True Cost – Page 9 – Public Intelligence Blog

2010/08/092010/08/09

Huge Gaps in Gov’s Knowledge About Chemicals in Everyday Products (need for true cost public intelligence)

07 Health, Corporations, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, True Cost

U.S. regulators lack data on health risks of most chemicals

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 2, 2010

This summer, when Kellogg recalled 28 million boxes of Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops and Honey Smacks, the company blamed elevated levels of a chemical in the packaging.

Dozens of consumers reported a strange taste and odor, and some complained of nausea and diarrhea. But Kellogg said a team of experts it hired determined that there was “no harmful material” in the products.

Federal regulators, who are charged with ensuring the safety of food and consumer products, are in the dark about the suspected chemical, 2-methylnaphthalene. The Food and Drug Administration has no scientific data on its impact on human health. The Environmental Protection Agency also lacks basic health and safety data for 2-methylnaphthalene — even though the EPA has been seeking that information from the chemical industry for 16 years.

Continue reading “Huge Gaps in Gov's Knowledge About Chemicals in Everyday Products (need for true cost public intelligence)”

2010/08/032010/12/25

Video: “Twinkie Deconstructed” Author Shows Strange Origins & Nexus of Ingredients

07 Health, Advanced Cyber/IO, Commerce, Graphics, True Cost, True Cost, Videos/Movies/Documentaries

: From TwinkieDeconstructed.com

In this fascinating exploration into the curious world of packaged foods, Twinkie, Deconstructed takes us from phosphate mines in Idaho to corn fields in Iowa, from gypsum mines in Oklahoma to oil fields in China, to demystify some of America’s most common processed food ingredients—where they come from, how they are made, how they are used—and why. Beginning at the source (hint: they’re often more closely linked to rocks and petroleum than any of the four food groups), Steve Ettlinger reveals how each Twinkie ingredient goes through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and/or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder with a strange name—all for the sake of creating a simple snack cake.

Continue reading “Video: “Twinkie Deconstructed” Author Shows Strange Origins & Nexus of Ingredients”

2010/08/032011/01/03

Who is Aware, Talking, & Testing Receipts for Bisphenol-A, not just Food & Beverages?

07 Health, Civil Society, Commerce, Government, True Cost

Paper receipts also seen as source of BPA exposure
July 27, 2010 By LYNDSEY LAYTON. The Washington Post
WASHINGTON – As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenol-A, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts. The Environmental Working Group found BPA on 40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical. Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the environmental group, says BPA's prevalence on receipts could help explain why the chemical can be detected in the urine of an estimated 93 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Full article here

Concerned about BPA: Check your receipts
By Janet Raloff, Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Some — but not all — cash-register and credit-card receipts can be rich sources of exposure to BPA, a hormone-mimicking pollutant.

While working at Polaroid Corp. for more than a decade, John C. Warner learned about the chemistry behind some carbonless copy papers (now used for most credit card receipts) and the thermal imaging papers that are spit out by most modern cash registers. Both relied on bisphenol-A.

Continue reading “Who is Aware, Talking, & Testing Receipts for Bisphenol-A, not just Food & Beverages?”

2010/07/302010/07/30

Graphic: “The True Cost of Coal”

01 Agriculture, 03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Energy, 07 Health, 10 Security, 12 Water, Civil Society, Earth Intelligence, Graphics, Peace Intelligence, True Cost, True Cost

See the graphic and the process by the Beehive Design Collective

After two years of collaborative research, storysharing, metaphor crafting, and meticulous illustrating, the bees have completed an epic illustration about mountaintop removal coal mining.

See the graphic and process by the Beehive Design Collective

Related:
+ True Cost Meme
+ True Cost T-Shirt

2010/07/29

Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009

04 Inter-State Conflict, 06 Family, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, True Cost

source page

By Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi

Abstract: There have been anecdotal reports of increases in birth defects and cancer in Fallujah, Iraq blamed on the use of novel weapons (possibly including depleted uranium) in heavy fighting which occurred in that town between US led forces and local elements in 2004. In Jan/Feb 2010 the authors organised a team of researchers who visited 711 houses in Fallujah, Iraq and obtained responses to a questionnaire in Arabic on cancer, birth defects and infant mortality. Continue reading “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009”

2010/07/282010/07/28

Reference: IC-Zilla Epitaph

03 Economy, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, DHS, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Law Enforcement, Media Reports, Military, True Cost

The Final Word from a Three-Agency SIS

28 July 2010

In my opinion the Washington Post series that exposed the exponential increase in the size and cost of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) was not taken seriously by official Washington and is considered a minor nuisance. That is why the only response to the series, as crafted by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), was largely vintage intelligence agency boilerplate with a few bizarre additions such as the claim that the collection and analysis of intelligence are not essential government functions of intelligence agencies and so can be left to contractor personal. The series did not merit a serious response in the thinking of the Executive Branch and Intelligence Community.

In fact the series, although much touted, was a huge disappointment to readers expecting a more deeply researched and in-depth look at the IC. Clearly the craft of investigative journalism has fallen on hard times.

Also it is the case that in this country quantity always trumps quality. The growth in the size of the Intelligence Community is taken by official Washington as a priori evidence of the value it has provided since 9/11. The facts that the current IC is ruinously expensive to operate, is producing largely worthless intelligence, and has frequently failed even in the most basic warning functions are irrelevant. A bloated IC serves as ‘proof’ that political Washington is serious about protecting American citizens from terrorist threats. As with quantity, in the political arena form always trumps substance.

Continue reading “Reference: IC-Zilla Epitaph”

2010/07/22

Dangers in the Dust: Inside the Global Asbestos Trade

02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Education, 07 Health, 09 Justice, 10 Security, Civil Society, Commerce, Corporations, Corruption, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, True Cost