Dear EarthTalk: Are silver dental fillings, which contain mercury, toxic? Despite their name, “silver” fillings are actually composed of about 50 percent mercury and 30 percent silver, with the remaining components divided among copper, tin, zinc and sometimes cadmium. Dozens of Americans have complained that the fillings have damaged their health through mercury poisoning, from [...]
I recently started a “Couch to 10k” running program and let me tell you – it sucks. Granted, it feels good once I am done and back in my house eating chips and drinking beer, but when I am doing it I really question my sanity. Any of you guys ever do these type of [...]
Chlorine bleach is an incredibly dangerous product. It releases dioxin, furans and other organochlorines into the air, causes sore throat, coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, fluid in the lungs and studies have shown a relationship between dioxin exposure and cancer, birth defects, and developmental/reproductive disorders. Clorox is probably the biggest producer of chlorine bleach, certainly [...]
How many earths does it take to support your lifestyle? If everyone lived the lifestyle of the average American we would need 5 planets to support us all. Yes, FIVE planets. According to the Global Footprint Network, it now takes the Earth one year and six months to regenerate what we use in a year, [...]
Humanity is now using nature’s services 50 percent faster than what Earth can renew, reveals the 2010 edition of the Living Planet Report – the leading survey of the planet’s health. The top 10 countries with the biggest Ecological Footprint per person are the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Denmark, Belgium, United States, Estonia, Canada, Australia, [...]
Dear EarthTalk: I understand that the use of antibiotics in raising farm animals is threatening to make bacteria overall more resistant to antibiotics, which has serious life and death implications for people. Can you enlighten and advise what is being done about this? Most medical doctors would agree that antibiotic drugs which stave off bacterial [...]
With the Storm of the Century now passed after affecting 100 million US residents, it’s time for another roundup of this week’s Green Reads. Hope you keep warm while you peruse this weeks news! Today there are three sources of growing demand for food: population growth; rising affluence and the associated jump in meat, milk, [...]
