toxics
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Time to end the insane practice of lacing chicken feed with arsenic
As a jaded observer of the meat industry, even I’m flummoxed by this fact: It’s standard practice on factory chicken farms to dose those unfortunate birds with arsenic. The idea is that it makes them grow faster — fast growth being the supreme goal of factory animal farming — and helps control a common intestinal […]
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NY Times on natural gas fracking:
The New York Times has a multi-bombshell piece on natural gas fracking, “Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers.” CP has done a great many pieces on the potential benefits of fracking — and the potential dangers (see “Getting to the bottom of natural gas fracking and links below). But while unconventional natural […]
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Why it’s hard to make polluters pay for their own messes
Scoffing at the idea of externalities is a lot easier when wearing a gas mask.Industrial boilers and incinerators currently receive an enormous public subsidy. They emit toxic air pollutants like mercury, cadmium, and acid gases, which even in extremely small amounts cause a range of health maladies from asthma to heart attacks to premature death, […]
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Beware, moms-to-be: Insecticides could make your kids dumber
No raid for you.Photo: Dhini van HeerenStop huffing the Raid, moms: In other “sh*t that makes kids dumber” news, toddlers’ brains developed more slowly if their mothers inhaled a lot of a common insecticide ingredient while pregnant, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. Reuters explains: On average, women breathing the highest […]
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Is EPA running scared from the incoming Republican Congress?
I've been worrying aloud on the blog that the Obama administration doesn't seem to be doing much to prepare for the relentless assault on EPA that's already underway, not only on its coming greenhouse gas regulations but on its entire agenda. Instead, the agency looks to be backing down.
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Ask Umbra on parabens in processed foods and personal lubricant
A reader gets hot and bothered looking for a paraben-free lube. Ask Umbra explores the perils of parabens and the everyday products they're in!
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Ask Umbra on how to repair a broken electric toothbrush and other gadgets
Ask Umbra brushes off her handy tools for fixing gadgets -- like a reader's broken Sonicare toothbrush.
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Ask Umbra addresses environmental links to breast cancer
Breast Cancer Awareness Month may be over now, but that doesn't keep a reader from worrying that he's a boob for not knowing more about the connection between breast cancer and environmental factors. Ask Umbra gets a lot of useful information off her chest about what chemicals to avoid and how to take a stand for toxic chemicals reform. Read this and your cup of knowledge shall run over.
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Flying over the tar sands
More earth is being scraped, dug, blasted, and plowed in northern Alberta than anywhere else on Earth. Here's what it looks like up close.
