How would you like radioactive metal from nuclear weapons facilities to be recycled for use in consumer goods like silverware, pots and pans, eye glasses, zippers, kid’s braces, and even pacemakers and artificial hip joints? This practice was banned in 2000, but if the US Department of Energy gets its way, it will be reimplemented in the future (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show).
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Here’s a conspiracy for you! A new study links (for the first time) thyroid disease with human exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical used in industrial and consumer goods, including nonstick cookware and stain- and water-resistant coatings for carpets and fabrics. People with higher concentrations of PFOA in their blood are more likely to report a history of thyroid disease. But at least the problem of wrapping food in plastic after (or before) it’s cooked is being solved.
Toxicologist Tamara Galloway says, “These results highlight a real need for further research into the human health effects of low-level exposures to environmental chemicals like PFOA that are ubiquitous in the environment and in people’s homes. We need to know what they are doing.”read more
Two years ago, we reported the unthinkable: our favorite non-stick cooking surface may be dangerous. Now it has been discovered that babies whose mothers cook in non-stick pans, exposing their fetuses to the chemicals on them, have a significantly lower body weight at birth.
Researcher Joseph McLaughlin says, “This is a chemical that we don’t know very much about with regard to its long-term effects in humans.”
Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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