In The News / Jan 29

Asbestos: New blow to victims of a shameful legacy.

The UK Government has deliberately excluded asbestos from an unprecedented review of the condition of the country's schools because it knows that tackling the risks to schoolchildren and teachers could cost hundreds of millions, critics claim.

Campaigners reacted with fury last night as it emerged a year-long survey of England's 23,000 schools will examine every aspect of buildings -- from classroom decoration to whether fire alarms and toilets are in working order -- but will specifically exclude asbestos, the most serious threat of all to staff and pupils.

An internal Department for Education email makes it clear that pressure to include asbestos in the assessment of the state of schools had to be resisted.

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Brown ordered firing of regulator who took hard line on oil firms.

Late last year, Gov. Jerry Brown pushed for a top state regulator to ease key requirements for companies seeking to tap California's oil. The official balked, writing a memo that explained why easing would violate environmental law. A week after Derek Chernow wrote his memo, Brown had him fired, along with a deputy, Elena Miller.

The governor appointed replacements who agreed to stop subjecting every injection project to a top-to-bottom review before issuing a permit.

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New Science

Understand the latest scientific findings
  • Gas cooking emissions may stifle infant development. 26 January 2012

    A new study from Spain reports that infants born to mothers who cooked with gas stoves had slightly lower intelligence scores at ages 1 and 2 than those in homes without gas cookers. In homes with gas, infant scores were better if there was an exhaust fan above the stove. Gas stoves are so common that these small decreases in infant intelligence may lead to more children with lower IQs and fewer with higher IQs in the future. more…

  • Pessimistically, lead may taint your outlook. 20 January 2012

    Lead exposure may increase lifelong pessimism, according to a new study. Researchers found that lead levels in aging men were associated with increased pessimism even after controlling for other important factors such as socioeconomic status. Lead is known to affect the nervous system and affect intelligence, memory and behavior. Research also shows it is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. more…

Media Reviews

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  • Why do we need the Environmental Protection Agency?

    Want to have cancer-causing, bird-killing DDT sprayed in your neighborhood? How about having high levels of brain- damaging mercury dumped into your favorite fishing spot? What about paper mill wastes clogging up rivers and fouling the air people breathe? more…

  • Legislature should scrap the open-pit mining bill.

    The open-pit mining bill still allows mining operations to ignore many of the environmental protections that keep our water clean. Rather than try to fix the unfixable, state senators should scrap the open-pit mining bill and put the health of Wisconsin residents first. more…

More news from EHN From Environmental Health News

The Great Escape: Gene-altered crops grow wild.

Throughout North Dakota, little yellow flowers dot thousands of miles of roadsides. These canola plants, found along most major trucking routes, look harmless. But they are fueling a controversy: They prove that large numbers of genetically modified plants have escaped from farm fields and are now growing wild.

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Children near DuPont plant exposed to more PFOA than moms.

Children living near DuPont’s plant in West Virginia are exposed to much higher concentrations of an industrial chemical than their mothers, according to a newly published study.

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The scientist: Jim Hansen risks handcuffs to make his research clear.

NASA's chief climate scientist built his career studying Earth's atmosphere and modeling humans' potential impacts on climate. Then he realized that laboratory work was only part of the equation. A Climate Query.

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Low-carbon cement paves a development path (or sidewalk).

Carbon emissions from cement are set to grow explosively as developing countries such as India create a "first-world" infrastructure. Scientists and entrepreneurs are struggling to push alternative technologies out of the lab and onto the street.

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In The News (CONTINUED) / Jan 29

More news from today
>60 more stories, including:
  • Research on mutant flu 'must go on'
  • Climate: Hotter summers will kill warns Britain's first national risk assessment; EU energy policy may bring 500,000 jobs; Lend me your roof for solar; Carbon tax in Boulder?
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