Robin Bravender's Mercury Propaganda

In her PoliticoPro report today about Congressional Democrat efforts to appeal to Republican mothers to help stop Congressional Republicans from limiting new EPA regulation of mercury from power plants, Bravender writes: Continue reading Robin Bravender's Mercury Propaganda

Road Scare in the Dakotas?

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that 300 miles of roads as well as schoolyards, playgrounds and baseball fields in Dunn County, North Dakota have been surfaced with the asbestos-like erionite — a mineral that has been associated with malignant meosthelioma (MM) in Turkish villages. Continue reading Road Scare in the Dakotas?

Made in China: POPs linked to birth defects?

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims to link placental levels of various “persistent organic pollutants” (POPs) with neural tube defects (NTDs) in a population of rural Chinese. Continue reading Made in China: POPs linked to birth defects?

CPSC votes for even sillier lead standards

The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted yesterday to require that toys be 99.99% lead-free, versus the current standard of 99.97% lead-free. Like the old standard, however, the new standard will have no impact on any child’s health.

As we pointed out previously, the only children harmed by lead in toys have been kids who have swallowed solid lead trinkets. There is no evidence that anyone has ever been harmed — not even a single IQ point lost — by exposure to trace lead levels in consumer products or ambient lead levels.

What makes a scientific expert? Congressional Democrats offer a shocking answer

What makes a scientific expert? Knowledge? Expertise? Accomplishment? Respect of one’s colleagues? A new bill introduced in Congress has a shocking new answer. Continue reading What makes a scientific expert? Congressional Democrats offer a shocking answer

New green con: 'Pinkwashing'

From an Environmental Justice press release: “Companies that try to increase sales of their products by adopting the color pink and pink ribbons to imply that they support breast cancer research—a practice called pinkwashing—but at the same time permit the use of chemicals shown to cause cancer are committing a form of social injustice against women, according to a thought-provoking article in Environmental Justice, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.”

Of course, since no chemicals in consumer products have been shown to cause breast cancer, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. may want to get some new peer-reviewers.

UN underscores arbitrariness of chemical bans

Canada and the Ukraine successfully blocked the banning of chrysotile asbestos from the UN’s politically incorrect list of chemicals that can be banned from import as hazardous. The two countries argued that chrysotile asbestos shouldn’t be banned because it can be handled safely. Of course, there’s not a chemical on the Rotterdam list that can’t be handled and/or used safely. Chemical bans are arbitrary, silly and harmful.

Environmental Protection (Or Propaganda?) Agency

JunkScience.com friends Paul Driessen and Willie Soon nail the EPA in today’s Investor’s Business Daily:

If Federal Register notices, press releases and activist campaigns assured progress, the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rules for 84 power plant pollutants would usher in vastly improved environmental quality and human health.

Unfortunately, the opposite is likelier…

Read more…