Environmental Health

"According to a recent study, noise pollution could be costing lives. A World Health Organization report finds Western Europeans lose years to death or disability from excessive sound."

Eighteen non-organic produce industry groups have written the Agriculture Secretary in an an effort to muffle the impact of the upcoming USDA report on pesticide residues. The Environmental Working Group uses the annual data to highlight the "Dirty Dozen" fruits and vegetables.

"MRSA, a bacteria resistant to common antibiotics, has been discovered in supermarket meats, and the germ is apparently being introduced by human food handlers, a new study reports."

"Hate insects? Afraid of germs? Researchers are reporting an alarming combination: bedbugs carrying a staph 'superbug.' Canadian scientists detected drug-resistant staph bacteria in bedbugs from three hospital patients from a downtrodden Vancouver neighborhood."

"Washington has become the first state to ban pavement sealants that contain coal tar. The state made the move in response to recent studies that show runoff from macadam treated with these products can pollute lakes and streams."

"It cost a 'staggering' $76.6 billion to cover the health expenses of American children who were sick because of exposure to toxic chemicals and air pollutants in 2008, according to new research by senior scientists at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York."

"The potential for public exposure to dangerous levels of asbestos in the contaminated mining town of Libby [Mont.] remains a concern to federal health officials, according to preliminary results of a risk-assessment study announced Tuesday, more than a decade after cleanup operations began."

"Americans are suffering from asthma in record numbers, according to a study released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly one in 10 children and almost one in 12 Americans of all ages now has asthma, government researchers said."