Heavy Metals Found in Many Cosmetics: Not Listed on Labels

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Heavy Metals Found in Many Cosmetics: Not Listed on Labels

Historically, women have risked their health for beauty by using cosmetics laden with poisons… The researchers tested a total of 49 common products selected from the cosmetic bags of six average Canadian women. They found that every product contained at least one of seven heavy metals including arsenic, cadmium, lead, nickel, beryllium, thallium, and selenium. Lead, a known neurotoxin, showed up in 96% of the items.

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Radiation Detected 400 Miles off Japanese Coast

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Radiation Detected 400 Miles off Japanese Coast

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Radioactive contamination from the Fukushima power plant disaster has been detected as far as almost 400 miles off Japan in the Pacific Ocean, with water showing readings of up to 1,000 times more than prior levels, scientists reported Tuesday.

But those results for the substance cesium-137 are far below the levels that are generally considered harmful, either to marine animals or people who eat seafood, said Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

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A New Target in Fighting Brain Disease: Metals

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Research into how iron, copper, zinc and other metals work in the brain may help unlock some of the secrets of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Iron and copper appear to accumulate beyond normal levels in the brains of people with these diseases, and a new, Australian study published Sunday shows reducing excess iron in the brain can alleviate Alzheimer's-like symptoms—at least in mice.

A genetic mutation related to regulating iron is linked to ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Zinc, on the other hand, appears to impair memory if its levels get too low or if it gets into a brain region where it doesn't belong, as it can with traumatic brain injury.

Research into the complicated, invisible roles these metals play in brain diseases has lagged behind study of the more-visible proteins that are damaged or clump together in the brains of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's sufferers. But better understanding metals' role in the brain could help shed light on a range of medical conditions and might offer a new route for developing treatments, scientists say.

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West Oakland & Berkerley Children to be Tested for Heavy Metals

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West Oakland & Berkerley Children to be Tested for Heavy Metals

Residents who live near two industrial factories in West Oakland and West Berkeley may suspect that the air they breathe contains higher than average levels of lead and other heavy metals.

Now a new pilot study sponsored by the nonprofit Global Community Monitor will help them find out.

The study involves testing the blood of children ages 1-5 who live within a mile of Custom Alloy Scrap Sales, or CASS, on Poplar Street in West Oakland, and Pacific Steel Casting on Second Street in West Berkeley. The companies have been targeted by environmental groups for pollution issues that are compounded by their proximity to residential neighborhoods.

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Research Links Pesticides with ADHD in Children

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Research Links Pesticides with ADHD in Children

CHICAGO (AP) — A new analysis of U.S. health data links children's attention-deficit disorder with exposure to common pesticides used on fruits and vegetables.
While the study couldn't prove that pesticides used in agriculture contribute to childhood learning problems, experts said the research is persuasive.

"I would take it quite seriously," said Virginia Rauh of Columbia University, who has studied prenatal exposure to pesticides and wasn't involved in the new study.

More research will be needed to confirm the tie, she said.

Children may be especially prone to the health risks of pesticides because they're still growing and they may consume more pesticide residue than adults relative to their body weight.

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Toxic towns: People of Mossville 'are like an experiment'

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Gather current and former Mossville, Louisiana, residents in a room and you're likely to hear a litany of health problems and a list of friends and relatives who died young.

"I got cancer. My dad had cancer. In fact, he died of cancer. It's a lot of people in this area who died of cancer," says Herman Singleton Jr., 51, who also lost two uncles and an aunt to cancer.

Singleton and many others in this predominantly African-American community in southwest Louisiana suspect the 14 chemical plants nearby have played a role in the cancer and other diseases they say have ravaged the area.

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6 Risky Chemicals You're Carrying in Your Body

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In the most comprehensive testing to date, the CDC finds Americans are exposed to 212 chemicals. Here's how to avoid six of the riskiest.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its latest assessment of the chemicals we're all carrying around in our bodies. The biomonitoring study is the most comprehensive in the world, measuring 212 chemicals in the blood and urine of 8,000 Americans. That's more than 40% more chemicals than have ever been tested for before

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Study: Chemicals, pollutants found in newborns

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Study: Chemicals, pollutants found in newborns

Chemicals from cosmetics, perfumes and other fragrances were detected along with dozens of other industrial compounds in the umbilical cords of African American, Asian and Latino infants in the United States, according to a national study released Wednesday.

Laboratory tests paid for by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group and Rachel's Network found 232 chemicals and pollutants in the umbilical cords of the 10 babies tested in five states between December 2007 and June 2008.

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Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury

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Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury

Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies...."Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered..."

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