In The News / Sep 2

• Quakes pose greater risk to US reactors.

  The risk that an earthquake would cause a severe accident at a U.S. nuclear plant is greater than previously thought, 24 times as high in one case, according to an AP analysis of preliminary government data. The nation's nuclear regulator believes a quarter of America's reactors may need modifications to make them safer. Associated Press

• Dusty legacy of 9/11 still a medical mystery.

  Like a lot of New Yorkers who spent time near the smoking ruins of the World Trade Center, Lorraine Ashman needs to take a deep breath before listing all the health problems that have afflicted her over the past decade. Associated Press

• Fields and forests in flames: Vegetation smoke & human health.

  Much remains unknown about the varying toxicity of emissions from different types of vegetation fires and the vulnerability of specific groups of people. Environmental Health Perspectives

• World’s worst lungs are in India.

  Indians have the poorest lungs among 17 populations across four continents, according to new research that has stirred speculation that the health effects of air pollution in India may be worse than hitherto suspected. Calcutta Telegraph, India

• Pollution in Mexico: Black sand in the desert.

  Dusty, brown mountains surround Torreón, an industrial city in the north of Mexico. But one sandy desert hillside shines jet-black, composed of deposits from Latin America’s largest non-ferrous metal smelter. The plant has created not just an ugly slag heap but a public-health problem whose true extent is still unknown. Economist

• Toxicologist: Oil spill far more toxic than admitted.

  Riki Ott, an environmental toxicologist, has been tracking the health impacts of oil spills on human beings since her home was impacted by the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. Ott was in Battle Creek Wednesday night, at the invitation of local activists. Michigan Messenger, Michigan

• Hundreds arrested during pipeline protest at White House.

  A two-week protest ending today reflects the increasingly vociferous, and well-organized, campaign to thwart the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline extension that would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, through six US states to refineries along the Gulf Coast. USA Today

• Texas governor sought to sideline nuclear waste site critic.

  Texas governor Rick Perry tried to sideline a state commissioner who opposed expanding the scope of a nuclear-waste landfill owned by one of the governor's biggest political donors. Reuters

• What does climate change have to do with human health?

  Climate change is not just a problem for rivers and reservoirs that are running dry, or forests and grasslands that are seeing an increased incidence of wildfire, or Arctic wildlife stressed by rapidly changing ecosystems. It’s a problem for human health, too. Environmental Health Perspectives

• Study: Climate change a key factor in Mexican migration to US.

  Climate change is playing an important role in spurring the migration of Mexicans to the United States, according to a report released in Mexico by the Spanish banking group BBVA. EFE

• Hurricane Irene damages at American Cyanamid Superfund site worrying environmentalists.

  Hurricane Irene breached a protective berm at the American Cyanamid Superfund site in Bridgewater, allowing the Raritan River to flood the former plant and possibly release more chemical wastes. Newsroom Jersey, New Jersey

• Navy promises Hunters Point California cleanup by 2017.

  In its heyday, the shipyard at San Francisco's Hunters Point was where 17,000 men and women repaired battleships, submarines and destroyers. Today, it's the site of a multimillion-dollar environmental cleanup. San Francisco Chronicle, California

• Low asbestos levels in wood chips in Libby, Montana.

  Initial test results show only low levels of asbestos contamination in piles of wood chips and bark that were widely used for landscaping in a northwest Montana town where hundreds of people have died from asbestos exposure, federal regulators said Thursday. Associated Press

• Study calls for halting oyster fishing in Chesapeake Bay.

  Dogged for decades by overfishing and parasites, the oyster population in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay has fallen so low that there’s only one way to save it, a new study says: Halt fishing entirely. Washington Post

• Haitian divers hope to aid ailing reef.

  Environmental degradation is rife in Haiti – deforestation, erosion, pollution – and for the most part it is hard to miss. But for decades the country’s marine environment has suffered unseen. New York Times