NewsTrust - Wellness - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

Rural well water linked to Parkinson’s; California study implicates farm pesticides

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

environmentalhealthnews.org - By Marla Cone - Aug. 05 (News) - Rural residents who drink water from private wells are much more likely to have Parkinson’s disease, a finding that bolsters theories that farm pesticides may be partially to blame, according to a new study. The risk to people in California's Central Valley was 90 percent higher for those who had private wells near fields sprayed with certain insecticides. People with the incurable neurological disease “were more likely to have consumed private well water, and had consumed it on average 4.3 years longer,” UCLA scientists reported. Unlike municipal water supplies, private wells are largely unregulated and are not monitored for contaminants.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Tanning beds rated as top-tier cancer risk

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

healthzone.ca - By Megan Ogilvie - Jul. 29 (News Report) - Tanning beds are as deadly as mustard gas, arsenic, plutonium and other known carcinogens, international cancer experts have ruled.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Red Meat & Dairy Linked to Cancer

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

care2.com - By Melissa Breyer - Jul. 28 (Special Report) - In a recent study published in the internationally acclaimed Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers examined the association between the intake of red meat and dairy products and pancreatic cancer by analyzing a cohort of over 500,000 people from the National Institutes of Health–AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1995 and 1996 and were followed prospectively for an average of 6 years to track a variety of health outcomes, including pancreatic cancer. Men and women who consumed high amounts of total fats had 53 percent and 23 percent higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer, respectively,

NewsTrust Rating: 2.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

H1N1 Flu Public Health Alert

Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

ncsl.org - By William T. Pound - May. 05 (News Analysis) - The National Conference of State Legislatures will provide the most up-to-date and relevant information on the H1N1 flu (swine flu) outbreak. These resources will help state legislators and legislative staff stay abreast of the federal and state responses to this public health alert. The information can help state officials plan and prepare for a potential H1N1 flu (swine flu) outbreak.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

GOP Stripped Flu Pandemic Preparedness From Stimulus

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jason Linkins - Apr. 27 (News Report) - Maine Senator Collins, the supposedly moderate Republican who demanded cuts in health care spending in exchange for her support of a watered-down version of the stimulus, fumed about the pandemic funding: "Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill No, we should not." Even now, Collins continues to use her official website to highlight the fact that she led the fight to strip the pandemic preparedness money out of the Senate's version of the stimulus measure.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

EPA restores stricter reporting of toxic pollution

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

seattlepi.com - By Dina Cappiello - Apr. 22 (News Report) - The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it was reversing a decision by the Bush administration in 2006 that reduced reporting of toxic pollution for more than 3,500 facilities nationwide. The Bush rules allowed facilities storing or releasing smaller amounts of toxic chemicals to submit less-detailed information to the government.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Radiation Exposure from 50 Years of Uranium Mining Continues to Affect Spokane Indian Reservation

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Twa-le Abrahamson - Apr. 21 (Special Report) - The Spokane Reservation is about forty-five miles northwest of the city of Spokane. And when the mines opened, the workforce was largely tribal people, and a lot of women worked in the mines at that time. And so, we’ve heard a lot of stories of women that worked there that were placed in certain positions because they were over childbearing age. And we’ve lost a lot of our people to illnesses related to—which we feel are related to the mine and the contaminants at the mine.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

"I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD"

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Michael de Yoanna, Mark Benjamin - Apr. 08 (Investigative Report) - Sgt. X tucked a recording device into his pocket and set it on voice-activation so it would capture what the doctor said. Sgt. X had no idea that the little machine in his pocket was about to capture recorded evidence of something wounded soldiers and their advocates have long suspected -- that the military does not want Iraq veterans to be diagnosed with PTSD, a condition that obligates the military to provide expensive, intensive long-term care, including the possibility of lifetime disability payments.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Among 4-year-olds, 1 in 5 obese, study finds

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

seattlepi.com - By Lindsey Tanner - Apr. 06 (Special Report) - A striking new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

CDC: Rocket fuel chemical found in baby formula

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Mike Stobbe - Apr. 03 (News Report) - Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of powdered baby formula, and could exceed what's considered a safe dose for adults if mixed with water also contaminated with the ingredient, a government study has found.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Study Shows Drinking Water Contaminated With Potent Estrogen

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

wateronline.com - Mar. 31 (News Report) - these chemicals are potent in vivo and result in an increased development of embryos in the New Zealand mud snail. These findings, which show for the first time that substances leaching out of plastic food packaging materials act as functional estrogens, are published in Springer's journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Will NAFTA exterminate Canadian pesticide bans?

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

CTV.ca - By Parminder Parmar - Mar. 29 (News Report) - "The ban would eliminate the use of conventional pesticides for cosmetic purposes on lawns, gardens, school yards and parks," says an Ontario government press release. That means 250 products containing one or more chemicals on a list of prohibited materials will be pulled out of stores by Earth Day on April 22. Environmental and health advocates hail the provincial bans as big steps in protecting public safety and children. But the pesticide prohibitions are not sitting well with the Dow Chemical Company. When Quebec enacted similar regulations, the Dow AgroSciences unit of the company filed a notice of action against Ottawa claiming the Quebec legislation violates NAFTA.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Study: Range of Pharmaceuticals in Fish Across US

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Martha Mendoza - Mar. 25 (News Report) - Fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities had residues of pharmaceuticals in them, including medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression, researchers reported Wednesday.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Burning Toxic Waste is Making U.S. Soldiers and Iraqis Sick, But the Pentagon Refuses to Admit It

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Nora Eisenberg - Mar. 18 (News Report) - Acetaldehyde, Acrolien, Arsenic, Benzene, Carbon Monoxide, Ethylbenzene, Formaldehyde, Hydrogen Cyanide, Hydrogen Fluoride, Phosgene, Sulfur Dioxide, Sulfuric Acid, Toluene, Trichloroethane, Xylene. These are just some of the chemicals detected in smoke from the Balad Burn Pit, one of the many vast open pits spewing toxic plumes over Iraq and Afghanistan. But not to worry

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Case for Giving Eli Lilly the Corporate Death Penalty

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Bruce E. Levine - Mar. 03 (Special Report) - If Americans are ever going to revoke the publicly granted charters of reckless, giant corporations -- well within our rights -- we might want to get the ball rolling with Lilly, whose recent actions appalled even the mainstream media. And with Lilly's chums, the Bush family, out of power, now might be the right time. On January 15, 2009, Lilly pled guilty to charges that it had illegally marketed its blockbuster drug Zyprexa for unapproved uses to children and the elderly, two populations especially vulnerable to its dangerous side effect.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Bipolar Bamboozle

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

csicop.org - By Stephen Ray Flora, Sarah Elizabeth Bobby - Feb. 20 (Investigative Report) - “Bipolar disorder,” originally known as manic-depression, has been acknowledged as a problem for centuries. However, until very recently, it was considered a very rare and severe condition. Now diagnoses of “bipolar spectrum” disorders are reaching epidemic proportions. Nothing has changed in humans’ biology or natural environment to account for this rise in diagnoses. What does account for the increase is a “softening” of the criteria needed to diagnose a person with bipolar, an increase in aggressive marketing of new profitable prescription drugs for bipolar, and psychiatrists “upcoding” problems to get higher insurance reimbursement rates. A likely outcome of this increase in labeling people “bipolar” is not that more people in need of help are getting it but instead that millions of people are unnecessarily being put on powerful antipsychotic medications. As the name suggests, people labeled bipolar are believed to alternate between the emotional extremes, or poles, of mania and depression. Prior to the publication of the third edition of psychiatry’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III) in 1980, a patient would have to be hospitalized with a manic episode before a diagnosis of manic-depression was made. At that time rates of mania were estimated to be 0.4 to 1.2 percent of the population; prior to that, rates were estimated to be even lower. Currently some estimates of bipolar are as high as 10 percent of the population (Angst, et al. 2003), but rates of hospitalization for mania have not increased. What happened?

NewsTrust Rating: 5.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obesity Caught Like Common Cold

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

LiveScience - By Robert Roy Britt - Jan. 26 (News Report) - Yet another claim that a common and contagious virus is linked to some cases of obesity is in the news today. Studies on humans show that 33 per cent of obese adults had contracted an adenovirus called AD-36 at some point in their lives, according to an article in the UK's Daily Express, whereas only 11 per cent of lean men and women have had the virus.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Crops absorb livestock antibiotics, science shows

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

environmentalhealthnews.org - By Matthew Cimitile - Jan. 06 (News Report) - “Around 90 percent of these drugs that are administered to animals end up being excreted either as urine or manure,” said Holly Dolliver, a member of the Minnesota research team and now a professor of crop and soil sciences at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. “A vast majority of that manure is then used as an important input for 9.2 million hectares of (U.S.) agricultural land.” Manure, widely used as a substitute for chemical fertilizer, adds nutrients that help plants grow. It is often used in organic farming.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Lead for car batteries poisons an African town

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The State - By Heidi Vogt - Jan. 03 (News Report) - Although North America and Europe continue to be the world's biggest buyers of cars, fewer and fewer car batteries are made there. Manufacturing has moved where labor is cheaper and environmental protections regulations are more lenient, or at least more leniently enforced. "There's not a developing country where this isn't happening," says Perry Gottesfeld, of OK International.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Did You Know 200,000 Vets Are Sleeping on the Streets?

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Aaron Glantz - Jan. 03 (Special Report) - On any given night 200,000 U.S. veterans sleep homeless on the streets of America. One out of every four people -- and one out of every three men -- sleeping in a car, in front of a shop door, or under a freeway overpass has worn a military uniform. Some like Brantley have been on the streets for years. Others are young and women returning home wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan, quickly slipping through the cracks.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Puget Sound Researchers Find Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Orcas

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

kitsapsun.com - By Christopher Dunagan - Nov. 19 (Investigative Report) - Puget Sound's orcas collectively harbor more than a dozen different kinds of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — as well as other bacteria known to kill animals that are in a weakened condition, according to Puget Sound researchers. Independent researchers David Bain, a biologist, and Pete Schroeder, a veterinarian, have been studying the droplets emitted from Puget Sound whales' blow holes and culturing the samples.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Bush rushes to open Grand Canyon to toxic uranium mining

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Brad Johnson - Oct. 15 (News Report) - The Arizona Republic explains what's at stake: Never mind that the drinking water of more than 25 million people, served by the Colorado River, is at risk ... Or that Arizona Game and Fish warns about the impact on wildlife ... Or that Grand Canyon National Park is still dealing with the toxic mess from past mines ...

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Pesticide triggers a food chain cascade

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

pubs.acs.org - By Rhitu Chatterjee - Oct. 15 (Special Report) - When it comes to pesticides’ effects on frogs, sublethal concentrations do not preclude lethality. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in the October issue of the journal Ecological Applications. After dosing wood frogs and leopard frogs with very small concentrations of the popular pesticide malathion, the researchers discovered that the chemical did not kill the frogs directly—instead, they died from the indirect effects of the pesticide on tiny zooplankton and the entire food chain.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Northern Exposure

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

New Republic - By Sheila Kaplan, Marilyn Berlin Snell - Oct. 08 (Special Report) - Unfortunately, as governor of a state with a birth-defect rate that's twice the national average, and which has the gloomy status as repository of toxic chemicals from around the world, Palin has pursued environmental policies that seem perfectly crafted to swell the ranks of special-needs kids. It's true that Alaska's top leaders have placed industry wishes over environmental protection for years. But, instead of correcting this problem, she's compounded it. Peer into her environmental record, and Palin ends up looking a lot like George W. Bush.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

At OpEdNews: SOCIOLOGICAL REFORM: What's It All About?

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Op Ed News - By Mark Overt Skilbred - Sep. 26 (Special Report) - Come on! This isn't good enough! We can do a better job here! We have to stop settling for less-than-the-best with our social problems. We need to pitch-in and help solve these problems while we still can, before we all move away, or are overrun by our betters! Are we a nation of has-beens, content with yesterday's accomplishments, or will we discover a way to respond to these sociological concerns that will create a conscientious and enduring example for our children and world-neighbors?

NewsTrust Rating: 5.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer