Environmental Public Health

Los Angeles Has America's Most Polluted Air?

L.A is the capital of many things. Few of them are good things. At least not lately, it seems. A day after it was announced that Los Angeles is America's traffic-congestion Mecca once again (breaking news, that), we bring you the American Lung Association's annual "Most Polluted Cities" list:

Dangerous Levels of Lead Found in Imported Rice

Researchers have found unacceptably high levels of lead in rice imported into the U.S., particularly from China and Taiwan, BBC News reports. Some samples exceeded the "provisional total tolerable intake" (PTTI) set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by a factor of 120.

Toxic Chemicals in Lunchboxes, Canned Foods and Rice: A Summary Tips for Parents and Non-Parents

Three recent studies have left some parents wondering if the cards are stacked against them when it comes to protecting their kids. New research on dangerous chemicals in vinyl lunch boxes, canned foods and dozens of rice products suggests that what we don't know could hurt us. Children are most at ... More >>

Consumer Reports Warns of Arsenic in Rice

Rice, seemingly so bland and innocuous, harbors the same deadly poison beloved by Victorian mystery writers. In a new study, Consumer Reports has found varying levels of arsenic in more than 60 rices and rice products. Among the consumer goods that contained "worrisome levels" of arsenic were organi ... More >>

Study: Toxic Chemical Found in Kids' Lunchboxes

Those Disney princesses sure come with a lot of baggage. This time, it's their lunchbox that packs a problem: The Disney Princess Lunchbox, along with other back-to-school kids' products, has a toxic chemical that experts say is dangerous for children and already has been banned in toys. A new repo ... More >>

Los Angeles Car Pollution at Lowest Level in 50 Years

Despite increasingly draconian car-smog tests that practically require your vehicle to be in perfect operating order (with the check engine light off -- a gift to the auto repair industry at a time of unprecedented quality from carmakers), L.A.'s air is cleaner than ever. Vehicle air pollution has ... More >>

Beverly Hills PTA Releases Doomsday Video to Oppose Westside Subway

The Beverly Hills Unified School District Parent-Teacher Associations have released one heck of a doomsday video to protest a possible subway tunnel underneath the Beverly Hills High School campus. With a solemn voiceover that declares, "Methane gas, toxic chemicals, and teenagers don't mix," it r ... More >>

Betsy Butler, Assembly Candidate for L.A.'s Westside, Spams 8,000 Residents With Weirdest Campaign Paraphernalia Ever

Betsy Butler's bright idea to attach her campaign flyers to plastic baby bottles must have seemed cute in theory. The current assemblywoman for much of L.A. County's South Bay area is shooting for finer pastures this November: She wishes to reign over the new citizen-drawn District 50, quite possib ... More >>

Fight Against BPA in Food Packaging Takes a Hit

The fight to get bisphenol A (BPA) out of our kitchens took a hit on Friday, when the Food and Drug Administration declined to ban the controversial chemical from food packaging. The FDA rejected a petition from the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), but also said it will ... More >>

Coca-Cola, Pepsi Will Modify Recipe to Use Less Cancerous Caramel Coloring

As if you need another reason to scale back on all that soda pop: NPR and Reuters report that Coca-Cola and Pepsi will change their recipe slightly to reduce the amount of 4-methylimidazole (4-MI), a chemical that, in high very doses, has been known to cause cancer in animals. In sodas, it's used t ... More >>

Campbell's to Phase Out BPA in Cans

Campbell's Soup Co. has announced that it soon will stop using the notorious chemical bisphenol-A, or BPA, in the linings of its cans, the Environmental Working Group reports. The move comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is poised to decide by March 31 whether to ban the chemical's use in ... More >>

What's in Pepper Spray?

In California, the toxin TCE

Arsenic Hysteria: Now It's Been Found in Rice

Flickr/DanoIt looks so harmless.​ First it was apple juice. Now researchers say there is inorganic arsenic in rice, and that it could particularly affect pregnant women, CBS News reports. Arsenic is able to cross the placenta and may harm a developing baby. For the study, researchers measure ... More >>

BPA Found in Kid-Friendly Canned Foods

Campbell'sDisney princesses may contain toxic chemicals​ Disney princesses may be toxic, and not just for sociological reasons. New testing by the Breast Cancer Fund has found BPA (bisphenol-A) in six brands of canned foods marketed to children, with the highest level in Campbell's Disney Prin ... More >>

EPA Orders $20 Million Worth of Groundwater Cleanup to Help Residents of San Gabriel Valley

​Tap water has a bad rap these days. And in many cases, for good reason. There's an awful lot of groundwater contamination out there. But for those folks living in the San Gabriel Valley who - God forbid - like being able to actually drink their tap water, there was a splash of good news today ... More >>

Real Housewives' Toxic Margarita Pulled from Whole Foods

Skinnygirl Margarita.​Bethenny Frankel, "diet guru" and former "star" of "reality" show The Real Housewives of New York City, doesn't care that her "all natural" Skinnygirl Margarita contains potentially carcinogenic ingredients, which caused Whole Foods to pull the "drink" from its stores. T ... More >>

Born This Way, or BPA? Research Suggests Exposure to Plastic Compound Makes Men More Feminine

​That explains it. New research suggests that exposure to the plastic compound BPA could not only be bad for the sex lives of men, it might cause them to "become demasculinized and behave more like females." Not our words people, but rather those of the University of Missouri, which this wee ... More >>

Ruminations on the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Very Large Poultry

American Lung Association to Los Angeles: Your Air Quality Sucks!

Ted SoquiL.A. housing complex near the air pollution of busy freeway.​The American Lung Association just released a health report Los Angeles politicians will most probably try to ignore, and hope the public will not notice, but facts are facts: Los Angeles' air quality sucks, and its residen ... More >>

Radiation From Japan a No-Show in Los Angeles, But Does Arrive in Northern California

FoxHomer would be bummed.​Updated after the jump: Radiation detected in Sacramento. Should you worry about the weekend's rain? Lot of build up. No payoff. (Sorry to disappoint). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency radiation monitoring system in L.A. has found nothing above daily "back ... More >>

Japan Earthquake: Could Nuclear Power Plant Radiation Reach L.A?

Fukushima, on-edge.​Update: Minor amounts of radiation are projected to reach SoCal by Friday, after the jump. Could radiation from Japan's quake-stricken nuclear power plants reach Los Angeles? It's a long shot. But a look at Pacific jet stream animation shows that what happens in Japan doe ... More >>

Japan: If You Fly From LAX to Tokyo, Will You be Exposed to Radiation in the Jet Stream?

Japan Airlines​If you fly to Japan, will you be exposed to radiation, possibly in the not-so-friendly skies? It's a possibility. But you won't hear that from U.S. officials. At least not yet. The U.S. State Department issued an alert last weekend telling Americans to avoid travel to the earth ... More >>

Forget Japan's Radiation Cloud -- Could a TSA Scanner at LAX Give You Cancer?

headcount.orgOversexed AND dangerous? ​OK, don't actually forget the radiation cloud. Radiation clouds are not to be messed with, no matter how dissipated. But at an international moment when radiation risks are very much on the radar, we're somewhat disconcerted with the news that 22 of the ... More >>

Erin Brockovich Sequel in the Works: Hinkley Still Scene of Crime, PG&E Still Bad Guy

Erin Brockovich: Back in action​Looks like Pacific Gas & Electric's up to its usual tricks again out in Hinkley, handing out swimming-pools worth of bottled water, buying up seemingly useless land in the middle of nowhere and causing horses to drop dead where they stand. Who you gonna call? On ... More >>

Earth Shoes May not be so Healthy, Claims Environmental Group

Center for Environmental Health​An environmental health organization in California has turned its poignant gaze upon the popular Earth shoe, and is publicly trying to depants its maker for apparently marketing its shoes as "lead-free" even though they contain potentially dangerous amounts of lead. ... More >>

LA Drinking Water May Have High Levels of a Likely Carcinogen

​ While no city beats Norman, Oklahoma for shockingly high levels of carcinogenic hexavalent chromium in its tap water, both Los Angeles and Riverside have higher levels than California officials would like to see. With .20 and 1.69 parts per billion (ppb), LA and Riverside, respectively, don' ... More >>

Beauty Is Pain: L.A.'s Popular 'Brazilian Blowout' Bashed For Toxic Fumage

Bobby Cooper SalonWe'd rather be doing Brazilian Blow​Nicole Richie swears by it. The Olsen twins bathe in it. (Their hair, you perves.) Lindsay Lohan would go back to jail for it. Studio Noi -- a shmancy little salon in Venice -- blasts it on the daily. From across the country, the ball-bust ... More >>

Prop. 26 Is Emission-Happy Prop. 23's Sneaky, Environmentally Unfriendly Stepsister

indybayA lonely Prop. 26 protestor​While environmentalists get their panties in a twist over Prop. 23, a slicker plan to dodge environmental regulations is making its way past protesters. By changing the definition of "fee" to "tax," Prop. 26 would require a 2/3 majority of the California Sta ... More >>

L.A. Tops List Of 'Most Polluted Cities'

NASA​Old timers will tell you it's not like it used to be, when Los Angeles would be socked in for weeks at a time by dense smog that ringed the foothills and capped the basin. It has been a long time. Still, comparatively speaking, L.A. is still tops when it comes to air pollution. The Ameri ... More >>

California Pollution Report: The Lung Goodbye

Today the American Lung Association released its state of the air report. The survey flunked 32 California counties, while awarding 16 counties A's. L.A. County was definitely not among the latter, scoring F-eroos in two categories, High Ozone Days and Particle Pollution. According to the ALA, this ... More >>

Pollution Report: The Choke's on Us

For all the talk about America's "greening," 60 percent of us still live in areas with dangerously high pollution, according to a new American Lung Association report. Basing their conclusions on state and local statistics gathered by the Environmental Protection Agency between 2005 and 2007, the AL ... More >>

Scientist Kelman wins libel suit against Mold Queen Kramer

News just came in that toxicologist Bruce Kelman, targeted by people who have an almost religious, misguided fear of common household mold, has prevailed in a key case against Mold Queen Sharon Kramer. Kelman emails the Weekly: "Kramer was found guilty of libeling me." Their bitter battle was det ... More >>

The Air That We Breathe

Just when it looked like we might win the war on smog, a new and more deadly form of air pollution stalks Los Angeles

Stench of Politics

Industry money to the “Mod Caucus” fouls the fight for clean air

The Smog Doctor

John Peters and the science of children and dirty air

Swept Away

A Chokehold on the Future

Hopes for cleaner air disappear into the haze