Very Cool Site: What’s on My Food

Pesticides

…on our food, even after washing;

…in our bodies, for years;

…& in our environment, traveling many miles on wind, water and dust.

What’s On My Food? is a searchable database designed to make the public problem of pesticide exposure visible and more understandable.

How does this tool work? We link pesticide food residue data with the toxicology for each chemical, making this information easily searchable for the first time.

via What’s On My Food? :: Pesticides On Food.

[Thanks to Michelle for forwarding the link!]

Background on Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Urgent Need for New Chemical Control Laws in the US

As discussed here previously, the US is taking a hard look at its 30+ year old chemical control law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Many argue that the law is outdated, both because it doesn’t require health and safety data for new chemical notifications and because the bar for regulating existing chemicals seems too high a hurdle. Around 63,000 existing chemicals were grandfathered onto the TSCA Inventory with no health and safety review, and only a handful have seen such reviews since…

via The Dake Page: Chemical Control Reform – Kids Safe Out…ChAMP In?.

Wonder what FRAGRANCE really means on a label?

20 Most Common Chemicals in Perfume and Their Health Risks.

Industry Trying to Convince Public with Fear Tactics that BPA is OK (Suprised?)

Manufacturers of cans for beverages and foods and some of their biggest customers, including Coca-Cola, are trying to devise a public relations and lobbying strategy to block government bans of a controversial chemical used in the linings of metal cans and lids.

According to internal notes of a private meeting, obtained by The Washington Post, frustrated industry executives huddled for hours Thursday trying to figure out how to tamp down public concerns over the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA. The notes said the executives are particularly concerned about the views of young mothers, who often make purchasing decisions for households and who are most likely to be focused on health concerns….

Industry representatives weighed a range of ideas, including “using fear tactics [e.g. “Do you want to have access to baby food anymore?” as well as giving control back to consumers (e.g. you have a choice between the more expensive product that is frozen or fresh or foods packaged in cans) as ways to dissuade people from choosing BPA-free packaging,” the notes said.

via Strategy Is Being Devises to Protect Use of Bisphenol A and Block U.S. Ban – washingtonpost.com

What’s Inside: Red Bull

I love this “What’s Inside” series from Wired Magazine. Thanks to my student, Vanessa, for sending the link.

What’s Inside: Red Bull.

Sarah Vogel on BPA, an estrogenic chemical used in the production of many plastics

The public should not have to wait for years for unequivocal epidemiological evidence to determine the risks of this chemical. Today there is a growing scientific consensus among independent bisphenol A experts that this chemical poses a significant public health risk at levels millions of times below the current safety standard. The FDA’s safety standard remains conspicuously out of date. Maintaining such a standard only serves the interests of the chemical and plastics industry, and leaves unprotected the long-term health of the developing young. If we want to prevent chronic disease and protect the public’s health, lawmakers across the U.S. and the world should support the removal of bisphenol A from our food, water, air, and bodies.

via SKAPP :: Case Studies in Science Policy :: Battles Over Bisphenol A.

Today on The Leonard Lopate Show

Cleaning Up

Yale University professor John Wargo discusses the impact of chemical exposures on women and children, and how, although people are growing more environmentally aware, there are still more than 80,000 synthetic compounds whose effects on human health haven’t been sufficiently studied. In his book, Green Intelligence: Creating Environments that Protect Human Health, he explains our misunderstanding of everyday chemical hazards and offers a plan for improving our awareness.

Event: John Wargo will be speaking and signing books
Thursday, October 8, at 5:30 pm
Labyrinth Books
290 York Street, New Haven, CT

via WNYC – The Leonard Lopate Show: Cleaning Up (October 07, 2009).

To disclose or not to disclose?

We understand you use our products around the people, pets and things you love. So naturally, you want to know what’s in them. We have extensive processes that help us formulate our products to be safe and effective when used as directed on the labels. This site offers a detailed look at the ingredients in our products so you can make the right decisions for your home.

via What’s Inside SC Johnson.

[Labeling is not mandatory for cleaning products. Products with little to hide will gladly label while others will use words like "natural" or "organic" and not label to effectively green wash you. SC Johnson is slowly joining the movement to "disclose" due to commerical pressures by announcing this webite. So far they have included only four product lines in the "Inside SC Johnson" project: Fantastick, The Fragrance Collection, Glade and Nature's Source. I find it interesting that for "fragrance" they do not list specific information in the "more detail" section. That is coming soon. Fragrances can be a combination of 500 different synthetic chemicals and are often fiercely protected by industry. They claim it's a trade secret. Fragrances often include nasty substances like toulene and styrene oxide (both carcinogenics).]

Clorox’s Green Works = Greenwashing?

This brings us to one of the other eyebrow-raisers: Clorox cheerfully lists the ingredients for Green Works on the label — something it doesn’t do for its conventional cleaners — and also prominently displays the Clorox logo. They’re hoping that the equation of “trusted brand (and the proven efficacy that comes with it) + transparency = success,” and Joel Makower thinks it’ll be a pretty big deal: “This is a kind of watershed moment. We finally have major consumer companies taking the green marketplace seriously, and not as an afterthought.” (He also did some consulting on the project).

As for the products themselves, (which include a general purpose cleaner, window cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, dilutable cleaner and bathroom cleaner): Clorox claims that each one of the five cleaners is at least 99% natural — that’s right, the ubiquitous, unregulated “n” word — a fact which can be verified with a glance at the ingredients. Here’s the list for the all-purpose cleaner: water, alkyl polyglucoside, ethanol SDA-3C, glycerine, lemon essential oil, preservative (Kathon) and colorant (Milliken Liquitint Blue HP dye and Bright Yellow dye X); the last two — preservative and colorant — make up the circa 1% of the non-”natural” petroleum-derived portion of the cleaners (though Clorox says Kathon will biodegrade within 28 days). With a few exceptions, like the addition of sodium lauryl sulfate and lauramine oxide, the ingredients for the rest of the cleaners are mostly similar.

via Introducing Clorox’s Green Works Cleaners : TreeHugger.

[I get a lot of questions about greenwashing. This article discusses the Sierra Club's recent endorsement of the Clorox Green Works brand which raised some eyebrows. Clorox wants a piece of the green pie and they will get it since stores like Walmat (where a lot of people shop) do not offer many eco-friendly alternatives. These products are fairly OK and definitely better than the rest of the Clorox line. But I would rather not fund Clorox and save a bunch by DIY.]

Legless frogs mystery solved

Sessions is careful to say that he doesn’t completely rule out chemicals as the cause of some missing limbs. But ’selective predation’ by dragonfly nymphs is now by far the leading explanation, he says.

“Are parasites sufficient to cause extra limbs?,” he asks. “Yes. Is selective predation by dragonfly nymphs sufficient to cause loss or reduction of limbs. Yes. Are chemical pollutants necessary to understand either of these phenomena? No.”

via BBC – Earth News – Legless frogs mystery solved.

[This is an interesting study by scientists -- including ecologist/artist Brandon Ballenge. The deformed frog has made it to my Chemcally Modified Organism list. It is contested if parasite or chemical pollution is to blame. Not sure the mystery is exactly solved but very interesting work.]