April 24th, 2013

Apples, strawberries, grapes and celery. All of these are healthy foods, but unfortunately they arrive at the grocery with the highest pesticide residues and top the latest “Dirty Dozen” list released by the Environmental Working Group. The other Dirty Dozen foods include some of the most delectable fruits and vegetables. You’ll just have to buy the organic versions if you want to avoid the trace pesticides that ride along.

[Read more →]

April 11th, 2013

There’s a new game in the battle over chemicals in consumer products and it appears to set titan against titan, by enlisting Big Box stores in the effort to get toxic chemicals out of cosmetics, furniture and household goods. The opposing titan is, of course, the chemical industry, which has fought strong government oversight for decades. Here’s how the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition hopes to win.

[Read more →]

April 10th, 2013

U.S. Senators today introduced the Safe Chemicals Act, designed to require stricter screening of chemicals to assess their safety before they’re approved for public use. The SCA also would give the EPA more authority to go after chemicals that have been linked to cancer and other health conditions.

[Read more →]

January 23rd, 2013

It’s a little like a storyline from those nuclear-age science-fiction movies from the 1950s. An invisible, insidious gas invades your home, poised to undermine your family’s health.
But this is no fiction. It’s radon, a gas that exists naturally in the earth, but can concentrate in homes raising the cancer risk for those who are exposed long term.

[Read more →]

October 25th, 2012

Fall is a delicious time to eat seasonal foods, and not just the comfort carbs of Thanksgiving, but the many fruits and vegetables that are harvested at this time in the Northern hemisphere.

These foods can boost the health quotient of your autumn feast and provide snacks that keep the sugar monster at bay.

[Read more →]

October 15th, 2012

Fat cells may facilitate the growth of cancer tumors by strengthening the blood vessels that supply the tumors, medical researchers in Texas reported in the journal Cancer Research.

[Read more →]

July 11th, 2012

Keeping it greener in the kitchen can mean many things. You may be using more fresh vegetables or local foods, literally adding greens. Perhaps you’ve switched to greener cleaners that don’t use bleach or ammonia.

Now it’s time to take stock of your cookware.

If you’re still using pans coated with Teflon or a similar nonstick surface, you’ll want to get familiar with — and then get away from — the polytetrafluoroetheylenes (PTFE) used in this old-style technology. When heated to high temperatures pans coated with this substance release fumes into the air that contain hazardous compounds called perfluorinated chemicals or PFCs.

[Read more →]

March 12th, 2012

One of the largest studies to ever examine the health effects of red meat consumption has found that it significantly increases the risk of dying prematurely for both men and women.

The study, which followed 121,342 men and women for 28 years, found that higher consumption of both unprocessed red meat and processed meats (bacon, hot dogs, ham) was associated with an elevated risk death, mainly from cardio-vascular disease (CVD) and cancer

[Read more →]

February 23rd, 2012

Just in time for weed-and-feed season, the Natural Resources Defense Council has filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to stop the use of the weed killed known as 2,4-D.
This neurotoxic chemical, infamous as a key ingredient in Agent Orange, is still allowed in products used to treat lawns, golf courses and in commercial operations.

[Read more →]

February 22nd, 2011

Spring has sprung, or is springing — quite early, in case you hadn’t noticed (hmm…wonder why?). And with the season come the chemicals, raining down upon lawn and garden centers everywhere

Ah, I love the smell of Atrazine in the morning. Let us celebrate the beginning of new life –and the end of beneficial insects, pure water, live soil and natural processes!

It is amazing that with our vast knowledge of how chemicals contaminate ecosystems, pollute waterways and boomerang back in food and drink with verifiable carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting effects, we collectively buy tons of these synthetic chemicals every spring, summer and fall.

[Read more →]

January 31st, 2011

Eat your veggies! And, while you’re at it, quit drinking so much soda.

The government’s new dietary guidelines issued today are unequivocal. Americans need to get serious about eating healthier. They need to put more produce on their plates and push out the sugar, saturated fats and sodium that have crept into the American diet in so many ways, via soda, packaged meals and sweet snacks.

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (yes, it’s 2011, in case you’re reading in real time) are more explicit than ever, federal officials said, because the nation’s got big obesity issues.

So instead of just urging us to eat 5 to 7 “servings” of fruits and vegetables every day, the mantra of the last adjustment in the food pyramid, these new guidelines tell us to drink water instead of “sugary drinks”, switch to 1 percent milk, and fill half of our plates with fruits and vegetables.

But wait! Don’t overfill that plate. Portion size and exercise also are part of the equation.

[Read more →]

September 16th, 2010

New York City already has smoke-free restaurants. It may soon have smoke-free parks, beaches and outdoor plazas.
Under a proposal announced Thursday by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Councilmember Gale Brewer, the existing local Smoke Free Air Act that bans smoking in workplaces and indoor gathering spots, would be expanded to include the great outdoors.

[Read more →]