Noxious chemical or biological substances could cause permanent injury or death. Asbestos, toxic mold, benzene, mercury, lead, and many others are among those that can cause life threatening injuries. Americas Watchdog is digging for your solution.

What would we do without our friends at the Environmental Working Group (EWG)? Laboratory tests commissioned by the health and environmental watchdogs have found high levels of the endocrine-disrupting chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) on 40 percent of receipts sampled from top U.S. businesses and services.

The good news: Target, Starbucks, Bank of America ATMs and the U.S. Senate cafeteria apparently are using BPA-free receipt paper. The bad news: EWG found high concentrations of the ubiquitous chemical in at least one of several samples from McDonalds, CVS, KFC, Chevron, Whole Foods, Safeway, the U.S. Postal Service, Walmart, and the U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, announced a voluntary recall of Youth and Adult Brine VIP Lacrosse Gloves, about 7,000 in the United States and 30 in Canada, made by Brine, a division of Warrior Sports Inc., of Warren, Mich.

Although no injuries have been reported, screen printing ink used on the silver triad logo on the back of the glove contains excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

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The impact of hydraulic fracturing on human health and the environment is raising needed but troubling questions across the country, according to a recent New York Times article. Perhaps stricter industry regulation will soon follow.

Hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, entails injecting water, sand, and various chemicals into rock formations thousands of feet below the surface at intense pressure. This opens existing rock fractures so that gas can rise through the wells, making drilling possible in areas that 10 to 20 years ago would not have been profitable.

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Highly toxic Dursban, also known as chlorpyrifos, is an organophosphate pesticide that was extensively used in the U.S. until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) woke up and banned the nerve toxin for various uses in 2000. Prior to that decision, Dursban was the most popular household pesticide in the U.S. and was found in over 800 products.

Before then, Dursban’s manufacturer, Dow Chemical Company, claimed and marketed the dangerous pesticide as a safe means of eliminating unwanted household critters even though they knew otherwise. Unfortunately, millions of children were unknowingly exposed to its virulent effects during that time. One sampling of American children revealed that more than 90 percent of the study group had chlorpyrifos in their urine.

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An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demoted staff member says the agency knows more than its revealing about dangerous oil spill clean-up chemicals used in the Gulf of Mexico.

Long-time whistleblower Hugh Kaufman says EPA officials know that the chemicals pose a threat to the Gulf ecosystem and public health and should be banned; they just refuse to admit it, wrote Mother Jones.

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Do Americans care how many questionable chemicals they are slathering on their skin or ingesting each day? Deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, baby powder and other products expose us to at least 100 different chemicals, experts say, and many of these have been associated with adverse health effects such as birth defects, learning disabilities and cancer.

Right now, the Food and Drug Administration cannot legally do anything about it.

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The antibacterial agent, triclosan, is used in a variety of personal care products including hand sanitizers, toothpastes, hand soaps, deodorants and cosmetics. Last week, the EU’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) published its stand on the link between the biocide and antimicrobial resistance.

With current available research, the SCCS said it is ‘impossible to quantify the risk associated with triclosan’, and can ‘only recommend the prudent use of triclosan, for example in applications where a health benefit can be demonstrated’. However, it did add that environmental concentrations have been discerned that are sufficiently high, which suggests bacterial resistance could be triggered.

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If you need an excuse not to keep a spotless home, here it is. A new study indicates general use of household cleaners doubled the risk of breast cancer in women who used them frequently.

Scientists found decisive links between the cancer and women’s use of cleaning products, mold removers and air fresheners. The latter and mold and mildew removers provided the strongest association, wrote The Sydney Morning Herald. Surprisingly, mothballs, pesticides and insect repellents had little association with breast disease risk.

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