Apple Computer secretive about its toxic supply chain

Apple is more secretive about its supply chain in China than almost all of its rivals, according to a new report by anti-pollution activists who accuse the company's products of degrading the environment and poisoning workers.

Despite its claim to be a leading promoter of corporate ethics worldwide, the maker of iPads and iPhones came joint bottom among 29 major IT firms in a transparency study drawn up by a coalition of China's leading environmental groups.

"Behind their stylish image, Apple products have a side many do not know about – pollution and poison. This side is hidden deep within the company's secretive supply chain," claims a statement by the 36 groups involved in the Green Choice Initiative.

Their report – the fourth to look at the impact of global brands on China's environment – considers the openness of IT firms and their responsiveness to reports of environmental violations at suppliers...

...But it is difficult for third parties to hold foreign firms to account because they tend to be secretive about their suppliers, citing corporate confidentiality. This lack of transparency, combined with official corruption and dire political accountability, has made China a haven for polluters...

..."Apple can say it is completely 'green' because it is a brand with no factory, but if it doesn't manage its supply chain, these are just empty words," said Ma Jun of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs. "Far from being the best on planet, it is bottom among 29 IT brands. Apple should be a leader. If it can move on this, it can change the whole industry."

Read the full article by Johnathon Watts in the Guardian UK

Original report by IPE

Non-Toxic DIY cleaners

Slide show from the Huffington Post

Got Mercury?

from good.is

...San Francisco-based public awareness campaign Got Mercury? released the results from its most recent undercover fish testing operation earlier today. The data are pretty scary, and they're making news. But it's a little unclear whether the alarm is totally warranted, and—more importantly—what we should be doing about it.

The campaign explains that they "randomly selected 41 grocery stores in California to purchase fresh and frozen samples of swordfish, ahi tuna or yellowfin tuna, and salmon," which they then submitted to laboratory analysis. Their findings include the startling fact that more than a third of the grocery store fish studied had levels of methylmercury in excess of the the FDA do-not-sell limit of 1 part per million, with swordfish being by far the worst offender. In fact, only 6 of the 32 swordfish samples analyzed came in below 1 part per million, and one fish, purchased at a Ralph's in Los Angeles, had 3 parts per million...

Read the rest of the article at GOOD 

Read the original report from Got Mercury?

Got Mercury?



Canadian phthalates to be banned from baby products and restricted in children's products

Photograph by: Handout, CNS from Vancouver Sun

...Health Canada found the widespread presence of phthalates in these children's items, despite a decade-long voluntary ban in North America.

According to the test results released to Postmedia News under access-to-information legislation, three-quarters (54 of 72) of soft plastic toys and other items for young children contained up to 39.9 per cent by weight of PVC...

Full article By Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News/ Vancouver Sun

See also: Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects our Health by Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence Canada

Banned, contemporary chemicals widespread in U.S. pregnant women.

A new study finds for the first time that the bodies of virtually all U.S. pregnant women – and possibly their unborn children – carry multiple chemicals, including some banned since the 1970s and others used in common products such as non-stick cookware, processed foods and personal care products.

Synopsis by Ami Zota, Sc.D in Environmental Helath News

Original article by Tracey J. Woodruff, Ami R. Zota, Jackie M. Schwartz in the science journal Environmental Health Perspectives

Replacement for BPA is also found to have negative health effects

An animal study finds for the first time that another widely used phthalate affects development when exposure occurs in the womb and early life. It is also the first to show the chemical can affect brain development, too. DINP – a phthalate that is increasingly used in plastic products – caused similar changes in the male reproductive system as other types of recently banned – but more potent – phthalates.

Synopsis by Emily Barrett and Wendy Hessler from Environmental Health News

Original article in the science journal Reproductive Toxicology

"Toxic Waste" candy bar found to contain toxic waste

npr.org

Turns out the marketer of some candy bars sold under the Toxic Waste brand wasn't joking.

The Food and Drug Administration says Candy Dynamics of Indianapolis is recalling all flavors of its Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars after way too much lead turned up in some cherry-flavored bars in California.

The company, citing "an abundance of caution," is pulling all flavors of the bars ever produced. Those would be the sour apple, blue raspberry and cherry chew bars. All of them are imported from Pakistan.

The problem was discovered by the Californian Department of Public Health, found 0.24 parts per million of lead in a batch of cherry-flavored bars. The FDA doesn't allow more than 0.1 parts per million because even a little too much lead can cause health problems for little kids, infants and pregnant women...

See Original article by Scott Hensley at NPR.org

See the FDA press release

See the Center for Enviromental Health's Fact Sheet to learn more about lead in candy



Slide show of recalled products

Daily Green

The Daily Green has a long slide show of kids products recalled for lead and other toxins.

Slide show here

Something new for the lexicon: Thirdhand smoke

curran.kelleher/ Creative Commons

As if secondhand smoke wasn't nasty enough. Read on...

The remnants of cigarette smoke on fabrics and other surfaces pose a larger health hazard than previously believed, especially for young children, according to a new study.

The study, which was conducted at the Israel Institute of Technology, found that so-called thirdhand smoke increases the risk of respiratory illnesses among people who do not smoke.

Non-smokers are still likely to come into regular contact with the remains of cigarette smoke on carpeting, clothing, furniture and other surfaces.

The study, which was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, found that nicotine constitutes a major part of thirdhand smoke and often reacts with indoor air and fabrics to form pollutants that pose dangers to people's health.

The risk for young children, who are more likely to be crawling on carpets, is especially concerning, the study found. But people napping on tainted sofas or eating food that may have been previously exposed to the smoke are also at increased risk.

The thirdhand smoke increases health risks because the particles are able to be inhaled, be transferred through the skin or be ingested. The particles deposit themselves in mucous membranes or respiratory fluids and then transfer their toxicology within the body, the study found.

The thirdhand smoke particles often have "greater biological interaction, potential pro-inflammatory effects, higher particle deposition probability in the deeper respiratory regions and easier translocation within the body," the study said.

Exposure can result in reduced white blood cell activity, asthma and other mutagenic effects.



Thirdhand smoke exposure increases health risks in the Toronto Sun (QMI Agency)

Original research in the science journal Environmental Science and Technology by Lauren M. Petrick, Alona Svidovsky, and Yael Dubowski

China arrests 96 in connection with 2008 melamine-tainted milk scandal

"Caged" by Dave Nakayama, dnak@flickr.com

China, all too often in the news for toxic food and other products, is certainly taking some of these case seriously. Two people have already been excecuted in connection with the China's tainted milk, two others sentenced to life in prison.

This shocking scandal is particularly heinous because the manufacturers were using melamine, an industrial chemical high in nitrogen, to trick food regulators into thinking that the watered down milk, or milk products, were actually high in protein. Nitrogen is measured as a proxy for protein, which is difficult to quantify.

Read the full article by Sui-Lee Wee and Sabrina Mao at Reuters.com

Also:

A BBC report on "Chinese Fake Milk" from 2004

The New York Times on the ubiquity of melamine in our industrial and food system

Chinese Milk Scandal at Wikipedia