With wildfire seasons in North America increasing in intensity and duration, researchers are focusing their attention on the health impacts from smoke exposure. A new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association (AHA)/American Stroke Association, finds that smoke from wildfires may send people – particularly seniors – to hospital emergency rooms (ERs) with heart and stroke-related complaints.
In the early 1970s, a Johnson & Johnson official posed a question that haunts the company today. If Johnson’s Baby Powder contained asbestos at a level of, say, 1 percent, how much of the cancer-causing substance would a baby inhale when dusted with the powder?
Look for signs of a possible leak:
• Persistent bubbling in standing water
• Discolored or dead vegetation around the pipeline area
• Dense white cloud or fog
• Slight mist of ice
• Unexplained frozen ground near the pipeline
Listen for any unusual noise:
• Whistling, hissing or roaring sound
A California jury today rejected claims that Johnson & Johnson and its talc supplier were responsible for the deadly cancer of a woman who blamed her illness on breathing asbestos fibers from contaminated body powders.
On a 9-3 vote, the jury in Pasadena absolved J&J of negligence in the sale of Johnson’s Baby Powder and another talc product, Shower to Shower. The Los Angeles Superior Court jury also cleared Imerys Talc America, Inc., a supplier of talc to J&J.
Scientists have known for decades that drinking water contaminated by fertilizer nitrates can pose a threat to infants by undermining the ability of their blood to carry oxygen. The condition, known as ‘blue baby syndrome,” led federal regulators to impose an environmental standard of no more than 10 parts per million, or ppm, for nitrates in public water supplies.
Hurricanes that ravaged parts of U.S and Caribbean may cause mold epidemic
September 26, 2017
The warm, humid climate of the areas affected by the recent hurricanes offers a fast recipe for mold accumulation, according to the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA®), which warns of a potential mold epidemic across those regions.
Cable news and newspapers across the country are headlining the continuing explosions at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, that was flooded by Hurricane Harvey.
Anyone walking along a highway during morning rush hour is likely to get a lungful of engine exhaust, but actually they won’t be as bad off as the people in the passing cars.
The EPA’s announcement yesterday that it is reversing its decision to delay for one year designation of areas not meeting the 2015 ozone standards is being met with approval by the American Lung Association, American Public Health Association and American Thoracic Society.