tagged w/ Formaldehyde
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By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
The Vermont state Senate passed legislation to create a single-payer health insurance system, Paul Waldman reports for TAPPED. Since the state House has already passed a similar bill, all that’s left to do is reconcile the two pieces of legislation before the governor signs it into law.
Waldman stresses that there are still many details to work out, including how the system will be funded. Vermont might end up with a system like France’s where everyone has basic public insurance, which most people supplement with additional private coverage. The most important thing, Waldman argues, is that Vermont is moving to sever the link between employment and health insurance.
Roe showdown
Anti-choicers are gunning for a Roe v. Wade showdown in the Supreme Court before Obama can appoint any more justices. At the behest of an unnamed conservative group, Republican state Rep. John LaBruzzo of Louisiana has introduced a bill that would ban all abortions, even to save the woman’s life. The original bill upped the anti-choice ante by criminalizing not only doctors who perform abortions, but also women who procure them. LaBruzzo has since promised to scale the bill back to just criminalizing doctors. This is all blatantly unconstitutional, of course,. but as Kate Sheppard explains in Mother Jones, that’s precisely the point:
The Constitution, of course, is exactly what LaBruzzo is targeting. He admits his proposal is intended as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional right to privacy included the right to abortions in some circumstances. LaBruzzo says he’d like his bill to become law and “immediately go to court,” and he told a local paper that an unnamed conservative religious group asked him to propose the law for exactly that purpose.
Drug pushers in your living room
Martha Rosenberg poses a provocative question at AlterNet: Does anyone remember a time before “Ask Your Doctor” ads overran the airwaves, Internet, buses, billboards, and seemingly every other medium? Direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising has become so ubiquitous that it’s easy to forget that it was illegal until the late ’90s. In the days before DTC, drug advertising was limited to medical journals, prescription pads, golf towels, and pill-shaped stress balls distributed in doctors’ offices–which makes sense. The whole point of making a drug prescription-only is to put the decision-making power in the hands of doctors. Now, drug companies advertise to consumers for the same reason that food companies advertise to children. It’s called “pester power.”
DTC drug ads encourage consumers to self-diagnose based on vague and sometimes nearly universal symptoms like poor sleep, daytime drowsiness, anxiety, and depression. Once consumers are convinced they’re suffering from industry-hyped constructs like “erectile dysfunction” and “premenstrual dysphoric disorder,” they’re going to badger their doctors for prescriptions.
That’s not to say that these terms don’t encompass legitimate health problems, but rather that DTC markets products in such vague terms that a lot of healthy people are sure to be clamoring for drugs they don’t need. Typically, neither the patient nor the doctor is paying the full cost of the drug, so patients are more likely to ask and doctors have little incentive to say no.
Greenwashing air fresheners
A reader seeks the counsel of Grist’s earthy advice columnist Umbra on the issue of air fresheners. Some of these odor-concealing aerosols are touting themselves as green for adopting all-natural propellants. Does that make them healthier, or greener? Only marginally, says Umbra. Air fresheners still contain formaldehyde, petroleum distillates, and other questionable chemicals.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Pulse for a complete list of articles on health care reform, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
The Vermont state Senate passed... more
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A prominent philanthropist, cancer survivor, and American businessman, David Koch, has given millions(http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all) to the cause of cancer research, while his company—Koch Industries—has lobbied against formal recognition of formaldehyde as a carcinogen, The New Yorker reported in a piece published today.
Koch sits on the advisory board of the National Cancer Institute—a position he was appointed to in 2004 by President Bush, reported The New Yorker.
The National Cancer Institute published a study in 2009 concluding that formaldehyde causes cancer in humans. Here’s The New Yorker, describing that study’s findings:
The study tracked twenty-five thousand patients for an average of forty years; subjects exposed to higher amounts of formaldehyde had significantly higher rates of leukemia. These results helped lead an expert panel within the National Institutes of Health to conclude that formaldehyde should be categorized as a known carcinogen, and be strictly controlled by the government.
As we’ve noted, prior to the May 2009 study, the National Cancer Institute had also performed a preliminary study that linked formaldehyde to leukemia, but members of Congress including Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and David Vitter, R-La., managed(http://www.propublica.org/article/how-senator-david-vitter-battled-formaldehyde-link-to-cancer) to delay the EPA from officially designating the chemical as a “known carcinogen.” (The EPA in June, however, released a draft assessment(http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/446155902B97B31A85257735006516D5) of formaldehyde that supports that designation, but it’s not yet official.)
In 2005, Koch Industries bought Georgia-Pacific, one of the world’s largest plywood manufacturers and a major formaldehyde producer. The company has donated to both Vitter and Inhofe(http://www.propublica.org/article/how-senator-david-vitter-battled-formaldehyde-link-to-cancer).
In a letter to federal health authorities sent last December, the company’s vice-president of environmental affairs wrote that “the company ‘strongly disagrees’ with the N.I.H. panel’s conclusion that formaldehyde should be treated as a known human carcinogen,” reported The New Yorker.
The National Cancer Institute’s director, Harold Varmus, told The New Yorker that at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center—where he used to work and where Koch donated $40 million dollars and serves on the board—it wasn’t uncommon for donors to have large business interests, but “the one thing we wouldn’t tolerate in our board members is tobacco.” Varmus was “surprised,” however, when The New Yorker told him about Koch Industries’ stance on formaldehyde.
We’ve asked Koch Industries to comment the matter but have not yet heard back.
For more, read the full New Yorker piece(http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all) a profile of David Koch and how he’s influenced American politics for right-wing causes.
Update: Koch Industries didn't respond with a comment when we emailed and called, but has issued a response to The New Yorker piece in the comments section of this post. It links to a fuller response on its own website(http://www.kochind.com/kochfacts/default.aspx), from which I've pulled out the relevant section on formaldehyde:
We believe any/all regulations should be based on sound science. Georgia-Pacific meets standards currently set for formaldehyde in a variety of applications and has provided comments on formaldehyde’s classification as part of the established regulatory development process in the United States. The debate over EPA's recent review of formaldehyde is not simply an industry concern. Several federal agencies have submitted formal comments urging caution and questioning some of the data and information on which EPA's decision was based. There are numerous indications that the science EPA has employed may not be the best and to make any final decisions prior to the current comprehensive scientific review of formaldehyde by the National Academy of Sciences would be inappropriate.
We had originally asked Koch Industries whether there's a conflict between David Koch's position on the advisory board of the National Cancer Institute and his company's opposite stance on formaldehyde. The company did not address this question in its response.A prominent philanthropist, cancer survivor, and American businessman, David Koch, has... more
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Is living a green and healthy lifestyle wearing you out? Now you can protect your health and your environment while you sleep. I'm Rich Awn and this is your Green Air Minute.
Out of all the items in your home, your mattress is likely the most indispensable and at the same time, taken the most for granted. Manufacture and supply schemes of the leading mattress companies require long, costly shipping chains often originating over seas, shipped, and then trucked from storage warehouses to retail stores where they end up getting trucked again to be delivered to your home.
The other problem with synthetic, petroleum-based foam mattresses is the issue of "off-gassing." The scent, or VOC, produced when a mattress is taken out of its package may contain toxic vapors like acetone and toluene that can lead to serious irritation of the eyes and mucus membranes and can accumulate in the body, never to be expelled.
One company hasn't been sleeping on the ill effects of the mattress industry and has developed an innovative, completely centralized manufacture and direct supply chain from the product's inception to your bedroom. Keetsa Mattress Company figured out a way to eliminate harmful off-gassing using a natural, plant-oil based foam which can be recycled when it's life cycle is complete.
Joe Alexander, General Manager of Keetsa Mattress.
You know, “green” doesn’t just mean you throw an organic cover on your mattress and now you’re a green company. We’ve addressed it from the manufacturing, from the shipping, from the distribution, to getting it to the customer’s home, to the product itself, and to ultimately, the demise of the product.
I'm Rich Awn and this is your Green Air Minute. For more ways to save the planet while you sleep and the full interview with Joe Alexander, visit GreenAirRadio.com.Is living a green and healthy lifestyle wearing you out? Now you can protect your... more
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In May, President Obama nominated a renowned scientist known as the "father of green chemistry" to head the EPA's Office of Research and Development. For an administration that supports ambitious climate change legislation and stresses the importance of sustainability, the nomination of Paul Anastas, director of Yale's Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering and a former White House environment director, was very much in keeping with its broader agenda. Anastas' nomination was unanimously approved in committee in July, and his confirmation seemed all but assured. Yet six months later Anastas still isn't confirmed. Standing in his way is Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), whose block on Anastas' nomination raises questions about Vitter's close ties to the formaldehyde industry.
Today, the future of the formaldehyde industry is very much in jeopardy. A few years back, the International Agency for Research on Cancer definitively announced that the chemical, used in building materials and household products, causes cancer in humans. The EPA, which has studied formaldehyde's risks for more than a decade, doesn't go quite so far, saying it's a "probable human carcinogen." But that could soon change. The EPA has recently signaled that it plans to definitively assess formaldehyde's health effects. "This is not the time for more delay," an EPA spokeswoman told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in September. As the agency's research director, Anastas would surely have a role in this assessment. Given that one of Anastas' specialties is researching "the design of safer chemicals and chemical processes to replace hazardous substances," the formaldehyde industry is predictably concerned about his nomination.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/11/sen-vitter-formaldehyde-shillIn May, President Obama nominated a renowned scientist known as the "father of... more
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Does one take a 17 year old to a morgue? This is the story of a girl who sees the hands of a corpse and like Macbeth can never wash clean the image of those dead digits. All’s well, does NOT always end well.Does one take a 17 year old to a morgue? This is the story of a girl who sees the... more
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Four years since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, there are still nearly 3,000 mobile homes and trailers across the Gulf Coast housing victims of that disaster.
In Louisiana, there are 2,100 families living in trailers, most of them homeowners struggling to rebuild their homes, according to figures released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mississippi has 781 families in trailers.
The numbers are down considerably from the 134,000 temporary trailers and mobile homes that dotted the Gulf Coast immediately after Katrina slammed the area in August 2005, leading to nearly 1,800 dead and thousands more homeless. Some trailer dwellers are also victims of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which hit Louisiana last summer.
The federal government has made it a priority to vacate the temporary trailers, particularly after formaldehyde and toxics were found in the trailers. This month, FEMA and HUD announced programs to help extradite residents from the trailers, including $50 million in housing vouchers.
Slow-moving federal housing funds, elderly and disabled residents unable to navigate the system, and a lack of affordable rental units have kept them from completely emptying, said Crystal Utley of the Mississippi Center for Justice, which provides legal advice to disaster victims. Escalating insurance rates in the affected areas have also made it difficult, she said.Four years since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, there are still nearly 3,000... more
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Even before the storm, they were some of the country's neediest kids. Now, the children of Katrina who stayed longest in ramshackle government trailer parks in Baton Rouge are "the sickest I have ever seen in the U.S.," says Irwin Redlener, president of the Children's Health Fund and a professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
Forty-one percent are anemic—twice the rate found in children in New York City homeless shelters, and more than twice the CDC's record rate for high-risk minorities. More than half the kids have mental-health problems. And 42 percent have respiratory infections and disorders that may be linked to formaldehyde and crowding in the trailers, the last of which FEMA finally closed in May.
Some kids may end up with permanent developmental and cognitive delays, but many can still be helped.
The agency's case-management program also "has yet to provide any services for thousands of families," according to the report, and funding for the program expires in March.
Redlener is optimistic that funds will be extended at least through mid-2010, since all that will require is "a stroke of the pen" from the new administration.Even before the storm, they were some of the country's neediest kids. Now, the... more
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Researchers have genetically engineered plants that can absorb formaldehyde, a pungent chemical compound used as adhesive in building materials and furnishing, one of the researchers said Tuesday.
Formaldehyde is seen as a major factor in what is known as sick-house syndrome -- headaches, dizziness and other health problems triggered by chemical substances in the home.
"We expect the plants to absorb it steadily" along with carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, said Katsura Izui, a professor of molecular plant physiology at Kinki University in western Japan.
The plants have two kinds of genes imported from micro-organisms known as methylotrophs, which use formaldehyde for their growth.
One host plant was tobacco and the other was thale cress, a small plant formally called Arabidopsis, which has a short life span of two months and is widely used as a model plant in biology.
Izui said the amount of formaldehyde absorbed by the plants was small compared with the carbon dioxide they use.
But the study showed that modified Arabidopsis survived four weeks in boxes dense with formaldehyde with the level of toxic gas falling to some one-tenth of the original level.
All wild Arabidopsis died in the same circumstances. Similar results were also obtained with experiments using modified tobacco plants, he said.
Izui said the density drop may have also stemmed from absorption by the agar used as a substitute for soil in the experiment boxes because formaldehyde is highly soluble in water.
"We are now trying to make new devices for more precise observation," he said, adding they were trying to apply the technology in common foliage plants.
The study was conducted jointly with Professor Yasuyoshi Sakai, an expert on micro-organisms at Kyoto University.
[Original article from http://www.physorg.com/news145603651.html]Researchers have genetically engineered plants that can absorb formaldehyde, a pungent... more
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