One Minute Toxic Test
Between the cute kittens and baby pictures, there was one meme circulating in my social media this week that I couldn’t click away from: Have you taken the Toxic Test? And although I’m usually adverse to flashing messages promising to tell me something I don’t already know, I clicked on over to the Toxic Test to check it out. Believe me, I was surprised.
Nix Toxic Pink Soap in Schools
In 2012, the CDC’s annual assessment of schools discussed green cleaning for the first time ever. “Children are more vulnerable than adults to hazardous environmental exposures because, compared to adults, they breathe more air, eat more food, and drink more water per pound of body weight,” the report states. “A school that…[is] free of hazardous chemicals, and clean is arguably best equipped to support student and teacher health, learning, and overall productivity.” And while most of this is good news—more than 36% of districts now purchase low-VOC paints, cleaners and floor coverings, 55% require that schools test drinking water for lead, and more than 50% pursue an integrated pest management…
Poison Apples
I grew up on “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” My most vivid grade-school history lesson centered around Johnny Appleseed. I truly believe that something can be “as American as apple pie.” But a recent statistic made me worry that American apples aren’t safe, anymore. A new report from the Environmental Working Group found that 80% of apples are coated with a pesticide that’s banned in Europe because it could be carcinogenic. European regulators are worried too—so worried about the connection between diphenylamine and nitrosamines, a family of potent cancer-causing chemicals, that they banned the use of DPA on apples and pears in June 2012. That’s why I started a petition…
Are There Drugs In Your Drinking Water?
When I read about an EPA study released earlier this year that found trace residues of at least 25 different drugs in drinking water, I panicked. This was on the heels of a study that linked acetaminophen in pregnancy with ADHD in children. If occasional use of endocrine-disrupting drugs like acetaminophen could affect a baby, what could they do to the rest of us if we were ingesting drugs on a daily basis through drinking water?
