Company Pays Government to Challenge Pesticide Research Linked to Parkinson's
In an unusual scenario that raises questions of conflict of interest, a company that conducts research on behalf of the pesticide industry has paid a U.S. government agency to help prove some controversial chemicals are safe. The company, Exponent Inc., based in Menlo Park, Calif., is known for its scientific research on behalf of corporate clients facing product liability concerns. In this case, Exponent is trying to refute research showing that even a small amount of combined exposure to two agricultural chemicals, maneb, a fungicide, and paraquat, an herbicide, can raise the risk of ...
Risky Business: EPA Builds List of Potentially Dangerous Chemicals
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- As the rates of learning disabilities, autism and related conditions rise, the Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to release a roster of the pollutants likely to contribute to these or other neurological disorders. In an ongoing, three-year effort, an EPA team has determined which developmental neurotoxicants -- chemicals that damage a fetal and infant brain -- may pose the biggest risk to the American public. Some compounds on the EPA's list are ubiquitous in household products, drinking water, medicine, and within the environment. They range from ...
EPA's List of Suspect Chemicals (Abridged)
This list is adapted from an EPA poster presentation of chemicals with the strongest evidence of developmental neurotoxicity that the agency plans to finish and release next year. We omitted some medications and drugs like LSD and cocaine and caffeine. EPA also has a second list of chemicals, with lesser evidence of developmental neurotoxicity, which includes many common pollutants such as formaldehyde, malathion, dichloromethane (methylene chloride) and atrazine. 2-ethoxyethyl Acetate – a solvent, used as a coating for wood, metal and other materials; sometimes found in ...
Salinas, California: The Salad Bowl of Pesticides
SALINAS VALLEY, Calif. – Locals call this place the world's salad bowl. Dole, Naturipe and Fresh Express are here, where much of the global fruit and vegetable trade emerges in neat green fields just over the hills from the Pacific Coast. The difficulties facing migrant workers who plant and pick the crops is an old story. But in Salinas, a new story is emerging -- one with serious implications for the rest of the country and with an ending that has yet to be written. It is here that University of California, Berkeley public health professor Brenda Eskenazi and her colleagues have ...
Research Suggests Chemicals That Hurt Lab Rats May Also Hurt Us
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- They won't sit on a couch and confide their escapades to a therapist, but researchers have devised other means to detect when rats are behaving badly. A battery of laboratory tests can measure rats' hyperactivity, poor impulse control, cognitive difficulties and other impaired aspects of what researchers call executive function. At the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois, scientists study the effects of chemical pollutants on Long Evans rats, a furry, black-and-white breed. They then correlate their findings with parallel studies done on ...
Red-Flagged Chemicals and You: A Glossary of Terms
BPA: Bisphenol A is a chemical widely used in consumer goods, among them: the linings of most cans used for many foods and drinks; products made from polycarbonate plastics, which include water bottles, baby bottles and dental sealants. It is under review by FDA and subject to an EPA "Action Plan." Congressional moves to ban or restrict it have so far been unsuccessful. Formaldehyde: This chemical is used in glues and adhesives, as a preservative in some paints and coating products, and even to make fabrics wrinkle-resistant. But according to EPA, "the most significant sources of formaldehyde ...
Chemical 'Warfare': Who's Who and What's at Stake
Chemical industry resistance and campaign pressures from the upcoming election combined to kill reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act this year, but it is expected be reintroduced early in 2011. It will face the same legion of lobbyists from many sectors of U.S. Commerce. Major Trade Groups and Businesses Working on This Issue: American Chemistry Council, American Cleaning Institute, BASF, Consumer Specialty Products Association, CropLife America, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Grocery Manufacturers of America, The National Association of Manufacturers, Personal Care Products Council, Procter & ...
Reform of Toxic Chemicals Law Collapses as Industry Flexes Its Muscles
This article by investigative journalist Sheila Kaplan is the first in a series supported by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University's School of Communication. Politics Daily will publish the remaining installments in the weeks to come. Fire retardants in baby blankets, nano-particles in cosmetics, plastics in water bottles and anti-bacterial agents in soaps. Experts call these and other chemicals emerging contaminants -- compounds that were once thought to be safe, but which scientists now believe may pose a danger to human health. How those chemicals get into your ...
Time to Get Out of the Pool? Contaminants May Lead to Bladder Cancer, Study Says
Swimming -- an exercise that improves your health -- may also have a downside. A new study suggests that swimming in indoor chlorinated pools may lead to bladder cancer. The study, just published online in Environmental Health Perspectives, a highly-regarded, peer-reviewed government journal, found that people who swam just 40 minutes a day were exposed to sufficient levels of disinfection by-products (DBPs) to cause damage to the DNA that may develop into cancer. People with a type of gene found in one quarter of the population were most vulnerable. "Nobody should stop swimming because of ...
Toxic Sand: Another Enemy in Afghanistan?
American forces in Afghanistan, who already face roadside bombs and insurgent attacks, may be dealing with an environmental enemy as well -- toxic sand that can damage their brains, according to a recent Navy study. In a presentation at a neurotoxicology conference in Portland, Ore., earlier this month, Palur G. Gunasekar, a senior scientist with the Navy Environmental Health Effects Laboratory, said that dust kicked up in sandstorms contains manganese and other metals. "The sand is a risk factor for inducing neurotoxicity," Gunasekar said. Compounds that are neurotoxic are those that damage ...
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