Woodsmoke: a dose of our own, in my backyard
Updated: February 2010"Do you have a woodstove," the doctor asks as I sit, barelegged in my too-small hospital gown, and give the respirometer a feeble puff. It’s my second try and I beg for one more,...
View ArticleA lot of information on a little topic: EPA's Nanotitanium Case Study
Still stuck in the sunscreen limbo? Wondering which to choose - "chemical" filters or "natural" filters like nanotitanium? While we know chemical filters tend to be absorbed into the skin, should we be...
View ArticleBack to school with less plastic
For those interested in the LA Times op-ed Back to School with Less Plastic -- a teaching moment, I've posted a slightly longer version of the editorial below, along with a few links to reports...
View ArticlePCBs: back with a vengence?
Teaching college-aged students can keep you young or, make you feel really old. In this case I was feeling particularly old. My college advisor, with whom I’d kept in touch over the years, had invited...
View ArticleThe salty dumping grounds: a brief history of ocean dumping
In light of all the recent activity surrounding ocean plastics including voyages by both Captain Charlie Moore and Scripps, I thought it might be relevant to consider our practice (past and present) of...
View ArticleLice patrol
Though I’ve got lice stories to tell of my own, I’ve been embargoed by the victims. So instead I’ll begin with my friend, Kate’s* daughter, who discovered the unwelcome visitors two days before her...
View ArticleThe salty dumping grounds: plasticized Part II
[Here is the second part of The Dumping Grounds, a history of ocean plastics.]An Earlier VoyageIn 1971 over twenty years before the Alguita’s first voyage, nearly forty years before the recent Scripps...
View ArticleLining Asbestos-Concrete Drinking Water Pipes with Vinyl: Its enough to make...
I’ve been a “lurker” on the TCE List serve – a gathering site for those impacted by this old industrial solvent and one of this country’s most important groundwater contaminants. Unfortunately it is an...
View ArticleRecombinant DNA, Synthetic Biology,and Nanotechnology, oh my!
There is an interesting article on Synthetic Biology in last week's New Yorker. Though I just gave it a skim, and didn't read the ending – the topic is intriguing and describes a field of science...
View ArticleIs there bias in bi(a)sphenol A?
Over the past two years the debate about bisphenol A (BPA) has become a quagmire where highly regarded scientists who once worked side by side, now sit across the fence virtually flinging insults at...
View ArticleEvolution of the Toxic Response: In the beginning there were chemicals....
The following is what I intend to be the first in a series of essays on the Evolution of the Toxic Response– a topic which piqued my interest after what could either be called a disastrous flirtation...
View ArticleYankee Swap: tritium contaminated water anyone?
First published in the Montague ReporterFirst we hear about tens of thousands of picocuries* in the groundwater beneath Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power plant, next it’s over one hundred gallons of water...
View ArticleMcElligott's Plastic
“Ask for a cone, save the environment!” proclaimed the sign at the local Creamee. The girls asked for cups anyway, to catch the drippings of the oversized soft-serve half-and-half cones they'd ordered....
View ArticlePeanut allergies in a nutshell
This summer I met a family from Australia who’d mentioned their daughter was highly allergic to peanuts. Wondering if all the concern about peanut allergies was yet another case of Americans...
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The Neighborhood Toxicologist is Evolving
When I started writing this blog, my goal was to explain why certain chemicals in consumer products were toxic, as well as discuss some of the uncertainties in toxicology. Over the years, all this...
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Happy to be back! And with new Book in tow!!
It has been quite a while (apologies to those who left comments over the past 3 years...when Google took over, I couldn't figure out how to get in!) Just tried again after getting on the forum and am...
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You say tomato, I say blight!
http://www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm#imagesThe first inkling that things were really bad was the news that late blight had not only wilted and rotted my own...
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Raisin Hell (and Dogs)
(Cross-posted from toxicevolution.)We were closing in on the end of a glorious spring weekend when my husband discovered the bag. “Any chance you left this lying around — empty?” he’d asked holding the...
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An antibiotic alternative? Hope through science.
Antibiotic resistance test. Image: Dr. Graham BeardsA toddler suddenly becomes deathly ill. In the ER she is diagnosed with dysentery, caused by a rare but particularly aggressive form of Salmonella....
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Toxic Textiles: Book review of Fake Silk
Book Review. Below is an excerpt from my recent review of:Fake Silk The Lethal History of Viscose Rayon Paul David Blanc, Yale University Press. The review first appeared in Science, 25 Nov 2016:Vol....
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Trump's war on science, a shot over the bow
I was hoping that maybe Trumps anti-vax statements would be one of those things he backtracked on (I have in my head the little tune from Scrubs, Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong,); but his recent ask, this...
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About Twelve Percent
Ok, I’ve had it. Too many times on the news, I’ve heard something like this, “after all, 53% of white women voted for Donald Trump.” Or, "42% of women voted for Trump." WRONG. What they mean of course...
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Dear Mr. Pruitt, today we talked about DDT
Dear Mr. Pruitt,I teach an introductory environmental toxicology class to undergraduate public health majors. Each week we talk about different issues from mercury to DDT and nanomaterials. And each...
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Dear Mr. Pruitt, let's talk about lead
Dear Mr. Pruitt,Last week I wrote to you about DDT. This week let’s consider lead. Like DDT, another jaw-dropper for my environmental toxicology undergrads. You may not remember leaded gasoline. It was...
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The Neighborhood Toxicologist has evolved!
Please join me at my new site, Evolution in a Toxic World. (I will no longer be checking or posting content to this site.)Model Kay Heffernon with a soda and hot dog on Jones Beach, NY 1948. Photo by...
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