Health Buzz

From Wired.com:
Ever wonder what makes your cell phone ring? We’re talking hardware, not incoming calls. That tiny device puts a periodic table’s worth of elements in your pocket. We dissected a Sony-Ericsson W300 — and tracked down where its contents likely originated.

From Ms Magazine:
That lipstick or nail polish you may be wearing — are they a danger to your health? How about your deodorant, toothpaste, body lotion, soap?
Seemingly innocuous personal-care products contain a host of largely unregulated chemicals and toxic ingredients. Some of those chemicals — phthalates, formaldehyde, petroleum, parabens, benzene and lead — have been [...]

By LIBBY QUAID AP Food and Farm Writer
WASHINGTON Apr 11, 2006 (AP)— Two soft-drink companies were sued Tuesday by parents complaining that there might be cancer-causing benzene in kids’ drinks.
Attorneys filed class-action lawsuits against the companies in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston and Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Fla. They accused Polar Beverages Inc. [...]

New York Times:
By Melanie Warner
WHEN Dr. Morando Soffritti, a cancer researcher in Bologna, Italy, saw the results of his team’s seven-year study on aspartame, he knew he was about to be injected into a bitter controversy over this sweetener, one of the most contentiously debated substances ever added to foods and beverages.
Aspartame is sold under [...]

Part one of a three part series
Douglas Fischer - STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
In a pioneering study, we tested a Bay Area family for a suite of chemical pollutants. The results stunned even scientists.
A casual observer of Rowan Hammond Holland sees a little towhead, devilishly cute, who grins impishly while tossing food at the family dog.
A [...]

Source: ENN: Environmental News Network
August 10, 2005 — By United Steel Workers
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Citing growing public health concerns, the United Steelworkers (USW) union has informed major carpet cleaning retailers and wholesalers, fast food chains and major retail clothing companies that they may have “a legal duty to warn” their customers about potential harmful effects [...]

News-Medical.net:
In a new report scientists say that a chemical compound used to make Teflon, possibly causes cancer.
The report, which is still in draft, is written by the scientific advisory panel of the Environmental Protection Agency, and has identified perfluorooctanoic acid as a “likely carcinogen”.
The EPA has until now classified PFOA as a “suggested” carcinogen, and [...]

SFGate.com: Women are taking environmental health into their own hands
Recent research has shown that phthalates, chemicals routinely used in body-care products, could harm developing fetuses and young children. (The effects on adult bodies are less clear but may include male-fertility problems.) Beyond simple questions of poisoning — the sort of tests the cosmetic industry usually [...]

Make-up and body care products have been linked to allergic reactions, birth defects, and even cancer. Here’s what you need to know.
Suzanne Anich of Minneapolis, MN, has a morning routine similar to that of many women. She shampoos and conditions her hair with products that contain �natural ingredients,� according to the labels. She brushes her [...]

For the first time, scientists have found evidence that chemicals widely used in cosmetics and plastics and found in pregnant women are adversely affecting genital development in their infant boys.
The findings published by researchers at the University of Minnesota and other institutions could have implications for the chemical industry and for the U.S. Food and [...]