don't fear riding a bicycle, fear sitting in that chair
We know that bicycling is good for public health. But what about YOUR personal health and safety?
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Don’t fear riding a bicycle, fear sitting in that chair
We know that bicycling is good for public health. But what about YOUR personal health and safety?