Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

• More fuel efficient cars are on their way. Last week, the U.S. General Services Administration ordered 17,205 greener cars, to come from General Motors with 2,933, Chrysler with 7,924 and Ford with 6,348—costing a grand total of $210 million; via GreenBiz.com.

• And to improve cars, a laboratory in Colorado is working to enhance the efficiency of car air-conditioning. Tooling up new air-conditioning could save the United States 7 billion gallons of gasoline each year and help reduce carbon emissions; Green Inc. reports.

• The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is looking to go carbon neutral by 2020. Estimates claim global air travel accounts for 2% of carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, the IATA is focusing on carbon trading and eco-friendly fuels; via SustainableBusiness.com.

• The petroleum industry, i.e. oil, is being blamed for 1.5 billion kilograms of pollutants released into the environment. According to a new report, 90% of the 5.5 billion kilograms of pollution comes from just 12 industries, such as oil, mining and chemicals; the AFP reports.

• Twenty years later, Exxon is getting nailed for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill near Alaska. The supertanker poured 50,000 tons of oil into the ocean off Alaska’s south coast. So on Monday, a U.S. federal appeals court ordered Exxon to pay a $507.5 million penalty; the AFP explains.

• This is funny. In 1909, The Titusville Herald in Titusville, Pennsylvania ran a report by the United States Geological Survey saying all petroleum and iron would be exhausted by 1939, natural gas by 1934 and coal by the 21st century—guess that didn’t happen; via Paleo-Future.

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Bad news for fisherman, sampling by the Environmental Protection Agency discovered fish caught near freshwater treatment plants serving major U.S. cities, like Chicago and Philadelphia, contained residues from pharmaceuticals in them, such as medications used to treat high cholesterol, depression and high blood pressure, as well as trace amounts of soap chemicals. Even minuet concentrations of these compounds can harm aquatic life and contaminate drinking water; the Associated Press reports. 

It gets worse! Pay attention guys. All the chemicals in our environment are causing more hermaphrodites in the animal world and in human populations in the United States and Japan the number of male births is on the decline, but girl babies are on the rise. Scientists suspect female hormones from contraceptive pills reentering the water supply are to blame.

In related news, perfluorinated compounds, fluorine-containing chemicals used to make products like shampoo and dental floss may cause infertility in women. That means one thing. We all better start having sex before it’s too late. Do it for the species!

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Experts want the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a risk-assessment on the potential dangers of phthalates, chemicals used to make plastics soft and flexible, for things like toys, food packaging and medical devices. Currently, animal studies indicate phthalates may decrease testosterone levels in males and heighten risk of liver cancer. And many phthalates have already been banned in Europe for nearly a decade; via Reuters.

Bisphenol-A or BPA is another harmful chemical found in plastic drawing heavy scrutiny.

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Males of all species, from fish to mammals, are being feminized and not by reruns of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. According to a new report by the environmental charity CHEMTrust, a variety of common chemicals and pesticides are shrinking male genitals and causing abnormalities in the animal kingdom, like hermaphrodite polar bears and male fish developing eggs in their testes.

Scientists worry this could jump to humans too! Heavily polluted communities in Canada, Russia and Italy are already giving birth to twice as many girls than boys. And in the U.S. and Japan, research indicates 250,000 babies who would have been boys were born as girls instead. Female hormones from contraceptive pills reentering water supplies could be one reason why; The Independent reports.

Via TreeHugger.

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Santa better be careful this year! The Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan reveals 1 in 3 toys contain toxins like lead, arsenic and flame retardants. Researchers tested more than 1,500 popular toys and found one-third have medium or high levels of harmful chemicals; CNN reports.

And last year, Curious George dolls with high lead-levels were discovered, as well as bedroom slippers and bath toys. So, if you’re not shopping for toxic toys, some safe toy buying tips would be not buying toys with rigid points or parts that shoot off and avoid toys that break easily.
 

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That spud weighs nearly 25 pounds! A 56-year old farmer in Lebanon unearthed the monster. Grown naturally, without any chemicals, the man hopes it'll get him in the Guinness Book of World Records; the AFP reports.

Actually, insane fruits and veggies pop up all the time, like 600-pound pumpkins, watermelons auctioned for over $6,000 and crazy people that think they’ve grown a strawberry inside a tomato. 
 

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• Most historic buildings are dark and grey. But that could change. As air quality improves and more clean fuels are used. Buildings in the U.S. and Europe, like the Empire State Building, might turn yellow, reddish-brown and even green with lichen and moss; NewScientist investigates.

• Regular plastic is non-degradable. That’s why a company is developing a bio-plastic, also called liquid wood, made from trees. It uses lignin, normally thrown out in paper production, combined with natural materials, like wood, hemp, flax and wax, to produce plastic granules; via DiscoBlog.

• Cattle farmers are fuming mad! Federal officials want impose fees on belching and gaseous cows, citing cattle’s effect on air-pollution. If passed, large farms would have pay an annual fee of $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 for beef cattle and $20 for hogs; the Associated Press reports.

• Trees might make plastic, but elephant crap can make paper! A Brooklyn, New York company, called Mr. Ellie Pooh, won Co-op America’s 2008 Green Business Leader Award for turning Sri Lankan elephant dung into stationery and various grades of paper; from SustainableBusiness.

• Nintendo Wii is the hot holiday gift this year, but an environmental group will reevaluate one of its components, claiming it could possess the harmful chemical bromine. The Michigan-based, Ecology Center plans to reexamine the battery cover on the controller; via the Associated Press.

• Piezoelectric crystals produce electricity when stress is applied. This could power things like cell phones with sounds waves. So a Japanese railway company will install piezoelectric elements in subways in order to generate power from people passing through ticket gates; from CleanTechica.

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