Toxic Substances

• Consumer Attorneys Have Taken On Global Warming

  Paul Kiesel | November 27, 2006 3:00 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Consumer Attorneys take on Global warming. The plaintiffs bar fights pollution.Once again consumer attorneys have stepped in where the government has failed to act. Consumer attorneys have long been the champions of the underdog against such goliaths as insurance companies, car manufacturers and global pharmaceutical companies. Now with the White House and Congress' failure to address the...

• Pesticide Use On the Rise In California

  Paul Kiesel | November 20, 2006 3:00 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Harmful pesticides on the rise. Pesticides link to cancer, birth defects and neurological damage.This week the state released data showing that California farmers are using more pesticides than ever before. California growers applied 194 million pounds in 2005, up 14 million pounds from 2004. The rise in pesticide use is of great concern to health professionals and environmentalists because many...

• Petrochemical Industry Continues to Attempt to Suppress Link Between Benzine Exposure and Disease

  Paul Kiesel | November 12, 2006 12:14 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Industry should not attempt to influence studies linking benzene exposure to cancer. The public should be protected from the petrochemical industries "junk science". A recent article published in the respected International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health sheds light on the petrochemical industry's efforts to withhold data showing that employees working with benzene have an...

• Tougher State Standards Urged for Perchlorate in Drinking Water

  Helen Zukin | November 06, 2006 3:00 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Tougher state standards for perchlorate in water urged. Is there a "safe" level of perchlorate?State health officials with the Department of Health Services have been urged to require water providers to clean up perchlorate contamination in drinking water. Perchlorate is a highly toxic component of rocket fuel and as a result of decade's of military and aerospace industry activities is now a...

• Mounting Evidence of Perchlorate Dangers

  Helen Zukin | October 30, 2006 3:00 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Perchlorate found to cause thyroid damage. Further evidence of perchlorate dangers to humans. A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia has found that low levels of perchlorate, previously considered safe, can cause thyroid disease in women. Perchlorate is a common ingredient in rocket fuel and is a widespread contaminate of groundwater...

• Study Finds IBM Workers at Increased Risk for Cancer Death

  Helen Zukin | October 23, 2006 3:00 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Study finds IBM workers at increased risk of cancer. Cancer rate higher than national average for IBM workersA study of nearly 32,000 International Business Machines Corp. workers found a statistically significant increase in worker cancer death rates. The study looked at data collected by IBM on the causes of death of a large number of workers who died between 1969 and 2001. For years IBM...

• Tilting At Windmills

  Michael Eyerly | October 20, 2006 7:30 PM | 1 CommentLos Angeles, CA

  Judge throws out environmental group's unfair competition challenge against alternative energy generators based on lack of standing Who owns California's natural environment: the air and water, the trees and wild animals? Nobody - at least according to a recent Alameda County Superior Court decision. Judge Bonnie Sabraw threw out a suit brought by the environmental group, Center for...

• Health Officials link E. coli to Salinas Cattle Ranch

  Helen Zukin | October 16, 2006 3:00 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  E. coli outbreak linked to cattle ranch. E. coli investigation continuous as search for source narrows. Health inspectors announced on Thursday that the same strain of E. coli bacteria that caused three deaths and sickened 200 nationally was located at a Salinas Valley cattle ranch less than a mile from spinach fields. The strain of pathogenic E. coli 0157:H7 was found in three cattle fecal...

• Santa Susana Rocketdyne Facility Continues to Plague Surrounding Community

  Helen Zukin | October 09, 2006 3:00 AM | 1 CommentLos Angeles, CA

  Toxic exposures from Rocketdyne facility continue to cause concern. Radioactive release causes excess cancer deaths. A scientific panel released its long awaited report on Thursday, concluding that the 1959 nuclear reactor meltdown at the Rocketdyne facility was responsible for hundreds of excess cancer deaths. For almost fifty years, the Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Lab conducted its nuclear...

• A Leathal Dose of Pesticides

  Helen Zukin | September 18, 2006 6:00 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Pesticides are designed to kill. The use of toxic pesticides is on the rise and so are the injuries to human health.Over the last year, pesticide exposure lawsuits have been on the rise. There are several reasons for this. First, U.S. pesticide use in the proceeding 30 years has increased by 50%. Pesticides are used almost everywhere: on farms, in homes, schools, office buildings, parks and on...