Problem

How much would the draft Chemicals in Commerce Act recently proposed by Illinois Rep. John Shimkus (left) protect public health? Not much.

huffingtonpost.com - by Elliott Negin - April 4, 2014

Americans have long been unwitting subjects in an uncontrolled experiment.

For decades, U.S. manufacturers -- with the federal government's blessing -- have been producing tens of thousands of untested, potentially toxic chemicals, many of which wind up in our bodies. These substances include suspected neurotoxins, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, and thousands of other chemicals for which there is little or no information.

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STUDY - The Lancet Neurology - Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity

Shimkus Unveils Discussion Draft of Chemicals in Commerce Act

submitted by Mike Kraft

wjf.org - April 2, 2014

“Disasters pose questions of who [is helped] first and who...last,” said Sheri Fink, MD, PhD, a correspondent for The New York Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, to more than 1,000 attendees of the 2014 Preparedness Summit  in Atlanta this week. Fink is the author of Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm Ravaged Hospital, about the response by health providers, first responders, volunteers, patients and family members who rode out the storm in a hospital that lost power in the early hours of the hurricane. Fink was the headline speaker for the first plenary session of the Summit.

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Image: Crews manage the pipeline spill. CREDIT: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

thinkprogress.org - March 25th, 2014 - Kiley Kroh

20,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a damaged pipeline into a nature reserve in southwest Ohio — double the initial estimates — according to officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The leak was discovered by Gary Broughton as he was driving on March 17 and smelled a “fuel, oily smell,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

“It’s absolutely terrible,” Broughton told the 911 dispatcher. “It made me sick when I saw it.”

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vancouverobserver.com - by Barry Saxifrage - March 28, 2014

America's surge in cheap fracked gas is acting like a climate change Jekyll and Hyde. In the public eye, fracked gas is being applauded for replacing climate-dirtier coal burning. But behind the scenes, it is also an efficient killer of climate-safer energy projects.

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Assumptions to the Annual Energy Outlook 2013

Report - Assumptions to the Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (210 page .PDF report)