toxic

If you’re planning to spend summer days by the pool or beach-side, you’ll likely reach for a bottle of sunscreen to prevent you from becoming red and crispy. These products are not all created equal, however, and it can be difficult to know what to purchase when you’re staring at the multitude of options available at the supermarket. Thankfully, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has put out a list of the best and worst sunscreens every year since 2007 to help you decide.

Since World War 2, the idea of “better living through chemistry” has remained persistent throughout the world. We have been told that we can’t live without chemicals, and that we would starve without spraying our crops with the chemical-stew we call pesticides. But is this really true? According to a report, we’ve been lied to about the necessities of these chemical concoctions.

Two studies confirm that stress is a major underlying factor in the obesity epidemic among the poor. One from Scotland, published in the journal Appetite, documents the link between overeating and the stress that accompanies income inequality.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has delayed a safety rule aimed at ensuring that pesticides (which are linked to human health problems) are safely applied by adult agricultural workers. This, just days after 50 farm workers in California were sickened by pesticide poisoning. [1]

A recent lawsuit accuses biotech giant Monsanto of hiring an army of online trolls to attack critics of their glyphosate-based herbicide, RoundUp. [1]

On May 4, Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Missouri jury to pay $110 million to a Virginia woman who claimed in a lawsuit that she developed ovarian cancer after using the company’s talc-based products for feminine hygiene for decades. [1]
Lois Slemp, 62, alleged that her use of J&J’s Shower-to-Shower and Baby Products over 4 decades, as well as asbestos particles found inside her, caused her cancer. [2]

A new study shows that women who live in heavily polluted areas may be more likely to have dense breasts, which is a known risk factor for breast cancer. [1]

The laxative product MiraLAX seems harmless enough. Doctors recommend it and it can be purchased over-the-counter at any pharmacy. It’s not the sort of product you would think could cause serious mental problems in children, but many parents claim such side effects are real; they’ve seen it with their own eyes.
The complaints were numerous enough and serious enough for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to quietly launch an FDA-funded study into the matter.

On April 5, a team of chemists and engineers at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Iowa reported that they had discovered neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides, in treated drinking water. This finding marks the first time anyone has identified the chemicals in tap water. [1]
Gregory LeFevre, a study author and University of Iowa environmental engineer, said:

“Having these types of compounds present in water does have the potential to be concerning, but we don’t really know, at this point, what these levels might be.” [1]

Chlorpyrifos is a pesticide that has the potential to harm both children and farm workers, but the EPA – the same agency that drew these conclusions – says it will not ban the chemical.
On March 26, 2017, EPA chief Scott Pruitt rejected his agency’s own chemical safety experts who, under Barack Obama, had recommended that chlorpyrifos – one of the nation’s most widely used insecticides – be permanently banned from agricultural use nationwide because of the danger it poses to farm workers. [1]