Environmental Health in the News . . .

16 May 2013

Study Shows Consensus on Anthropogenic Climate Change
From: ScienceDaily
A comprehensive analysis of peer-reviewed articles on the topic of global warming and climate change has revealed an overwhelming consensus among scientists that recent warming is human-caused. The study is the most comprehensive yet and identified 4000 summaries, otherwise known as abstracts, from papers published in the past 21 years that stated a position on the cause of recent global warming -- 97 per cent of these endorsed the consensus that we are seeing human-made, or anthropogenic, global warming (AGW) Led by John Cook at the University of Queensland, the study has been published 16 May, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters.

Keeping Produce Fresh Longer
From: Allison Winter, ENN
Billions of dollars of fruits, vegetables, and flowers are thrown away each year as produce ripens too quickly and starts to rot in different markets before public buyers even buy them. Even though you might expect these products to start rotting to their death after they are first harvested, researchers explain that fruits, vegetables and flowers are still alive after they are picked. In fact, once these products are picked, they produce and release into the air ethylene gas, a crucial component for the ripening and blooming process.

9 May 2013

Agriculture and Livestock Remain Major Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
From: Maddy Traynor, Worldwatch Institute
Global greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector totaled 4.69 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent in 2010 (the most recent year for which data are available), an increase of 13 percent over 1990 emissions. By comparison, global CO2 emissions from transport totaled 6.76 billion tons that year, and emissions from electricity and heat production reached 12.48 billion tons, according to Worldwatch Institute’s Vital Signs Online service.

3 May 2013

Concerns grow over effects of solar geoengineering
From: Akshat Rathi, SciDevNet
The latest studies on solar geoengineering to tackle climate change are reinforcing the case for a global governance system and further study before deployment, as they show that the approach may have little effect on preventing rainfall changes in the tropics — and may even lead to widespread drought in Africa. Several geoengineering initiatives plan to tackle climate change by cutting incoming sunlight, through methods such as spreading reflective aerosols in the stratosphere.

Toxic Metals in Lipstick
From: University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health tested 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores. They detected lead, cadmium, chromium, aluminum and five other metals, some of which were found at levels that could raise potential health concerns. Their findings will be published online Thursday, May 2, in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

1 May 2013

Climate Change is Already Affecting the Amazon
From: Editor, MONGABAY.COM
Tribal groups in Earth's largest rainforest are already being affected by shifts wrought by climate change, reports a paper published last week in the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

24 April 2013

Air pollution linked to life-threatening hardening of the arteries
From: ClickGreen Staff
Long-term exposure to air pollution may be linked to heart attacks and strokes by speeding up atherosclerosis, or "hardening of the arteries", according to a University of Michigan public health researcher and colleagues from across the US.

23 April 2013

CO2 Record Highs
From: Andy Soos, ENN
How high can the CO2 concentration in the air go? It is a bit like looking at the stock market except that the CO2 does not go down. For the first time in human history, concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) could rise above 400 parts per million (ppm) for sustained lengths of time throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere as soon as May 2013.

22 April 2013

Gastric Cancer Bacteria Cause
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Numerous epidemiologic studies have shown that a diet high in salt is associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. Now Timothy L. Cover and colleagues of Vanderbilt University show that high dietary salt combined with infection by the ulcer-causing bacterium Helicobacter pylori greatly increases the risk of cancer. The study was published ahead of print in the journal Infection and Immunity.

Be Sure to Eat Some Berries Today!
From: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Adding more color to your diet in the form of berries is encouraged by many nutrition experts. The protective effect of berries against inflammation has been documented in many studies. Diets supplemented with blueberries and strawberries have also been shown to improve behavior and cognitive functions in stressed young rats.

19 April 2013

Aerosols confirmed rising over India
From: T.V. Padma, SciDevNet
While satellite data has shown aerosols — tiny polluting particles in the air — to be rising over India, a new study based on primary data gathered from measuring instruments installed in a network of stations confirms the trend.

16 April 2013

Colleges Recover 90 Million Pounds of Materials During RecycleMania
From: Editor, Justmeans
Recycling rivalries added another level of "madness" to March this year, as 523 schools competed in the RecycleMania Tournament, which harnesses the competitive spirit around sports rivalries and uses them to increase campus recycling and waste reduction.

15 April 2013

Selenium deficiency 'endemic' in Malawi
From: Charles Mkoka, SciDevNet
Low availability of selenium, an essential human micronutrient, in Malawian soils is responsible for its deficiency among the country's population, a study has found.

How Fast is Global Climate Changing
From: Christopher Joyce, NPR
There's plenty of evidence that the climate has warmed up over the past century, and climate scientists know this has happened throughout the history of the planet. But they want to know more about how this warming is different. Now a research team says it has some new answers. It has put together a record of global temperatures going back to the end of the last ice age — about 11,000 years ago — when mammoths and saber-tooth cats roamed the planet. The study confirms that what we're seeing now is unprecedented.

12 April 2013

Global Food Prices Continue to Rise
From: Sophie Wenzlau, Worldwatch Institute
As both climate change and population growth continue to increase, there is reason to believe that food commodity prices will be both higher and more volatile in the decades to come. Continuing a decade-long increase, global food prices rose 2.7 percent in 2012, reaching levels not seen since the 1960s and 1970s but still well below the price spike of 1974. Between 2000 and 2012, the World Bank global food price index increased 104.5 percent, at an average annual rate of 6.5 percent.

10 April 2013

mHealth 'could save a million African lives by 2017'
From: Maina Waruru, SciDevNet
Mobile health (mHealth) applications such as text messages could save more than a million lives in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years, according to a report. The report, produced by consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India, says that mobile phone interventions to ensure patients comply with treatment, medical stock is available and healthcare workers stick to treatment guidelines could save some of the three million lives lost each year across Africa to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria and pregnancy-related conditions.

29 March 2013

Rising up to prepare for sea level rise
From: Nancy Schneider, EarthPeople
Situated among the trees and mountains along the scenic Hudson River, Kingston, New York seems far away from the salty blue waves of the Atlantic. Yet, just 100 miles inland from the World Trade Center, at the southern tip of Manhattan where New York meets the Atlantic, the Tidal Waterfront Flooding Task Force of the Kingston Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) has begun to plan a strategy to manage the inevitable effects of a rising sea. This volunteer advisory board, residents, community advocates, city officials, grassroots organizations, and State experts met with Catalysis Adaptation Partners to determine the impacts of storm surges and Sea Level Rise (SRL) on this

26 March 2013

Majority of US Streams and Rivers are in 'Poor Condition,' says EPA Survey
From: Allison Winter, ENN
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just released the results of a comprehensive survey that looks at the health of thousands of stream and river miles across the country, and frankly the results are not very encouraging.

Urban Greening May Reduce Crime Rates in Cities
From: Allison Winter, ENN
Urban planning is not only important to the strategic design behind a city's infrastructure, but now one study finds that the landscaping itself which emphasizes urban greening and the introduction of well-maintained vegetation, can lower the rates of certain types of crime such as aggravated assault, robbery and burglary, in cities.

Coffee, Starchy Snacks foods may have contamination according to the Technical University of Denmark
From: Technical University of Denmark
Bread, buns and coffee can be dangerous as they might contain the chemical compound acrylamide, which the Technical University of Denmark's (DTU) National Food Institute now links to cancer. EU food safety authorities have been asked to investigate. Acrylamide is a chemical compound that typically forms in starchy food products such as potato crisps, chips, bread, biscuits and coffee, during high-temperature processing (above 120°), including frying, baking and roasting.

25 March 2013

Solar Cell Power Breakthrough
From: University of Copenhagen - Niels Bohr Institute,
Scientists from the Nano-Science Center at the Niels Bohr Institut, Denmark and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, have shown that a single nanowire can concentrate the sunlight up to 15 times of the normal sun light intensity. The results are surprising and the potential for developing a new type of highly efficient solar cells is great.

21 March 2013

US Hazardous Waste Grade: D+
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Where responsible parties cannot be found, the Agency is authorized to clean up sites itself, using a special trust fund. There has been undeniable success in the cleanup of the nation’s hazardous waste and brownfields sites. However, annual funding for Superfund site cleanup is estimated to be as much as $500 million short of what is needed, and 1,280 sites remain on the National Priorities List with an unknown number of potential sites yet to be identified.

The Importance of Aircraft Emission in Climate Change
From: EarthTalk, Global Warming is Real
While air travel today accounts for just three percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, the carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants that come out of jet exhaust contribute disproportionately to increasing surface temperatures below because the warming effect is amplified in the upper atmosphere.

20 March 2013

US Drinking Water: D+!
From: Andy Soos, ENN
How safe is our drinking water? The water system especially in our older cities has been around for a long time being patched and repaired. The American Society of Civil Engineers and its members are committed to protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public, and as such, are equally committed to improving the nation’s public infrastructure. To achieve that goal, they have recently issued a Report Card on the condition and performance of the nation’s infrastructure. They are experts at how it is done and they give the American system a D+! At the dawn of the 21st century, much of our drinking water infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life. There are an estimated 240,000 water main breaks per year in the United States. The quality of drinking water in the United States remains universally high, however. Even though pipes and mains are frequently more than 100 years old and in need of replacement, outbreaks of disease attributable to drinking water are rare.

The Looming Threat of Water Scarcity
From: Maddy Traynor, Worldwatch Institute
Some 1.2 billion people—almost a fifth of the world—live in areas of physical water scarcity, while another 1.6 billion face what can be called economic water shortage. The situation is only expected to worsen as population growth, climate change, investment and management shortfalls, and inefficient use of existing resources restrict the amount of water available to people, according to Worldwatch Institute’s Vital Signs Online service (www.worldwatch.org).

19 March 2013

America has a Horsemeat Problem too
From: Andrew Wasley, The Ecologist
Few Americans are aware that their country's horses are being exported and slaughtered abroad - often in appalling conditions - to supply European taste for a meat that's shunned at home. Andrew Wasley reports.

15 March 2013

Disease threatens aquaculture in developing world
From: Wagdy Sawahel, SciDevNet
Disease may challenge the ability of fish farming to feed the growing human population even as wild fish stocks decline and climate change hampers food production from other sources, a study shows.

13 March 2013

Recent Supreme Court Decision May Affect Environmental Standing
From: Devin McDougall, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
A recent decision by the United States Supreme Court has raised questions about the scope of plaintiffs' standing to bring suit in federal court, a critical issue for environmental litigants. Federal courts have long recognized that certain types of environmental harms can form the basis of standing under Article III of the United States Constitution, which requires plaintiffs to establish an "actual or imminent" injury that is "fairly traceable" to the challenged conduct and "likely to be redressed" by a favorable decision.

12 March 2013

Sustainable Air Travel Takes Off
From: Leon Kaye, Triple Pundit
Last Thursday, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 642 completed the seven hour and 17 minute flight from New York's JFK Airport to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol using sustainable biofuels. Flight KL642, operated by a Boeing 777-200, will fly every Thursday fueled by recycled cooking oil as part of the Dutch carrier's goal to have one percent of its flights operate on biofuels by 2015.

Meat DNA testing can help save species
From: Linda Nordling, SciDevNet
African governments need to boost local efforts to protect endangered species by supporting DNA testing, argues Linda Nordling. The horsemeat scandal that recently hit Europe has shown how DNA testing can improve food monitoring and safety. Most African countries are yet to adopt the technology despite its huge potential - both in ensuring that food is correctly labelled and in policing the illegal trade in animal products.

6 March 2013

Housing improvements linked to good health
From: Rachel Mundy, SciDevNet
Having enough suitable living space is a key determinant of health outcomes around the world, a review of studies on housing improvements for health has found. Initiatives targeting housing improvements at the most impoverished people and those in the poorest health were more effective than generic schemes targeting entire areas, the review found.

Warnings of global ecological tipping points may be overstated
From: Jeremy Hance, MONGABAY.COM
There's little evidence that the Earth is nearing a global ecological tipping point, according to a new Trends in Ecology and Evolution paper that is bound to be controversial. The authors argue that despite numerous warnings that the Earth is headed toward an ecological tipping point due to environmental stressors, such as habitat loss or climate change, it's unlikely this will occur anytime soon—at least not on land. The paper comes with a number of caveats, including that a global tipping point could occur in marine ecosystems due to ocean acidification from burning fossil fuels. In addition, regional tipping points, such as the Arctic ice melt or the Amazon rainforest drying out, are still of great concern.

22 February 2013

Mutated Moth Genes May Lead to Environmentally Friendly Pest Control
From: Allison Winter, ENN
Pheromones are chemical substances secreted or excreted by species that when released into the environment can affect the behavior or physiology of others. Basically, these chemicals trigger social responses and are crucial to the mating systems in a wide range of organisms. According to a new study led by researchers from Sweden's Lund University, a single gene mutation found in the moth genus, Ostrinia, has led to the species' ability to produce an entirely new scent.

20 February 2013

The Seas Rise but the Lands Rise Too
From: Andy Soos, ENN
As the Arctic ice melts it will raise the sea level. But as it does it removes the enormous weight of the ice and the land will rise too in places, Sophisticated computer modelling has shown how sea-level rise over the coming century could affect some regions far more than others. The model shows that parts of the Pacific will see the highest rates of rise while some polar regions will actually experience falls in relative sea levels due to the ways sea, land and ice interact globally.

Air Pollution and Heart Attacks
From: Andy Soos, ENN
There are many forms of air pollution. There is no doubt that air pollution is not healthy. The uncertainty is at what level is it an acceptable risk. The one of concern in this study is the finest of particulate matter. The largest study yet to investigate the links between fine air-borne particulate matter (PM) and patient survival after hospital admission for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) found death rates increased with increased exposure to PM2.5 — tiny particles that measure 2.5 micrometers in diameter or less, approximately 30 times smaller than a human hair. The amount of PM in the air is measured as micrograms per cubic meter of air. The main sources of PM2.5 are emissions from road traffic and industry, including power generation.

Is Clean Coal Finally a Reality?
From: J. David Thé, ENN
A team of researchers at Ohio State University (OSU) spent the past 2 years developing a clean way of harnessing the power of coal and have recently found great success in their research scale combustion system. The team is now able to harness clean coal energy chemically without combustion with air, while capturing 99% of the carbon dioxide produced from the reaction. With the next stage in testing on the horizon, could this possibly be the future of coal?

19 February 2013

BPA Blood Levels
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound. It is a colorless solid that is soluble in organic solvents, but poorly soluble in water. Having two phenol functional groups, it is used to make polycarbonate polymers and epoxy resins, along with other materials used to make plastics. It is a controversial component of plastic bottles and canned food linings that have helped make the world's food supply safer. It has the potential to mimic the sex hormone estrogen if blood and tissue levels are high enough. Now, an analysis of almost 150 BPA exposure studies shows that in the general population, people's exposure may be many times too low for BPA to effectively mimic estrogen in the human body.

11 February 2013

Wildflowers at risk from 'safe' levels of pollution
rom: Dr Richard Payne & Professor Nancy Dise, The Ecologist
A paper just published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows the impacts of nitrogen deposition in the environment may extend even further than previously thought. Dr Richard Payne and Professor Nancy Dise, of Manchester Metropolitan University, together with colleagues at Lancaster University and the Open University, studied more than 100 individual plant species' reactions to nitrogen deposition at 153 grassland sites across Europe.

British horse meat scandal Expands
From: EurActive
Swedish frozen-food company Findus withdrew all its beef lasagna ready meals from supermarkets after tests revealed they contained up to 100% horsemeat. But the investigation took an EU-wide dimension as British investigators found evidence of "gross negligence or possibly criminality" involving several countries. The Food Standards Agency (FSA), a British government body, held a meeting on Saturday (9 February) with UK regulators and food industry representatives in the ongoing contaminated meat incident.

How Can We Reduce Food Waste?
From: Population Matters
It’s no secret that Americans throw away an enormous amount of food, sending day-old leftovers and slightly wilted spinach straight to the garbage. But what about the food that never even makes it to the kitchen table? A new report released by a British engineering society reveals that worldwide, billions of tons of food are squandered each year because of poor agriculture practices, which include inefficient harvesting and inadequate infrastructure and storage—and it’s depleting Earth's water supply.

4 February 2013

Federal Agencies Announce New Initiative to Improve Indoor Health Hazards
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Several agencies including the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Surgeon General, Department of Energy (DOE), and White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) got together yesterday at the National Building Museum. The purpose of their meeting was to unveil a new initiative titled Advancing Healthy Housing — A Strategy for Action. The initiative involves addressing America's health and economic costs associated with preventable hazards within the home. It urges taking preemptive action to reduce the health and environmental risks inside the home, a place where the average American spends about 70 percent of their time.

Natural Gas and Pure Water
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Water is always precious. Increased natural gas production is happening ion the US. But natural gas wells have problems: Large volumes of deep water, often heavily laden with salts and minerals, flow out along with the gas. That so-called produced water must be disposed of, or cleaned. Once cleaned it has beneficial reuse in often arid regions.

31 January 2013

Study: Risk of Heart Disease Down 32 Percent for Vegetarians
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Meat consumption around the world has been on the rise as incomes have grown. In the United States, more meat is consumed than anywhere else. For many, a meal simply is not a meal if it does not have at least a half-pound of flesh on it. Vegetarianism has been in practice by large groups for quite a long time for both health and moral reasons. According to a new scientific study from the University of Oxford, vegetarians have new ammunition in their anti-meat crusade. The study claims that the risk of hospitalization or death from heart disease is 32 percent lower for vegetarians than for people who eat meat and fish.

Study reveals climate patterns have impact on flu epidemics
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The flu season has been hitting hard this winter all across the country with nearly 30 states reporting flulike activity and over 2,200 people being hospitalized according to government health experts. Whether or not you have gotten your flu shot, chances are you or someone you know someone has come down with flu-like systems. So what can we attribute the current spike in flu cases? According to one report, climate change is starting to play an interesting role.

Exterior Air Bags Protect Cyclists From Cars
From: Jesse Emspak, Discovery News
Few people would argue with the need for air bags on the inside of a car. But on the outside? The idea comes from TNO, a car company in the The Netherlands, where there are now 1.3 bicycles for every resident. Amsterdam alone is home to a half a million riders daily.

30 January 2013

Medicinal Plants Being Studied to Fight Malaria
From: Esther Tola, Science and Development Network
Traditional healers in Benin possess sophisticated knowledge regarding the treatment of malaria with medicinal plants, and strategies should be developed to exploit this and promote the plants' conservation, says a study. Researchers at the University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, documented more than 80 plants, which are believed to be antimalarial and used by traditional healers in southern Benin's Allada plateau, to evaluate traditional knowledge and techniques for treating malaria.

28 January 2013

Livestock falling ill in fracking regions, raising concerns about food
From: Elizabeth Royte, The Ecologist
While scientists have yet to isolate cause and effect, many suspect chemicals used in drilling and hydrofracking (or "fracking") operations are poisoning animals through the air, water, or soil.

How Profoundly Cities Affect Temperatures Both Near and Far
From: Roger Greenway, ENN
It has been known for a long time that cities create warmer temperatures due to heat stored in buildings, roads, and other man-made structures. They also add heat from air conditioners, boilers, and other combustion sources. This is known as the urban "heat island". What has not been known until now, is that cities also raise temperatures in the areas surrounding them, out thousands of miles. A new study shows the extent to which human activities are influencing the atmosphere, both locally, and at distant locations.

25 January 2013

Cargill Cattle Plant Closes Due to Global Warming
From: RP Siegel, Triple Pundit
It sounds a bit like justice served, doesn't it? When Cargill announced the closing of its Plainview, Texas, cattle operation, they cited a record low cattle supply as the result of the region's severe drought. Though scientific models don't yet have the precision to directly tie a particular weather event, be it a storm or a drought, to global warming trends, there is plenty of evidence indicating that drought is clearly increasing as the result of the changing climate. More clear is the linkage between the beef industry and the changes to our planetary thermostat. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that somewhere between 14 and 22 percent of all greenhouse gases were generated directly by the meat industry.

24 January 2013

From Light Green to Sustainable Buildings
From: Supriya Kumar, Worldwatch InstituteAs more people move to urban areas in search of economic opportunities, the number of buildings that are needed to house them continues to rise. It is estimated that by 2030, an additional 1.4 billion people will live in cities, of which 1.3 billion will dwell in cities of developing countries. The increasing number of buildings has long-term impacts on both the environment and natural resources

EPA Finalizes Vapor Intrusion Regulations
From: Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") recently finalized the first of several pending guidance documents and regulations governing the evaluation and mitigation of vapor intrusion at contaminated sites, a growing area of focus that has thus far been regulated primarily on the state level. EPA’s new guidance requires regional EPA offices to address vapor intrusion risks during the five-year reviews for most completed Superfund cleanups.

23 January 2013

Treating Lymphoma With Nanoparticles Rather Than Chemotherapy
From: David A Gabel, ENN
The traditional method for treating lymphoma, a cancer of the blood in which the white blood cells behave abnormally, is through chemotherapy. This method attempts to beat the cancer cells through a standardized regimen of chemotherapeutic agents. Chemotherapy sometimes cures the disease, and other times, its aim is to simply prolong an individual's life. Other types of treatment may include radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, both of which have their own sets of complications. New research has unveiled a new method for treating lymphoma which may be both more effective and without any significant drawbacks. The method involves injecting synthetic nanoparticles which can deprive the cancer cells of an essential nutrient, resulting in the death of the cancer.

Southwest Asia Pollution
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Cold winter weather and burgeoning industrial economies have made for difficult breathing in Asia and the Middle East this January 2013. Pollution is epidemic. News reports from Ankara, Tehran, Beijing, and other cities have described hazy skies with very low visibility; restrictions on driving, factory operations, and outdoor activity; and hospitals full of people with lung ailments. The map with this story shows the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2 or NOx) in the atmosphere above southwestern Asia from January 1—8, 2013.

22 January 2013

Farming Techniques Must Improve to Counter Increasingly Warmer Summers
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Global climate change is causing average temperatures to rise and producing more extreme highs during the summer months, months that are crucial for a successful crop yield. According to a new study from the University of Leeds, Reading, and Exeter, hotter summers may cause a decrease in crop yields over the next two decades. The only thing that can prevent it will be to improve farming techniques to counter the trend.

Climate change in Pakistan turning extreme
From: Suhail Yusuf, Science and Development Network
Data presented at a seminar on climate change in Pakistan highlighted trends where this South Asian country, which stretches from high, snow-capped mountains to a deltaic coast, could be in for a sharp rise in average temperatures and extremely erratic weather.

President Obama Promises Action on Climate Change
From: Bill DiBenedetto, Triple Pundit
President Obama's forceful pledge to "respond to the threat of climate change" during his second inaugural address Monday was both specific and somewhat surprising. Also bold and welcome.

Roadmap for Fusion
From: Andy Soos, ENN
ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor at the Cadarache facility in the south of France. The European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) has published a roadmap which outlines how to supply fusion electricity to the grid by 2050 with ITER as one of its units. The roadmap to the realization of fusion energy breaks the quest for fusion energy down into eight missions.

20 January 2013

Air Pollution in China not just impacting cities
From: Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News
As people in Beijing and northern China struggle with severe air pollution this winter, the toxic air is also making life hard for plants and even food crops of China, say researchers who have been looking at how China's plants are affected by air pollution.

10 January 2013

BPA in Plastics and Aluminum Cans Linked to Heart and Kidney Disease
From: David A Gabel, ENN
New scientific data has been released linking a chemical commonly found in plastic bottles and inside aluminum cans to a biomarker for higher risk of heart and kidney disease in children and adolescents. The chemical, known as bisphenol A (BPA) is used to provide an anti-septic function to the liquids and food products it contains. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently banned the chemical, but it is still widely used in aluminum cans. Previous studies have found that BPA can disrupt various mechanisms in human metabolism. The new study from the NYU School of Medicine shows that it can also increase the chance of developing coronary heart disease and kidney dysfunction.

Mercury Strategies
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Natural sources, such as volcanoes, are responsible for approximately half of atmospheric mercury emissions. Humans contributed most of the rest through fuel combustion. International negotiators will come together next week in Geneva, Switzerland for the fifth and final meeting to address global environmental controls on mercury. Ahead of the negotiations, researchers from MIT and Harvard University are calling for aggressive emissions reductions and clear public health advice to reduce the risks of mercury.

09 January 2013

Shoe Stable Fly!
From: Allison Winter, ENN
Swatting at flies is a major aggravation but luckily for us, we can often shoe away these annoying arthropods before that painful bite. But what about cows and other livestock that only have a tail to defend themselves?

04 January 2013

New Connection Links Parkinson's Disease with Pesticide Exposure
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Scientific evidence already has connected pesticide exposure with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease. Chemicals like paraquat, maneb, and ziram, commonly found in pesticides have been found in farmworkers and others living and working near the fields, and are tied to an increase in the disease. New research has identified another chemical from pesticides, benomyl, that is linked to Parkinson's. The toxic effects of benomyl are still found in the environment, even 10 years after the chemical was banned by the EPA. This chemical triggers a series of cellular events leading to Parkinson's.

You Can't Buy a Single-Serve Plastic Bottle of Water in Concord Massachusetts
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Concord is the first town in the nation where the sale of plastic water bottles is prohibited. A new year brings a controversial new law into effect in Concord: no one can sell single-serving plastic water bottles. "I think Concord, you know, they have a good point about the plastic. I really do and I think other towns might follow," one woman said. The new law is the talk of the town.

03 January 2013

Addressing Climate Change Will Cost Less if Done Sooner
From: EurActive
An agreement by almost 200 nations to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 will be far more costly than taking action now to tackle climate change, a new report says. Quick measures to cut emissions would give a far better chance of keeping global warming within an agreed UN limit of 2º Celsius above pre-industrial times to avert more floods, heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels.

02 January 2013

Climate Change Finally Getting Our Collective Attention
From: Gia Machlin, Triple Pundit
It's that time of year when we look back and reflect on the past year and make silly lists. Well this list is far from silly — it is quite sobering news for many of us to accept. In 2012, climate change came to the forefront. Here are 5 reasons why:

5 December 2012

New Concerns Over Lead Exposure
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Is Lead exposure limits set low enough? There is strong evidence that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) general industry standards for lead exposure, set more than 30 years ago, are inadequate to protect worker populations. A report by the National academies conducted at the request of the Department of Defense (DOD), whose employees at military firing ranges are exposed to lead recurrently when they handle ammunition, conduct maintenance on ranges, and breathe lead dust released into the air by gunfire. Lead is a highly poisonous metal (regardless if inhaled or swallowed), affecting almost every organ and system in the body. The main target for lead toxicity is the nervous system, both in adults and children. There are other potential body toxic effects too.

Doha Climate talks: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
From: Tiffany Stecker, E&E reporter
Developing and developed countries reached a stalemate over how to verify carbon emissions from forests in Saturday's talks on reducing carbon emissions from deforestation at the annual U.N. climate conference in Doha, Qatar.

3 December 2012

Meat of the Matter: Are Our Modern Methods of Preserving and Cooking Meat Healthy?
By Ferris Jabr, Scientific American
John Durant really likes meat, but he does not keep much of it in his refrigerator—there is not enough room. Instead he stores his meat in a large white freezer chest in his shared Manhattan apartment. Durant, 29, opens the chest and pulls out some frozen chunks of venison wrapped in butcher paper. He digs through the ice to find a couple of cuts of grass-fed beef. He shows me lamb kidneys, pork fatback and ham hocks. As a proponent of what is known as the Paleolithic diet, Durant tries to eat the same way our evolutionary ancestors did.

Global CO2 Emissions from Fossil-Fuel Burning Rise into High-Risk Zone
By Lauren Morello Scientific American and ClimateWire
The world's carbon dioxide output hit a new record high last year and is poised to break that record in 2012, according to a new study.

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