Imagine your village’s water supply was about to be contaminated by nuclear waste from a nearby dump and the federal government simply offered to put a fence around it. If you were the Hopi Nation, you’d sue.

In the 1950s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs created an unlined, unrestricted dump a few miles from a uranium mill on Navajo and Hopi land. Everything from uranium tailings to medical waste has been dumped there over the decades. The dump was closed – covered over with sand and dirt – in …

Tags: contamination , drinking water , hopi , indian , native american , pollution , uranium , water pollution

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Move over, melamine; your infamy as a contaminant in Chinese infant formula is being pushed aside by one that’s made in the USA. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has found some samples of American brands of infant formula (although they won’t divulge which) are contaminated with perchlorates – which come from rocket fuel.

How, one has to wonder, are perchlorates getting into the formula many people are feeding to their newborn babies? Improper disposal on military bases, rocket test sites and chemical plants can allow …

Tags: baby , chemicals , child , contamination , potable water , water pollution

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Last year, it was widely reported that drinking water in many major metropolitan areas was contaminated with trace amounts of drugs. All types of drugs – everything from over-the-counter pain medications to antidepressants to prescription medication for high blood pressure and heart disease.

The drugs we ingest pass right through our bodies and are expelled in our urine. These drugs aren’t removed in the water treatment process and the water is released into our rivers and lakes, which serve as our water supply.

The chatter eventually died down with assurances …

Tags: contamination , drugs , groundwater , pharmaceuticals , pollution , tap , water

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Serious hikers and those who travel are quite familiar with the many varieties of portable water testers. But who would have imagined that here in the United States we would ever feel the need or desire to test our pet food or baby formula?

With an estimated 50,000 Chinese children sickened and several deaths after drinking melamine contaminated formula, and the reported deaths 8,500 dogs and cats in the United States from contaminated pet food produced in China, the folks at Purdue University were inspired

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Tags: chemicals , contamination , environment , food , hazard , melamine , milk , pets , safety , toxicity

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Our national innocence regarding the safety of our food supply is fast eroding. From salmonella in tomatoes and peanut butter, to E. coli in spinach, how can we trust that the food we eat is safe and the government we pay taxes to is paying attention?

Two recent examples: Last fall, Mother Jones broke the story that canned tuna contains dangerous levels of mercury and that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) knew this when it left canned tuna off the seafood advisories it released in …

Tags: contamination , corn syrup , FDA , government , HFCS , lobby , mercury , poisoning , toxicity , tuna

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Security was exceptionally tight surrounding the sentencing in the tainted milk scandal in China. Police roadblocks were set up and grieving parents of the young victims were not allowed into the courtroom to hear the verdicts. Three people were sentenced to death (including a middleman who peddled the poison to milk stations) and several others were ordered behind bars, including the head of the dairy that knowingly produced the melamine-contaminated formula.

Tian Wenhua, who pleaded guilty, received a life sentence plus a $3.6M fine. Why did the …

Tags: china , contamination , food safety , milk , news

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