Doubt Is Their Product, Particularly those Targeted Toward Children

Consistent, or approximately so, with Michaels' "Doubt is Their Product," what does a company do when hurried to create doubt about safety of a baby/infant personal care product?  When faced with a public interest report about 1,4-dioxane in baby personal care products (click here) a company might ask people in China (click here) to say that ingredient isn't in whatever was manufactured there.

Canada Bans/Restricts Additional Personal Care Product Ingredients

Canada recently banned or restricted the use of 4 ingredients in cosmetics. Anyone interested can read the article by clicking here. Or, check the following against the labels on your own personal care products: 2-MEA (2-methoxyethanol acetate); DEGME - 2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethanol; 2-methoxypropanol (reportedly not added, but may be an impurity); and Pigment Red 3.

Penguin House

I think this video is interesting about using light to make a small space seem larger. Click here.

Wyeth v Levine -- A great victory for a severely injured woman

On March 4, 2009, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in a case involving a woman who was severely injured by an antinausea drug called Phenergan, manufactured by Wyeth. After a clinician injected Ms. Levine with the drug by the IV push method, she developed gangrene and doctors amputated her forearm. The Vermont jury determined that Ms. Levine's injury would not have occurred if Phenergan's label included an adequate warning. Anyone who's interested in reading the opinion can click here, or simply be happy that the Supreme Court rejected Wyeth's argument that Ms. Levine could not recover from them for her injuries because federal law precluded her recovery under state law. The score was 6 to 3.

High Fructose Corn Syrup & Mercury

On January 26, 2009, Environmental Health published an article titled "Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar." The authors discuss an investigation by an Environmental Health Officer at the Food and Drug Administration after the EPA reported that on average approximately seven tons of mercury were missing from each of eight mercury cell chlor-alkali plants in operation in the United States. The results are shocking. Click here to read the article.

CFL Lightbulbs, Mercury, & What To Do If The Bulbs Break

A friend forwarded this link to a video recording Representative Ted Poe (Texas) speaking to the U.S. House in May 2008. One point of interest is the steps to be taken in the event that consumers break one of these lightbulbs. Click here to read EPA's instructions.

Attack On Phthalates Study

For anyone following the Phthalates health issues, it appears that an organization calling itself Center for Individual Freedom (CFIR) is waging an uncertainty campaign related to a February 2008 study published in the journal Pediatrics. The uncertainty campaign is discussed in an excellent book, "Doubt Is Their Product; How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health." Another organization called SourceWatch exposes CFIR's beginnings and connections to possible tobacco funding. You can read the SourceWatch profile of CFIR by clicking here.

Phthalates

There has been renewed news coverage about phthalates in baby personal care products. Click here to read one carried by AP. You can read the underlying study titled "Baby Care Products: Possible Sources of Infant Phthalate Exposure" by clicking here.

The Chemicals Within

Anne Underwood authored an article appearing in Newsweek's February 4, 2008 edition titled "The Chemicals Within." Underwood highlights three potentially hazardous classes of compounds found in common household products like shampoo, tin cans, shower curtains and upholstery. You can read the article by clicking here. One source for the article is a November 2007 report (titled "Is It In Us?") documenting the results of a national biomonitoring project that tested 35 diverse people from seven states for contamination with three types of toxic industrial chemicals -- Bisphenol-A, Pthalates, and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers. The report is another interesting, ablbeit alarming, read. You can obtain the report in pdf form by clicking here.

Chemicals Considered For Possible Listing Under California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act

The Act (Proposition 65) requires California's governor to publish and update a list of chemicals known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. Two chemicals are recently being considered for addition to the list: Dibromoacetic acid and Methylimidazole. You can read the announcement by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment by clicking here. With respect to Dibromoacetic acid, I found a report identifying the 3 most polluted communities in California. You can read the California State Contaminant Report published by EWG/National Tap Water Quality Database by clicking here.