Eco-Tip: Safe Bounce House Bouncing!

August 13, 2010 – 9:30 am Alison Geering-Kline

Bounce houses should be fun, not toxic. CEH is working hard to get hazardous lead out of these much-loved play structures but it’s not going to happen overnight. So what do you do about that bounce house birthday party coming up that your kids are so excited about?

CEH doesn’t want to spoil your kids’ or anyone’s bounce house fun—we just want to make sure that everyone is safe from lead threats.

Because there is no way for parents to tell whether a bounce house may have lead or not, parents should act as if any bounce house may have lead.  Sadly, there is no definitive list of “safe” or “dirty” bouncy houses or bounce house companies.  That’s why we’re giving you our best tips for safe bouncing, so: more »

Parents Be Warned: Bounce Houses Pose Lead Hazards to Kids!

August 11, 2010 – 1:20 pm Alison Geering-Kline

That’s right, those big, friendly bounce houses that kids (and even some adults) commonly use at birthday parties and events post serious threats to children’s health.

Today, the Center for Environmental Health is announcing our lawsuit to stop a new hidden lead poisoning threat to children. CEH’s investigation of lead in bouncehouses found that these inflatable jumpers can contain more than 70 times the federal limit for lead in children’s products under the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act. Independent testing commissioned by CEH also showed that lead from bounce houses can expose children to the toxic chemical at levels that violate California law.

These findings have prompted lawsuits filed today by CEH and the California Attorney General and against leading makers, distributors and suppliers of bounce houses (also called jump houses or inflatable jumpers).

Please check the CEH website for more information, and check back for continued updates on CEH’s work on the lead threats of bounce houses.

Eco-Tip: 3 Ways to Take Your Household Cleaners from Child-Threat to Child-Safe

August 4, 2010 – 1:00 pm Alison Geering-Kline

“Nearly 12,000 children under age 5 go to the emergency room each year because of injuries caused by household cleaning products, according to a study in today’s Pediatrics”

-USA Today article, Spray Cleaners pose poison hazards to babies, toddlers

It’s not that we set up our kitchens to poison kids. But sometimes we overlook obvious problems. In many homes household cleaners are stored in a cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. And some of the cleaners are in brightly colored spray bottles that capture kids’ attention.  In light of a recent USA Today article citing a study in the medical journal Pediatrics documenting the poison hazards spray cleaners pose to babies and toddlers, it’s obvious that individuals and parents alike need to start thinking about using non-toxic alternatives to chemical-based products, like home cleaners.

Just look at some of the nasty chemicals present in home cleaning products!  Not only can they cause immediate illnesses in the children who swallow them, but they can also cause significant long-term health problems: more »

Eco-Tip of the Week: My Favorite Un-Recipes

July 29, 2010 – 9:43 am Caroline Cox

This week, CEH’s Research Director Caroline Cox follow-ups on our Culinary Month tips to tell us about how she likes to grow, shop for, and prepare the organic food she loves.

Unrecipe #1:  Every meal

Ingredients:

1. Your neighborhood farmers market

2. A few minutes of your time to sample what’s for sale and talk with the farmers

3. Anything tasty (and organic, please)

Directions:

I usually race through the farmers market on my way to the next thing on my list. But if you can take a few extra minutes, I think you’ll find that your farmers are a remarkable group of people. At my farmers market, one of my favorite farmers grew up in Japan. Another teaches Buddhist meditation when she’s not driving a tractor. Another became my friend when I asked him if I could pay for my garlic with a pocketful of coins. He just smiled and said, “Embrace change.”

Your few extra minutes will also let you sample what’s for sale and pick out what tastes really good. That’s what you want to buy. Preferably organic.

Peel, slice, chop, grill, or stir-fry as needed. When it tastes so good to begin with you don’t need to do much, and you don’t need much of a recipe. Enjoy!

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Environmental Health is Economic Health

July 27, 2010 – 5:28 pm Charlie Pizarro

Next time you hear a chemical industry rep (or one of their many fronts) whine about how eliminating toxic chemicals will be too expensive, will wreck our economy, will cause another outbreak of socialism, body odor, and/or Paris Hilton, just remember this number:  $5.85 billion (for those of you who prefer to bask in the full, base-ten glory of imponderably large numbers, that’s $5,850,000,000).

You see, according to a study released today, $5.85*109 is the cost to our economy of four childhood diseases linked with toxic chemicals in the environment. more »

Genetic Test Kits: Predictions of the Future or Pseudo-Science Scam?

July 26, 2010 – 9:51 am Charles Margulis

In testimony to Congress last week, the General Accounting Office (GAO) thoroughly debunked the marketing of direct-to-consumer genetic test kits, charging that the biotech companies who peddle this high-tech snake-oil scam are guilty of providing “misleading test results” backed by “deceptive marketing and other questionable practices.”

If you have purchased genetic testing from a direct-to-consumer company (ie, not through a physician)and would like to help take action to stop these abusive practices, please email the Center for Environmental Health at charles@ceh.org.

Genetic test kits promise to give consumers who pony up $300 to $1,000 or more information about how their genes will predict their future. The kits promise to tell you whether you will contract certain diseases, give you suggestions for avoiding illness, and even promise to predict the abilities of your offspring (you might give birth to the next LeBron James!). more »

Eco-Tip of the Week: Celebrating National Culinary Month at Home

July 22, 2010 – 8:00 am Alison Geering-Kline

It’s not the most well-known month dedication, but apparently, July is National Culinary Arts Month.  Though this four week celebration focuses on celebrating professional cooks and chefs, we thought we’d pay homage to the good old tradition of cooking at home.   Making your own food not only reduces waste, but it also gives you control over your food—so that you can buy your own, local organic ingredients and avoid pesticides.

Some of us here at CEH are quite into experimenting with different recipes to make tasty dishes with organic ingredients.  So, we’ve compiled a list of some of our safe food practices, and a recipe or two, for this month’s culinary recognition. more »

There’s What in My Shampoo? Watch the Story of Cosmetics Video!

July 21, 2010 – 12:44 pm Alison Geering-Kline

For many of us, comforting sensations come to mind when we think about our personal care products and how they make us feel, smell, and look.  But do you ever wonder what all those complicated ingredients listed on the back of your favorite shampoo or perfume actually are?

We’ve written about this before:  All those alluring fragrances, promises of silky smooth skin, and that squeaky clean anti-bacterial feeling are brought to us by synthetic, lab-created chemicals, most of which are made from petroleum.  Shocking numbers of these chemicals have not been adequately tested for safety, and few tests that have been done show that these chemicals can also post serious threats to our health. more »

BP Oil Spill Wreaks Havoc on Public Health

July 19, 2010 – 8:00 am Alison Geering-Kline

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has already been deemed the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.  But the spill has also earned another title: a public health disaster.

As the oil continues to gush, its health hazards continue to wreak havoc on the health of Gulf residents and cleanup workers.    By the end of June, 162 oil-related illnesses had been reported to the Louisiana state health department.  128 of those cases involved workers on oil rigs or individuals involved in the oil spill cleanup efforts.  According to the department’s oil spill surveillance report, the most common symptoms reported were throat and eye irritation, shortness of breath, cough, nausea, chest pain, and headaches.  Many have also reported vomiting and additional respiratory problems.

The Plaquemines Medical Center, near Venice, Louisiana has treated dozens of patients who have gotten sick from spill-related chemical exposure.  The Director of the medical center, Michael Kotler states that the center handles those cases that the US Health Service and a private medical contractor employed by BP are not prepared to handle. more »

Playing Ball Just Got a Little Safer

July 16, 2010 – 9:47 am Charles Margulis

Thanks to research and legal action by the Center for Environmental Health, millions of children who play on fields of artificial turf will no longer be exposed to potentially hazardous levels of lead. A 2008 CEH expose showing high levels of lead in many varieties of artificial turf culminated this week with legal settlements that call for strict limits on lead made by the leading turf companies.

In 2008, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services reported on their testing of artificial turf fields, concluding that for children exposed to lead from artificial turf, “the potential for lead poisoning to occur is plausible.”  That summer the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warned that “As the turf ages and weathers, lead is released in dust that could then be ingested or inhaled, and the risk for harmful exposure increases.”

So CEH took action, testing hundreds of samples of turf and alerting parents and schools of the risks. We also alerted the turf makers and the California Attorney General. In September 2008, CEH and the Attorney General filed lawsuits to end the health threat from lead in turf. more »