Exercising in Traffic Is Bad for the Heart
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
If your running route takes you into traffic, you might want to remap it.
A growing body of evidence suggests that air pollution may take a big toll on your heart. The latest research, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that diesel fumes—a major contributor to particulate air pollution—can restrict the amount of blood that reaches the heart and impair the body's ability to prevent clotting. This follows on the heels of research published in Circulation in July that showed people who live closer to heavy traffic tend to have higher rates of coronary atherosclerosis.
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Fred Krupp | environmentalist
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
In the 1980s, "our informal motto was, 'Sue the bastards,' " says Fred Krupp, president of the nonprofit group Environmental Defense. Now that informal motto has evolved to something like: what bastards? When some of his staffers wanted to sue McDonald's over its use of polystyrene sandwich boxes, Krupp instead flew to Oak Brook, Ill., to meet with McDonald's President Ed Resni. "If we are trying to change opinions, we better understand what they think first," Krupp says. The two organizations teamed to find a solution. In the end, "we did not do a report to them, we did a report with them." By 1990, McDonald's had replaced its iconic clamshell with recycled paper and, based on recommendations in the report, slashed other solid waste.
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The 10 Biggest Carbon Dioxide Polluters
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
Ten large companies generate more than one third of the 2.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted each year by U.S. electric power generators, according to figures in a first-of-its-kind database unveiled Wednesday.
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The Real Dangers of Air Pollution
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there are better things you could do for your health than take deep breaths on a smoggy day. A growing pile of research suggests that even relatively low levels of air pollution may be more harmful than previously realized, to both heart and lungs. The latest salvo from researchers, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, focuses on how particulate matter from air pollution affects lung function. The new research buttresses studies (here and here) published earlier this year by the same journal showing that air pollution contributes to heart problems. How much should you worry? U.S. News asked leading experts to put this latest news in context. Some key questions and answers:
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Technology’s Morning After
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
The cathode ray tube is having a bad decade. For years, it was the glow behind "tube TV," the bulb that gave television screens and desktop monitors their rounded face. Now it is being replaced by plasma, LCD, and other technologies. And the switch is expected to accelerate further in 2009 when the Federal Communication Commission requires all consumers to convert to digital televisions.
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Bootlegged Federal Report Spells Trouble for 8 States
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
The investigative group Center for Public Integrity this morning posted bootlegged portions of what appears to be a disturbing—and purportedly suppressed—government report about environmental contamination across the Great Lakes region. Six years in the making, the report assesses evidence of health-threatening contamination in 26 "areas of concern" covering parts of eight states, and it links contamination in many of those areas to high rates of infant mortality, other infant health problems, and adult malignancies, including breast, colon, and lung cancers.
The scientific evidence supporting those links is only circumstantial—the report describes geographic patterns of contamination and disease but explicitly makes no claims about causes or effects. Nevertheless, the number of people who might be at risk is staggering: The 54 affected counties have more than 9 million residents, including 230,000 whom the report deems particularly "vulnerable."
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Americans Junk Millions of Used Cellphones
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
Only about 40 percent of Americans recycle or repurpose their old cellphones, according to a new survey. That might be discouraging news to anyone who wants to keep our growing pile of electronics junk out of landfills. How can we hope to get other gadgets recycled that are heavier and more difficult to handle than cellphones, perhaps the easiest of electronics to keep out of the trash?
Most wireless carriers will take old handsets. Charities will pay for shipping to get the phones. Recycling bins for used cellphones are often available at libraries, schools, and malls.
Nonetheless, 10 percent of us chuck millions of handsets and their toxic waste into the trash, according to the survey from market tracker iSuppli. More than 35 percent shove them into a drawer, where they're no good to anyone. "All too often, those handsets end up in the trash when spring cleaning comes," says iSuppli's Greg Sheppard.
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Shedding Light on a Cause of Breast Cancer
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
When Edison invented the light bulb, did he accidentally spawn a cancer epidemic? It's certainly starting to look that way. In study after recent study, exposure to artificial light has been linked to certain kinds of tumors, especially those in the breast.
Consider some of the evidence: Blind women have low rates of breast cancer. So do women in underdeveloped countries, where artificial lighting is an uncommon luxury. By contrast, female nurses and other women who frequently work night shifts have high breast cancer rates. The reason, experts believe, is that their schedules expose them to illumination during what should be the darkest hours of their days, and that disrupts the body's production of the cancer-suppressing hormone melatonin. In lab experiments, human breast tumors have been found to grow relatively quickly when fed by the blood of women who have been in a brightly lit room in the middle of the night. When blood is drawn from women who've been sitting in darkness, it's richer in melatonin and less nourishing to the cancer.
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Air Pollution Kicks Men Where it Counts
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
Since I bike pretty much everywhere, I spend a fair bit of time sandwiched behind garbage trucks, city buses, and whatever other pollution-spewing monstrosities come my way. Just yesterday, for instance, a delivery truck pinned me in between the curb and a lane of fast-moving traffic. Since I'm working on a magazine story about the growing list of health risks associated with air pollution, I couldn't help but ponder the diesel fumes wafting my way from the truck's exhaust pipe. Should I just keep gulping the stuff down? Try to back up a few feet? Break the law and make for the sidewalk?
Plenty of scientists and doctors have been telling me that there's no doubt air pollution can do a number on my heart and lungs. They have conducted literally thousands of studies that make that point. The reassuring thing, they tell me, is that the risk is relatively small for any single individual. OK, good. Then from the other corner of their mouths they usually whisper: Umm, by the way, avoid exercising outdoors near traffic if you can. And, oh, yes, bicycling in heavy city traffic is probably one of the best ways you can up your air pollution exposure.
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15 Seconds of Radio Fame
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Air Pollution, Curbing Pollution, Environmental Pollution, General, Global Warming, Land Pollution, Ocean Pollution, Pollution News, Water Pollution
I gave my first-ever radio interview yesterday, discussing on WTOP the emerging link between artificial light and cancer. Here is the audio. Last week, I posted about new research on the subject.
My U.S. News colleagues have also been gabbing it up on the radio. WTOP has an archive of recent on-air interviews.
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keep looking »