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READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS
Stop Cravings and Lose Weight While Still Enjoying the Sweets You Love
Anne Alexander & Julia VanTine
Genre: Health & Fitness
Price: $9.99
Publish Date: December 24, 2013
Publisher: Rodale
Seller: Rodale Inc.
Shrink your sugar belly and find your path to optimum health! Sugar—public health enemy #1 or an innocent indulgence? The Sugar Smart Diet, from Prevention —the leading healthy lifestyle brand in the US—has the answer. The powerful, proven 32-day plan helps you conquer cravings, gain energy, slash your risk of heart disease and diabetes, and drop pounds like never before—all while reclaiming the pure pleasure of sugar. You will: • Lose up to 16 pounds and 16 inches in just 32 days • Lower cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure • Never feel hungry • Discover surprising sugar bombs along with healthy sugar swaps • Indulge in 50 delicious sugar-smart recipes • Learn how to enjoy sugar without triggering fatigue or weight gain or increasing the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments Discover how all this and more is possible when you get smart about sugar!
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Mother Jones
This story originally appeared on OnEarth.org.
It’s my daughter’s first Christmas season, and last weekend, as we were decorating our tree, she naturally wanted to play with the string of twinkling white lights that lay tangled on our apartment floor. We thought nothing of letting her pull them onto her lap so we could snap a few photos (though we didn’t let her stick them in her mouth). A coaster soon caught her attention, and we took the opportunity to wrap the string around our Fraser fir, then uploaded her pic to Instagram. And that’s when a friend told me that those beautiful strings of Christmas lights my daughter had been handling are actually coated in lead.
Lead, as in toxic. I had no idea. Sure, I’m aware that our everyday environment is full of toxic chemicals—including pesticides in our food and water, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in vehicle exhaust, and flame retardants in upholstery—and that these substances can cause neurodevelopmental disorders in children (see the latest cover story in our magazine, “Generation Toxic,” for more disturbing details.).
But on Christmas lights? Really?
Afraid so. It turns out that lead is applied to the polyvinylchloride (PVC) wire covering to keep the plastic from cracking. It’s also a flame retardant. Not all brands are suspect, but an awful lot are. In a 2008 study published in the Journal of Environmental Health, researchers from Cornell University tested 10 light sets and found lead on all of them, at levels that surpassed the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit for windowsills and floors.
Two other analyses in recent years, one by HealthyStuff.org and another done for CNN, produced similar results. The former, conducted in 2010, found that 54 percent of lights had more lead than regulators allow in children’s products. Quantex, the company that did the lab work for CNN in 2007, found that the surface lead levels in each of the four types of lights it tested exceeded the Consumer Safety Commission’s limit for children’s products (which has since been reduced).
Murilo Cardoso/Flickr
Isn’t lead illegal, due to its well-known effects on human health, including damage to the brain and nervous system in children? Actually, it’s only been banned from certain products, including paint and gasoline. The federal government restricts the amount of lead allowed on children’s products and provides limits on acceptable lead levels in dust and soil, air and water, and waste through a variety of laws and regulations. At the state level, California requires a warning label on electrical cords that have more than 300 parts per million of lead. But selling Christmas lights coated in lead is perfectly legal.
The Journal of Environmental Health study’s researchers recommended that companies manufacturing the lights should stop using PVC. Because they’ve been unwilling to do so voluntarily, the researchers recommend putting pressure on those companies “either through legislation or consumer demands that could be expressed through boycotts.” Meanwhile, consumers should exercise precaution to reduce potential exposure, the authors say. Is the amount of exposure significant and likely to be damaging? “In the whole scheme of things, is it a huge risk? No,” pediatrician Philip Landrigan of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York told USA Today in 2010. “But what’s bothersome about it is that it’s so unnecessary, and that safer substitutes do exist.” Christmas lights sold at IKEA, for example, are held to a stricter European standard, meaning less lead (though there can still be some).
Last year, science journalist Emily Willingham poked a bit of fun at the concern over toxic Christmas lights in her blog for Forbes. Yes, she acknowledged, studies show a potential problem. “What a first-world response, though,” she writes, “to make a special trip to IKEA, which always seems so far away, in your gas-burning automobile to buy precious, lead-free Christmas lights to plug in and power up thanks to your friendly neighborhood coal-burning power plant.”
Fair points, especially when there’s an easier way to protect yourself and your kids: washing hands with soap and water. Lead isn’t readily absorbed through the skin, so the main worry is that people will get it on their hands, then put their fingers in their mouths. Washing up after handling the lights should remove that risk, says Joseph Laquatra, a professor at Cornell’s College of Human Ecology who led the Journal of Environmental Health study.
So now that I know about the lead on my lights, am I going to leave them off my fir? No. But I’ll keep my daughter away from them from now on, and if I need to replace them in the future, I’m definitely looking for lead-free options. And hey, if anyone out there is looking to buy me an appropriate stocking stuffer this year…
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The resurgence of a marine mammal virus on the Eastern Seaboard and ‘unusual mortality events’ in the Gulf region have puzzled scientists. Link: Focus on Ocean’s Health as Dolphin Deaths Soar Related Articles Dot Earth Blog: A Gift That Keeps on Giving – to Strumming Musicians Setting the Table for a Regal Butterfly Comeback, With Milkweed Under Seattle, a Big Object Blocks Bertha. What Is It?
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A simple device turns old credit cards and other stray plastic into guitar picks. See original article: Dot Earth Blog: A Gift That Keeps on Giving – to Strumming Musicians Related Articles A Gift That Keeps on Giving – to Strumming Musicians Dot Earth Blog: Climate Scientists, Then and Now, Espousing ‘Responsible Advocacy’ Focus on Ocean’s Health as Dolphin Deaths Soar
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Dot Earth Blog: A Gift That Keeps on Giving – to Strumming Musicians
Mother Jones
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Last week, Mother Jones‘ Molly Redden wrote about a recent Human Rights Watch report, “In Harm’s Way,” which argues that aggressive policing in New Orleans is contributing to the city’s soaring HIV/AIDS rates. One tactic that Human Rights Watch found to be particularly problematic: the police harassment of suspected sex workers for possessing condoms.
At the heart of the matter is the vague definition of the crime of “loitering for prostitution,” which invites arbitrary arrests and discriminatory policing. According to the report, police in New Orleans use the possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution, even if they don’t witness the crime underway. The result? Of the report’s 169 interviewees, all of whom had exchanged sex for money, drugs, or life necessities, more than a third said that they had carried fewer condoms out of fear of police harassment. More than a quarter had had unprotected sex due to the fear of carrying condoms.
Testimonies in the report describe police harassing sex workers, threatening arrest based on condom possession, and, in some cases, confiscating the condoms altogether. Transgender women reported the police calling them a “thing,” a “whore,” and “a disgrace to America” while searching them for condoms. Cleo, a 36-year-old woman, said, “In the French Quarter in March of this year I was at a bar with a man and the cops asked only the trans women to go outside and they searched us. If we had condoms we got arrested for attempted solicitation.”
New Orleans isn’t the only place where Human Rights Watch has documented condom confiscation. Last year, the organization examined the police treatment of sex workers in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, and found that police in all four cities were using condoms as evidence of prostitution.
From last year’s report, “Sex Workers at Risk”:
Police use of condoms as evidence of prostitution has the same effect everywhere. Despite millions of dollars spent on promoting and distributing condoms as an effective method of HIV prevention, groups most at risk of infection—sex workers, transgender women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth—are afraid to carry them and therefore engage in sex without protection as a result of police harassment. Outreach workers and businesses are unable to distribute condoms freely and without fear of harassment as well.
Over the past year, some places have made progress. In June, New York became the first state to pass a law prohibiting the use of condom possession as evidence of prostitution-related crimes. In Washington, DC, the Metropolitan Police started distributing “condom cards” and leaflets to sex workers and community health groups (Example text: “Individuals are allowed to carry as many condoms as they want. There is no ‘three condom rule'”). In February, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS identified the usage of condoms as evidence of prostitution as one of several “HIV-specific criminal laws” that are “fueling the epidemic rather than reducing it.”
Whether or not the New Orleans Police Department will act on the report remains up in the air. Last week, dozens of people in New Orleans marched in front of City Hall holding signs saying “Prevention Not Punishment.” A New Orleans Police Department spokesperson has told local media that “to date, we have no record of the allegations made in this report.”
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green4us
Codex: Inquisition – Games Workshop
The Inquisition is the most powerful organisation within the Imperium. Bound by no Imperial law or authority, its agents – Inquisitors – operate in a highly secretive manner and answer only to themselves. Inquisitors use whatever means are necessary in order to safeguard the Imperium from heretics, mutants and aliens. It is not without good reason that Inqui […]
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Warhammer 40,000: Carnage! (Interactive Edition) – Games Workshop
Not all battles are fought between two opposing armies, sometimes multiple factions will find themselves vying for the same objective. In these brutal and bloody confrontations, the battlefield will become a boiling melee of mayhem and madness. Each commander must weight the pros and cons of their every assault, committing forces against one foe sure to weak […]
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Inside of a Dog – Alexandra Horowitz
The bestselling book that asks what dogs know and how they think, now in paperback. The answers will surprise and delight you as Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains how dogs perceive their daily worlds, each other, and that other quirky animal, the human. Horowitz introduces the reader to dogs’ perceptual and cognitive abilities and then draw […]
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Warhammer Battle: Vanguard Clash (eBook Edition) – Games Workshop
When armies are on the march, it is common for a vanguard force to forge a few hours ahead of the main column. The vanguard is tasked with scouting out the swiftest march routes for the army following in their wake, and screening their advance to ensure the way ahead is free from foes. Should they encounter the vanguard of an enemy host, a swift and brutal c […]
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Warhammer 40,000: Carnage! (eBook Edition) – Games Workshop
Not all battles are fought between two opposing armies, sometimes multiple factions will find themselves vying for the same objective. In these brutal and bloody confrontations, the battlefield will become a boiling melee of mayhem and madness. Each commander must weight the pros and cons of their every assault, committing forces against one foe sure to weak […]
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Dataslate: Adeptus Astartes Storm Wing (Interactive Edition) – Games Workshop
Like a bolt out of war-torn skies comes the Storm Wing – salvation for the Emperor’s forces, and a bane to their foes. The Adeptus Astartes Storm Wing gives Warhammer 40,000 players background information and rules that allow them to collect and field this deadly combination of fighter-craft. For the Adeptus Astartes to achieve their rapid strike styl […]
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Dataslate: Reclusiam Command Squad (Interactive Edition) – Games Workshop
Chaplains march to war at the head of Command Squads, their faith and righteous rhetoric exhorting their fellow battle-brothers to fight with the fury of the Emperor himself. These retinues are made up of veterans whose combat skills are mirrored by their tactical and strategic brilliance, each one having served his Chapter though decades of war and blood. I […]
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Paracord Fusion Ties – Volume 1 – J.D. Lenzen
J.D. Lenzen is the creator of the highly acclaimed YouTube channel “Tying It All Together”, and the producer of over 200 instructional videos. He’s been formally recognized by the International Guild of Knot Tyers (IGKT) for his contributions to knotting, and is the originator of fusion knotting-innovative knots created through the merging of […]
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Warlords of the Dark Millennium: Dante – Games Workshop
All fear the Angel of Death! Lord Commander Dante – the Bringer of Sanguinius’ Light – rules over the storied Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter. Even amongst the most honoured Imperial Commanders of the 41st Millennium, Dante is a living legend. His heroic service to the forces of the Imperium has lasted for well over a millennia. He is believed to be the lo […]
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Apocalypse Dataslate: Centurion Siegebreaker Cohorts (Interactive Edition) – Games Workshop
Assault Centurions are a powerful weapon in the armouries of the Adeptus Astartes, able to smash apart enemy fortifications and open the way for full-scale assaults. Combined with Ironclad Dreadnoughts, many Space Marine Chapters use them to form Centurion Siegebreaker Cohorts, ideal for cracking open stubborn enemy defences. Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse – C […]
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Mother Jones
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Today brings ever more stories of rate shock from people signing up for Obamacare:
Sue Spanke of Missoula, Mont., was highly displeased this fall when she learned her health insurance had been canceled….After angrily calling her state auditor’s office, Spanke, a self-employed artist in her 50s, found she was eligible for a federal subsidy. Her new insurance will cover her for a mere $30 to $40 a month with a deductible of only $500. She had been paying $350 a month for a Blue Cross policy with a $5,000 deductible. “I went from a horrible policy that didn’t cover anything, that was breaking me, to the best policy at the best price I’ve had since I was in my 20s,” she said.
….In Lancaster, Pa., Lori Lapman, 58, learned her health plan was being canceled in September—by October things were looking up. Per The Sunday News: “Sitting at a laptop with a certified health law helper, Lapman went to HealthCare.gov, found it running smoothly, and bought a subsidized Highmark plan that allows her to keep her doctors while saving her money. Her canceled plan cost her $520 a month. Her new coverage? Only $111.73.”
….In a letter to the editor in The Santa Maria Times, Allan Pacela told the story of how after his wife lost her insurance this fall, she found much better coverage under Obamacare. The couple is now saving $8,000 per year for a “much better plan.”
There’s more at the link, and all from doing a quick Nexis search of newspapers across the country. Just imagine what we might find out with a little bit of old-school shoe-leather reporting.
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Surprise! Lots of People Are Saving Money Thanks to Obamacare.
In May, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo anticipated that it would be done “in the next several weeks,” and last month, he said he expected it to be done before next year’s state election. Link to article – Still Undecided on Fracking, Cuomo Won’t Press for Health Study’s Release ; ;Related ArticlesStudy Raises Questions About Antibleeding DrugA Struggle to Balance Wind Energy With WildlifeOutsider Challenges Papers on Growth of Dinosaurs ;
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Still Undecided on Fracking, Cuomo Won’t Press for Health Study’s Release
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