Health and environmental bloggers have covered a wide array of topics this week. Some highlights: Steve at Omni Brain (don’t click the link while eating) displays graphic warnings from Belgian and Thai cigarette packs Merrill Goozner at GoonzNews posts an excerpt from his just-published article (cover story of The Scientist, for those with subscriptions) on […]
Earlier this year, President Bush nominated Susan E. Dudley of the Mercatus Center to replace John Graham, PhD, as the head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). The office oversees all of the Administrationâs regulatory policies, including public health and environmental rules, and is often the last major hurdle faced by agencies like […]
By David Michaels According to a report in the Wall Street Journal published last December (by Peter Waldman, 12/23/05), product defense experts at ChemRisk pulled off a particularly audacious scam on behalf of Pacific Gas and Electric, the California utility that was being sued for contaminating drinking water with hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen. ChemRiskâs scientists […]
While Indiaâs population has been growing, its rice harvests have been declining. Two of the culprits, reports the BBC (citing a study from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), are particulate and greenhouse-gas pollution.
By David Michaels The Bush Administration is manufacturing uncertainty about global warming, even as its allies in the carbon producing industries are abandoning it. Last week, the Washington Postâs Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin reported that âtop executives at many of the nation’s largest energy companies have accepted the scientific consensus about climate change and […]
By David Michaels In a move that recognizes the post-election climate change in Washington, the EPA has told two Democratic Senators that it is revising plans to roll-back the reporting requirements of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). In a post yesterday, I wrote about TRI as an important (and cost-effective) example of “Regulation by Shaming” […]
By David Michaels Last week, public scorn forced Rupert Murdock, powerful chief executive of the News Corp, to cancel âIf I Did It,â OJ Simpsonâs book and Fox TV tie-in. While shaming has fallen out of favor in the field of criminal justice, the heaping of public scorn and anger – dating back to putting […]
by Liz Borkowski Parties to the Basel Conventionâthe international treaty dealing with the transport and disposal of hazardous wastesâare meeting this week in Nairobi, and e-waste is on their agenda. Each year, consumers generate 20 â 50 million tons of e-waste (waste from electrical and electronic equipment), and it’s full of hazardous substances: heavy metals […]
by Celeste Monforton From the Ground Zero construction site to an expansion of the Los Angeles International Airport, the tide seems to be turning for cleaner diesel engines, particulate filters and low-sulfur fuels. As Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Alex Frangos writes: âInstead of belching black smoke, the bucket loaders, cranes and other diesel-power behemothsâ are […]
by Liz Borkowski Nearly half of Mumbaiâs 18 million residents live in unofficial settlements called zopadpatti. In one of these areas, Dharavi, estimates suggest there is one toilet for every 1,4440 people, tap water flows for only two hours each day, and approximately 15 families share each water tap. Around the globe, rural residents are […]