Environmental Health In the News
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Pesticides lurk in daycare centers
- Environmental Science & Technology (new window)
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9/6/2006 |
| Millions of children get exposed to pesticides while attending daycare, concludes the first nationwide study of insecticide residues in U.S. daycare centers. The study, published today on ES&T’s Research ASAP website (DOI: 10.1021/es061021h), found low levels of organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides. Although the health impacts are unclear, the results raise questions about the risks children face from these chemicals. | |
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Protest demands ban of chemical in toys
- Sacramento Bee (new window)
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9/21/2007 |
| With a thousand rubber ducks and campaign posters -- "Arnold, Don't pardon toxic toys!" -- activists Thursday sought to persuade Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign legislation banning potentially harmful chemicals from children's toys. | |
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Protect kids from toxic toys
- Los Angeles Times (new window)
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9/20/2007 |
| Rubber duckies are great -- unless they're the kind that are loaded with chemicals called phthalates. These softening agents can make up 50% of the plastic in toys children love to stick in their mouths. The trouble is, these unhealthy chemicals don't stay in the toy's plastic. They get chewed and sucked right out, just like the flavoring of bubble gum. | |
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House eyes national toxics law
- San Francisco Chronicle (new window)
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7/13/2006 |
| House Republicans are pushing new legislation that could wipe out the ability of California and other states to ban or strictly limit the use of pesticides and toxic industrial chemicals that can jeopardize human health. | |
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Supervisors to consider ban of certain plastics
- San Francisco Chronicle (new window)
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6/3/2006 |
| San Francisco supervisors are set to adopt the nation's first ban on some chemicals in plastic baby bottles, pacifiers and toys that may harm young children, a move that comes after a similar measure failed to pass in the California Legislature. | |
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Unity Is Urged on Chemical Policy in State
- Los Angeles Times (new window)
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5/11/2006 |
| Leaders of California's chemical companies gathered Wednesday in Los Angeles to discuss how best to respond to growing pressure to develop a new state policy that would provide the public more protection from toxic compounds in consumer products and the environment. | |
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Greening of state's chemicals suggested
- LA Times (new window)
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3/14/2006 |
| A UC research team urges the Legislature to enact a policy to restrict dangerous materials and replace them with safer substitutes. | |
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Lawmaker wants state to follow city's lead with 'toxic toy' ban
- San Francisco Chronicle (new window)
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2/28/2007 |
| Toys and child care products that contain certain chemicals would be banned in California under a bill introduced Tuesday by a San Francisco assemblywoman. | |
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What's Toxic In Toyland
- Time Magazine (new window)
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12/4/2006 |
| They line the nursery section children's toy stores like brightly colored candies: rubber duckies for bathtime, chewable rings for teething, soft-covered books for pawing and mouthing. Parents shopping for their babies can be forgiven if they assume that everything on those shelves is 100% child safe. So why did the city of San Francisco issue a ban last week on the sale of certain plastic toys aimed at children under 3? | |
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Toxic Toys
- The Nation (new window)
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11/5/2007 |
| Into the playrooms of children has come the unsettling news: those little red trains and other neat miniatures of the adult world may be coated in paint containing illegally high levels of lead, posing myriad risks to a child's neurological development. After that discovery prompted a mass recall this past summer, parents will never look at Thomas the Tank Engine the same way again. But the uproar over banned substances and rogue Chinese toy manufacturers has overshadowed an even more troubling issue: the toxins in toys that are perfectly legal. | |
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San Francisco prepares to ban certain chemicals in products for kids, but enforcement will be tough -- and toymakers question necessity
- San Francisco Chronicle (new window)
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11/19/2006 |
| Widely used chemicals with suspected links to cancer and developmental problems in humans are present in common baby products like the yellow rubber ducky, bath books and clear plastic bottles, a Chronicle analysis confirmed. | |
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Chemical stirs up controversy
- Los Angeles Times (new window)
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10/22/2007 |
| A group of obscure chemical compounds with the tongue-challenging name phthalates popped up in the news last week. Although you may have never heard of them, they're found in scores of consumer products. And they're linked by some people to a variety of health problems. | |
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Editorial: State's ban on phthalates sets healthy precedent
- Contra Costa Times (new window)
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10/21/2007 |
| In the here and now, Assembly Bill 1108, passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, appears to be far from a big deal. But it may be a harbinger of things to come. | |
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California to ban phthalates in baby products
- USA Today (new window)
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10/17/2007 |
| Manufacturers of toys and baby products will have to begin reformulating some plastic items made for the California market in 2009. | |
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A nationwide toxic toy ban likely to follow state lead
- San Francisco Chronicle (new window)
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10/16/2007 |
| One day after California became the first state in the nation to ban toys containing toxic plastic softeners, supporters of the measure announced plans Monday to help at least nine other states - and perhaps even Congress - enact similar laws. | |
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California bans use of toxin in toys
- San Jose Mercury News (new window)
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10/15/2007 |
| Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Sunday making California the first state in the nation to ban use of a toxic chemical in baby toys, forging a theme of defying conservative interests as he pushed toward a midnight deadline to deal with more than 950 bills sent to his desk by state lawmakers. | |
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Governor rushes to clear bills
- Sacramento Bee (new window)
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10/15/2007 |
| Rushing to meet a midnight deadline to act on hundreds of bills left on his desk by the Democratic-controlled Legislature, the Republican governor also signed one bill that raises a variety of vehicle fees to fund air pollution programs and another that makes California the first state to ban chemical phthalates in toys and other products meant for children under age 3. | |
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California OKs phthalates ban on children's products
- Reuters (new window)
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10/14/2007 |
| Siding with activists who urged action against "toxic toys," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill on Sunday banning chemicals called phthalates in children's products. | |
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State to probe development of 'green' chemicals
- Los Angeles Times (new window)
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1/31/2008 |
| Experts are unveiling ideas for a state effort to develop and use 'green' substitutes for toxic compounds. | |
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Study finds toxins gain potency when combined
- Oakland Tribune (new window)
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1/25/2006 |
| Chemical mixtures such as the soup of pesticides found in agricultural runoff can be vastly more toxic to humans and creatures than a single chemical, suggesting current efforts to assess health risks posed by such compounds significantly underestimate their danger, researchers have found. | |
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Replace bisphenol A or a child's health?
- San Francisco Chronicle (new window)
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1/22/2007 |
| When parents first hear that some plastics may be a threat to their children's health, their initial reaction is often disbelief. "Surely the government tests these materials thoroughly for safety." | |
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When are pesticides sprayed near your child's day care?
- Stockton Record (new window)
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1/2/2007 |
| Parents have the right to know when pesticides are sprayed at many private day-care centers under a state law that took effect Monday. | |
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Push to ban additives in toys gains legislative momentum
- Oakland Tribune
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1/11/2006 |
| The effort to ban two plastics common in children's toys and known to contaminate our bodies got its biggest push yet in California on Tuesday, when scientists told lawmakers of the permanent harm these products inflict on the very young. | |
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Scientists Debate Bill to Restrict Chemicals
- Los Angeles Times (new window)
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1/11/2006 |
| Scientists on Tuesday debated the health risks of two chemicals found in plastic baby products as California legislators consider a bill that would make the state the only place in the world to restrict one of the compounds, which has been shown in some studies to mimic female hormones and possibly interfere with boys' reproductive development. | |
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Factions argue safety of toys
- Sacramento Bee (new window)
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1/11/2006 |
| For most any toddler and doting mother, Elmo's Tub-Time Rhyme Bath Book is just a squishy plastic page-turner that is as delightfully chewable as it is readable. | |
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Bill seeks ban on chemical in toys, bottles
- San Francisco Chronicle (new window)
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1/11/2006 |
| California could become the first state to ban the sale of some plastic baby bottles and polyvinyl chloride toys if lawmakers pass a bill aired Tuesday in its first public hearing. | |
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California lawmakers hear testimony about toy safety
- Sacramento Bee (new window)
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1/10/2006 |
| For most any toddler and doting mother, Elmo's Tub-Time Rhyme Bath Book is just a squishy plastic page-turner that is as delightfully chewable as it is readable. | |
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Editorial: California's Green Chemistry Initiative
- Los Angeles Times (new window)
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07/14/2008 |
| There is such a thing as better living through chemistry, but only if it's green. As it is, the toxic substances in your sunscreen, plastic bottles, mattresses and a list of other consumer products far too long to cite may be killing you. | |
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Editorial: Concerns About BPA Plastic
- The New York Times (new window)
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05/20/2008 |
| Anybody worried about the potential danger from plastic bottles and cups, especially for the very young, should take note. The Canadian government has announced plans to restrict the use of bisphenol-a, or BPA, a chemical used to make hardened plastics. The government would prohibit the sale of baby bottles made with BPA. (Those are the ones with the numeral 7 in the triangle stamp on the bottom). | |
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