General Insights Archives - Page 6 of 9 - Center for Environmental Health

Majestic Plastic? Or Waste That Won’t Die…

Sep 10, 2010Ali Geering-KlineChildren's Health, General Insights, Plastics, Uncategorized

We’ve written about the Pacific Garbage Patch before. This huge mass (twice the size of Texas!) of discarded plastic shows that when it comes to throwing away plastic, there simply is no Away. All those forgotten plastic toys, cups, bottles, lighters and other...

Protecting Kids from Leady Products in Stores: My Summer as a CEH Intern

Sep 7, 2010Salvador MateoChildren's Health, General Insights, Personal Stories

This past summer, the Center for Environmental Health hosted two high school interns from the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, a grant-making public charity that supports grassroots initiatives to inspire community action to protect the...

When the Chemical Industry Attacks, Science Loses

Sep 3, 2010Ali Geering-KlineChemical Industry, Children's Health, General Insights, Uncategorized

In the last few weeks, five out of nine members of a scientific panel that advises the state of California on toxic chemical safety have been fired, following lobbying by the chemical industry and a conservative group, the Pacific Legal Foundation, which targets...

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

Jul 26, 2010Charles MargulisChildren's Health, General Insights, Uncategorized

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...

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

Jul 21, 2010Ali Geering-KlineChildren's Health, General Insights, Laws & Regulations

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...

Confessions of a Young Man’s Love For Jewelry… Compliance Testing

Jul 12, 2010Aimee DewingChildren's Health, General Insights, Personal Stories

If you were to search for men who admit to frequenting Claire’s Boutique – where your teenage daughters shop for clothes, jewelry, and other fashion accessories with short shelf lives – I am quite certain that you would spend a long time looking. I visit this store...

Toxic Chemical Lobby: Exclusive Leaked Footage

Jul 7, 2010Ali Geering-KlineChemical Industry, General Insights, Laws & Regulations

Today, our friends at Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families released their funny, animated video to garner public support for Congressional Action on the Toxic Substances Control Act. Though getting nasty, hazardous chemicals out of consumer products is a serious issue,...

The World of Green Chemistry

Jun 29, 2010Ali Geering-KlineChemical Industry, General Insights, Laws & Regulations

“Today nearly everything we touch—clothing, furniture, carpeting, cabinets, light bulbs, paper, toothpaste, baby teethers, iPhones, you name it—is synthetic,” Emily Laber-Warren states in her Scientific American article, “Green Chemistry: Scientists Devise New...

Oil Cleanup? Dispersing the Myths

Jun 21, 2010Charles MargulisChildren's Health, Energy, General Insights, Uncategorized

There has been much recent attention to BP’s use of so-called dispersants in the Gulf oil disaster. Dispersants are chemicals intended to break up the spilled oil, presumably to speed degradation and thus lessen some of the havoc the oil would otherwise wreak. But...

CEH Wins the SF Business Times’ Green Business Award

Jun 14, 2010Ali Geering-KlineChildren's Health, General Insights, Legal Action, Uncategorized

“In its mission to create a safer environment, the Center for Environmental Health uses both carrots and sticks”, Michele Chandler wrote in last week’s San Francisco Business Times. This year, CEH is proud to join the prestigious list of the San Francisco Business...