Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure
By Myron Levin on January 16, 2018
In the early 1970s, a Johnson & Johnson official posed a question that haunts the company today. If Johnson’s Baby Powder contained asbestos at a level of, say, 1 percent, how much of the cancer-causing substance would a baby inhale when dusted with the powder? The executive’s handwritten memo reached what, at the time, may…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Environmental Safety and Health, Product Hazards and Recalls |
By Lynne Peeples on January 9, 2018
When her black cat rapidly dropped from a healthy 14 pounds to a skeletal five pounds, it was natural for Arlene Blum to investigate whether a toxic chemical in her home might be to blame. The veterinarian’s diagnosis raised that possibility, and Blum had expertise in the harm that chemicals can cause. Her research as a chemist in the 1970s helped reveal the possible health hazards posed by flame retardants used in children’s sleepwear.
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Consumer Protection, Environmental Safety and Health |
By Stuart Silverstein on November 14, 2017
New California rules aimed at curbing the surprising amount of pollution coming from leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other small gas-powered machines cleared a final hurdle Monday, and are set to take effect on Jan. 1. The requirements mark another step in the state’s long-running battle to reduce emissions from a category of small engines…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Environmental Safety and Health, Workplace Safety and Health |
By Paul Feldman on October 26, 2017
Amid complaints by consumers about fumes and carbon monoxide seeping into the cabins of Ford Explorers, the nation’s No. 2 automaker next week will launch a free servicing program. Ford continues to insist that the vehicles are safe, despite complaints from more than 2,000 motorists who say they have been inhaling exhaust in their Explorers….
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Auto and Highway Safety, Consumer Protection |
By Stuart Silverstein on September 19, 2017
Leaf blowers can make an infernal racket, and environmental officials say that exhaust from blowers and other gas-powered lawn and garden equipment is a surprisingly big source of air pollution. But are landscaping workers who use the equipment day in and day out exposed to potentially harmful emissions? A 2006 study by the U.S. Environmental…
| Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Environmental Safety and Health, Workplace, Workplace Safety and Health |
By Paul Feldman on June 20, 2017
More than 200 scientists and public health advocates are urging regulators to take a closer look at the potential dangers of antimicrobial chemicals including triclosan, an additive that has been banned from hand soaps but remains an active ingredient in products ranging from building materials to Colgate’s Total toothpaste. The call for better labeling and…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Consumer Protection, Pharmaceutical Industry and Drugs, Product Hazards and Recalls |
By Dan Ross on May 4, 2017
Soon after Erin Card moved to within two miles of the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia two years ago, she began to notice threads of smoke that occasionally rose above the heavily wooded site. She started asking about the source, and eventually was stunned by what she learned: Toxic explosives were being burned in…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Environmental Safety and Health |
By Dan Ross on February 28, 2017
At toxic cleanup sites across the country, environmental agencies have allowed groundwater contamination to go untreated and slowly diminish over time—a strategy that saves money for polluters but could cost taxpayers dearly and jeopardize drinking water supplies. The strategy is called monitored natural attenuation, or MNA. With little public awareness or debate, it has come…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Drinking Water, Environmental Safety and Health |
Big Companies in Legal Scrapes Turn to Science-for-Hire Giant Exponent
By Myron Levin and Paul Feldman on December 13, 2016
The Fall of Icarus is the Greek myth about a youth who gets a pair of wax-and-feather wings but soars too close to the sun–melting the wings and casting him into the sea. In the 1990s, a consulting firm called Failure Analysis Associates ran tongue-in-cheek ads aimed at corporate lawyers that retold the myth as…
Posted in FairWarning Investigates | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Auto and Highway Safety, Aviation Safety, Consumer Protection, Environmental Safety and Health, Food Supply, Product Hazards and Recalls, Smoking and Tobacco Industry, Workplace Safety and Health |
By Paul Feldman on October 6, 2016
More Americans are bicycling or walking to work these days, getting healthy exercise and doing their bit to reduce traffic and air pollution. But with little government investment in safety measures, such as protected bike lanes and sidewalks, more cyclists and pedestrians also are getting killed. Fatalities jumped nationally last year among bicyclists, rising 12.2…
Posted in FairWarning Reports | Tagged Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, Auto and Highway Safety |
