Martin Mittelstaedt Environment Reporter
From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail Monday, Jul. 06, 2009
Most people don’t worry about what’s in food packaging, but the cans, boxes and bottles used as containers for everything from pop to microwave popcorn are an underappreciated route of exposure to synthetic compounds able to disrupt normal hormone functions, [...]
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By Karen Kaplan
8:23 PM PDT, July 9, 2009
For a country in which roughly 200 million people are overweight or obese, scientists today have discouraging news: Even those who maintain a healthy weight probably should be eating less.
Evidence has been mounting for years that the practice of caloric restriction — essentially, going [...]
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July 13, 2009
BY MONIFA THOMAS Health Reporter/mjthomas@suntimes.com
Exposure to Bisphenol A, a chemical widely used in plastics, may impair the growth and function of female reproductive cells in mice, a new study from the University of Illinois has found.
Previous lab tests in animals have linked BPA to adverse effects in fetuses [...]
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Synopsis by Michele A. La Merrill, Ph.D. and Wendy Hessler
Women in menopause are more prone to the BPA-associated health effects of inflammation and oxidative stress than either men or women who are still menstruating, finds this study of Korean adults. This is the first time BPA has been linked to these [...]
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Indoor Air Pollution Can Kill
The most widely quoted statistic about air quality is this: The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that indoor air can be two- to five-times more polluted than the air outdoors. And while the EPA is responsible for cracking down on outdoor pollution — the smog, ozone and other [...]
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By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Published: 7:00AM BST 14 Jul 2009
Researchers believe that the chemical could act as a “trigger” to people already prone to develop the disease.
They hope that testing for the pesticide in the blood could someday identify patients at risk of developing the devastating neurological condition.
Around 120,000 people in Britain [...]
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By Michael Hawthorne Tribune reporter
July 14, 2009
Annual water quality reports mailed to Chicagoans this month didn’t say a word about sex hormones, painkillers or anti-cholesterol drugs, even though city officials found traces of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated substances in treated Lake Michigan water during the past year.Mayor Richard Daley is [...]
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Synopsis by Jonathan Chevrier, Ph.D.
Researchers report that a woman’s DDE exposure during early pregnancy is associated with altered thyroid hormone levels, a condition that could affect fetal brain development.
Pregnant women with higher blood levels of a long-lived pesticide residue were more likely to have skewed thyroid hormone levels, finds [...]
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So, why could fish be at risk from algae blooms? As the extra population of plant and algae material dies, more bacteria are required for decomposition. During this process, the bacteria take precious oxygen away from the water. Consequently, fish and other marine life suffocate and can die from the [...]
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No matter what profession your college career is geared toward — whether it is a stepping stone to more schooling or a final step to landing your dream job — all college students have one thing in common: a desire to be happy and successful in life.
Most everyone, college student or [...]
