Studies and news reports that expand the scope of Environment & Human Health, Inc.'s (EHHI) research reports about health and the environment.

Connecticut Attorney General, health advocates call for ban on outdoor furnaces
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a press release asking Connecticut's General Assembly to ban outdoor wood-burning furnaces, which continuously emit toxic smoke that sickens neighbors and pollutes neighborhoods. The American Lung Association and Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI), a nonprofit health advocacy group, joined Blumenthal in urging the legislature to impose a statewide prohibition on the furnaces. Click here for news story.

EHHI's OpEd on the harmful health effects of wood smoke
The New Haven Register published Environment and Human Health, Inc.'s OpEd stating that homeowners have the right to be free of noxious wood smoke in their homes. Read the American Lung Association's position paper calling for a ban on outdoor furnaces. Environment and Human Health, Inc. has asked the Connecticut Legislature to help the many people in the state who are being made sick from breathing their neighbor's wood smoke on a continuous basis.

Tanning beds as deadly as cigarettes
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently ranked ultraviolet-emitting tanning beds among the highest cancer risks, along with cigarettes, arsenic and asbestos. EHHI's pamphlet, 12 Steps to Reducing Carcinogenic Exposures, outlines ways to avoid cancer-causing threats to human health. Tanning beds used for cosmetic reasons are now classified as "carcinogenic to humans." Click here for news story.

EHHI responds to the new New York Synthetic Turf Study
Environment and Human Health Inc. (EHHI) comments on a new synthetic turf study released in May 2009. The New York Synthetic Turf Study tested two fields, and concluded that the "levels of chemicals in air at the Thomas Jefferson and John Mullaly Fields do not raise a concern for non-cancer or cancer health effects for people who use or visit the fields." Based on this conclusion, press releases have declared synthetic turf fields with crumb rubber to be safe. Click here for EHHI's response to the study.

EHHI's Op-Ed in response to ground-up used rubber tires in toddler playgrounds
Environment and Human Health Inc. (EHHI) remains remains extremely concerned about the ground-up rubber tire mulch that is being placed in our youngest children's environment––their playscapes. Amid worries by government scientists reported in the Los Angeles Times about the safety of using recycled tires for playgrounds, the federal government is concluding a limited study of air and surface samples at four fake-surface fields and playgrounds that use recycled tires. Click here for OpEd.

EHHI's Op-Ed in response to schools and towns installing artificial turf fields containing ground-up rubber tire in-fill
Environment and Human Health Inc. (EHHI) is concerned about synthetic turf fields that are being installed by schools and towns all over the United States. Many newspaper articles are reporting an increase of MRSA infections among football players playing on synthetic turf fields. According to a company website, "installation of a FieldTurf field eliminates the use of harmful pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides, while at the same time, removes over 40,000 tires from landfill sites." Because small crumbs of rubber tire are loosely spread over dyed green grass-like blades, they can be easily picked up by shoes, socks and even ears and hair. Click here for OpEd.

FDA relied on chemical industry lobbyists to discredit scientific studies warning of BPA risks
Emails obtained by the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel show FDA asked chemical industry to study BPA.

Chicago becomes first municipality to ban BPA in baby bottles and cups containing BPA
Chicago's ban on the sale of baby bottles and cups containing BPA will take effect in January 2010. Click here for story.

Wood smoke is more than a nuisance–it's illegal in Elmira, New York
Wood smoke is not just a nuisance, but can be a health hazard for people with medical problems like asthma, bronchitis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In Elmira, free-standing outdoor fire pits and chimneys, whether front-loading fireplaces or ovens with a bulbous body and vertical smoke vent or chimney, are illegal if they are wood-burning. Those that are fueled by natural gas, propane or charcoal are allowed because they are smoke-free. Click here for news story.

Wood smoke can be a nuisance, says Connecticut Department of Public Health
The Connecticut Department of Public Health has declared that wood smoke—under certain circumstances—can be considered a public nuisance. This constitutes major progress on an issue that has become a problem for many people in Connecticut, as well as across the country. Click here for more information.

Rats are fat after long-term exposure to lower levels of atrazine
Much of the water in the Midwest is contaminated with the agricultural pesticide atrazine. A new study in Environmental Health News suggests a mechanism to explain prior studies that found high prevalence of obesity in areas of the United States with heavy atrazine use. This study also shows that high-dose experiments do not predict low-dose results, which calls into question many federal safety standards presumed to protect human health. Click here for news story.

EPA announces plan to require disclosure of secret pesticide ingredients
Reversing its policy of the last decade, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will now require pesticide manufacturers to publicly disclose inert ingredients in pesticide products. Nearly 4,000 inerts—including several hundred that are considered hazardous under other federal rulea—are used in agricultural and residential pesticides. Although some secret ingredients are toxic, manufacturers have not been required to identify them on pesticide labels. Click here for news story.

Study links formaldehyde to more common cancers
Formaldehyde has long been linked to rare tumors of the nasopharynx, which includes the back of the throat, but new research links the chemical compound to cancers of the blood and lymphatic system. Click here for story.