The Dirty Dozen: - lighterfootstep.com

So you've decided to take the plunge -- to embrace lighter living, start greening your life, and do something to help the the environment. But where to begin?

Their article Ten First Steps Toward Lighter Living, is a good place to get grounded.

If you're ready to take on taming your shopping cart, we've put together a list we call the Dirty Dozen. These are twelve unhealthy or resource-intensive products you should consider reducing or eliminating from your life entirely. Once you've tackled these, you'll probably think of others -- and you'll be well on your way to a lighter, more sustainable lifestyle.

Styrofoam, Plastic food containers with Bisphenol-A (BPA), Tropical hardwoods, Aluminum in cosmetics, Incandescent bulbs, Petroleum-based fabric sheets and laundry detergent, Overpackaged goods, Paper towels and napkins, Plastic utensils, Disposable batteries, Household cleaners, Commercial insecticides

How Safe Is Your Printer?

Time mag asks How Safe Is Your Printer?

Apparently some office printers cause considerable indoor pollution.

A recent Australian study will have you thinking twice about waiting for those printouts — not for the sake of the paper, but for your health. In the small study, published in the Aug. 1 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, researchers found that nearly 30% of the 62 printers they tested — including laser printers from Canon, HP, Toshiba and Ricoh — emitted high levels of ultrafine toner particles, which were potentially as hazardous as cigarette smoke. In one Brisbane office, the authors found, the concentration of particulate matter per square inch was five times higher during working hours than nonworking hours, and about 3.5 times higher inside than outside, where a freeway ran 130 yards from the building.
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The study's authors concede that more research is needed before they can make any recommendations about the public's printer-related behavior.
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In general, concentrations of volatile organic compounds, like cleaning agents and pesticides, can sometimes be 10 times higher indoors than outdoors, says Weschler. With long-term exposure, these types of air pollutants can be linked to allergies and respiratory illness, or worse.

The EPA has not done any recent research on the health effects of printer emissions — Morawska's study is the most extensive to date — but Sharon Worthy of the U.S. Dept. of Labor says "historically laser printers have presented no known hazard in the workplace." But, according to the Washington-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which has conducted research on particulate pollution from automobiles, printers release the same type of fine particles that cars do. "What we need are standards up front so that the pollution we're subjected to don't pose health risks," says Jane Houlihan, the nonprofit's vice president for research. "Printers are just one of the many things we're exposed to during the day that are potentially harmful."

A Terrifying Message from Al Gore

A Terrifying Message from Al Gore:

BPA - new dangers discovered

As if we already didn't have enough to worry about, here comes new concerns about BPA (bisphenol A ).
The Green Guide has summed it up nicely

If you are like many readers of The Green Guide, you try and choose foods that are as free as possible of harmful chemicals such as pesticides. But if you consume canned soups, beans and soft drinks, organic or not, you also may be swallowing residues of a controversial chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) that can leak out of the can linings into your food. Nearly all can liners contain BPA, says Geoff Cullen, director of government relations at the Can Manufacturers Institute. BPA has also been found to migrate, under some conditions, from polycarbonate plastic water bottles. Depending on whom you talk to, BPA is either perfectly safe or a dangerous health risk.

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Plastic water and baby bottles, food and beverage can linings and dental sealants are the most commonly encountered uses of this chemical. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay put. BPA has been found to leach from bottles into babies' milk or formula; it migrates from can liners into foods and soda and from epoxy resin-lined vats into wine; and it is found in the mouths of people who've recently had their teeth sealed. Ninety-five percent of Americans were found to have the chemical in their urine in a 2004 biomonitoring study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Some scientists urge that action be taken now, regardless. "Science is not in the business of demonstrating anything beyond a shadow of a doubt," says Ana Soto, M.D., a professor and researcher at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, who has found that BPA alters mammary-gland development in mice. "We cannot wait that long to discover whether this chemical is harming human reproduction and development." However, because government agencies remain unconcerned, it is unlikely that BPA will disappear from consumer products anytime soon. A California bill to ban BPA in baby toys and feeding products was defeated in January. In the meantime ...

8 Ways to Avoid Harmful Chemicals in Plastics and Cans

1. If you already own polycarbonate bottles, including the Nalgene bottles popular on college campuses, labeled #7 on the bottom, wash them by hand with mild dishwashing soap, not in the dishwasher, to avoid degrading the plastic and increasing leaching of BPA (see "Picnic Perfect Plastics").

2. Even plastic does not last forever. Look for cracks or cloudiness on your reusable clear plastic bottles. See The Green Guide's survey, "A Nalgene Bottle Poll."

3. Use glass baby bottles or plastic bag inserts, which are made of polyethyelene, or switch to polypropylene bottles that are labeled #5 and come in colors or are milky rather than clear.

4. Choose soups, milk and soy milk packaged in cardboard "brick" cartons, by Tetra Pak and SIG Combibloc, which are made of safer layers of aluminum and polyethylene (#2) and also recyclable.

5. Choose canned foods from makers who don't use BPA, such as Eden Foods (www.edenfoods.com), which sells certified organic canned beans and other foods.

6. Eat fresh foods in season and save the canned foods for convenience or emergencies. The exception is some canned fruit such as that found in smaller fruit-cocktail cans, which do not require a liner, according to the Can Manufacturers Institute.

7. Buy or can your own fruits and vegetables in safe glass jars. For more, see Amy's Green Kitchen "In a Summer Pickle".

8. Some wines have been found to contain up to six times the BPA of canned foods. While most wines probably don't, it's another good reason to drink in moderation.

So there you have it. As always with a debate where there are many sides and truths, theres a choice to be made. Given this information, does an individual act on this information or ignore it.

Here are some sources about BPA controversy

http://www.bisphenolafree.org/
http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=77083

I remember the time when I learned that not all plastics not microwave safe, and that one shouldn't microwave breast milk, as well as Teflon made pots and pans are now considered unsafe because of cancer fears. Treated Wood swing sets also a danger. Every day we learn something new. When plastic was first introduced it dramatically altered human history. It's virtually impossible to imagine a world without it.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that potentially all men made things are somehow dangerous to all living things and some non-living as well I suppose. So unless there is a grand paradigm shift in society as a whole this is the reality we live in today.