Healthy World Watch July 18, 2008

Friday, July 18, 2008
Posted by Janelle Sorensen

While the federal government drags its feet on chemical regulation and manufacturers and health groups continue to spar on human safety, Wal-Mart has suddenly emerged as the new FDA. Good news for Arctic animals who are finally experiencing a decline in their toxic body burden, but US kids are still at risk from coal, food coloring, and living near busy streets. In the end, global warming may be our biggest health threat.

• Surprise, surprise, the US is Lax on Chemicals.  Thank goodness international trade is forcing manufacturers to assess safety according to the stronger EU rules in order to be able to continue selling there.  Will they sell us the good stuff, too?

• The EPA currently tests drinking water for 90 contaminants. After reviewing 7,500 other contaminants, they have identified the worst 129 things that they’d like to test your water for.  These include pharmaceuticals and chemicals used in cosmetics, perfumes, automotive coolants and pesticides.  The list also covers explosives such as TNT, and rocket propellants that fuel the space shuttle such as perchlorate.

• Chemical companies and health groups spar on human safety as Congress continues to review an amendment to ban phthalates from certain products. The situation has been deadlocked since last December.

• Wal-Mart has emerged as the new FDA in response to consumer concerns over BPA in plastic. It’s a new trend in public health: instead of waiting for public agencies to decree what’s safe and what’s not, people shop with caution in mind and the market follows diligently after.

• After decades of concern about southern pollutants poisoning traditional foods that northern aboriginals depend on, a new government study suggests levels of toxic chemicals in a wide range of animals across the Arctic are finally dropping.

• Children born after the closure of a coal-burning plant in China had 60 percent fewer developmental problems, a study released Monday suggests, giving ammunition to those arguing the country should embrace cleaner sources of energy.

• Living near a busy street increases allergies. In a study led by Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, a German research group has found that increased exposure to traffic-related air pollution leads to allergic diseases in kids.

• Peanuts and pregnancy prove to be unlikely foes. Mothers-to-be who eat nuts every day may increase their child's risk of developing asthma by 50%, claim Dutch researchers.

• New research indicates synthetic dyes can disrupt some children's behavior, and activists and consumer groups are asking for bans or limits on the dyes. A prestigious British medical journal recommended that doctors use dye-free diets as a first-line treatment for some behavior disorders; British regulators are pressuring companies to stop using the dyes, and some are complying. The issue has generated much less attention on this side of the Atlantic.

• Climate change will pose "substantial" threats to human health in the coming decades, the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday -- issuing its warnings about heat waves, hurricanes and pathogens just days after the agency declined to regulate the pollutants blamed for warming.