toxics
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A guide to non-toxic pest control
You know how it goes: you’re in your kitchen, happily chopping veggies for that night’s meal, when an ant comes wandering by to check out the menu. Or you turn on the light in the bathroom and spot a silverfish scuttling away. Or you finally lie down for a well deserved rest, only to be […]
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California is new front line of BPA fight
The following is a guest post submitted by Elisa Odabashian, Director, West Coast Office and State Campaigns, and Dr. Urvashi Rangan, Director of Technical Policy, Consumers Union. It’s the stuff of a good Hollywood movie-a potentially toxic chemical lurking in the bodies of most unwitting Americans; a decade of mounting but scuttled scientific evidence; government […]
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EPA chief Lisa Jackson on mountaintop removal, climate legislation, toxics, and more
In a wide-ranging interview with Grist, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson hit on a number of hot-button topics. Here are highlights in video and text. (For more, read the full Q & A.) On mountaintop-removal mining: [T]he current state of the law and regs doesn’t allow us to just change the law and the regs to […]
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Goodbye to Cancer Valley: In remembrance of my friend John Soley
John SoleyAfter a long struggle with cancer, my friend Mr. John Soley died at his home in Carbon County, Pa. on Saturday, June 20. He was only 62, which is too young to die of natural causes. But then, neither John nor I believe he got sick from natural causes. We believe he and many […]
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Ask Umbra on rinse aids
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dearest Umbra, While pleased as pie to have a new super-efficient dishwasher, I remain curious as to the chemical composition of the required rinse aid. This dishwasher relies on a hot water rinse and its stainless steel tub to somehow dry the dishes — there is no energy-sucking, plastic-melting […]
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Do dirty coal plants make us more vulnerable to swine flu?
Scientists have discovered that exposure to a common pollutant may make people more likely to experience severe symptoms from swine flu — and it’s a pollutant emitted in large quantities by coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities. The culprit is arsenic, a highly poisonous semi-metal which, according to a new study by researchers at […]
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KBR, Halliburton sued over war-zone’s toxic burn pits
Confronted with the need to dispose of enormous quantities of war-related trash including batteries, pesticide containers, medical waste and even human body parts, but lacking proper incinerators, private contractors working for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan came up with a simple solution. They burned the trash in big, open pits. But now soldiers, […]
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Industry defends federal loophole for drilling before packed Congressional hearing
Abrahm Lustgarten / ProPublica ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten reports: In a packed and sometimes contentious hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, representatives of the oil and gas industry and their state regulators vigorously defended the practice of injecting toxic fluids underground without federal regulatory oversight. The House Energy and Minerals subcommittee called the hearing to explore the […]
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Have a happy (and green) Memorial Day weekend
Take a bite out of summer.It’s Memorial Day weekend! Say hello to the long, hot days of summer and goodbye to all the rest. However you celebrate this seasonal turning point, we’ve got advice for making it just a bit greener. First, we hoist the flag with Umbra, who tells us how to be proud […]
