Monday, April 25, 2011

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Limit Your Exposure To Cell Phone Radiation

Four billion people around the globe own cell phones. As the market for new devices has grown, so have concerns about the safety of cell phone radiation.

Recent studies find significantly higher risks for brain and salivary gland tumors among people who have used cell phones for 10 years or longer. The state of the science is provocative and troubling, and much more research is essential.

We at Environmental Working Group are still using our cell phones, but we also believe that until scientists know much more about cell phone radiation, it’s smart for consumers to buy phones with the lowest emissions.

The U.S. government ought to require cell phone companies to label their products’ radiation output so that consumers can compare the numbers at the point of sale.

It doesn’t, so EWG has created this user-friendly interactive online guide to cell phone emissions, covering more than 1,000 phones currently on the market.

10 Best Phones*
Listing is based on phones currently available from major carriers.
You can also see all available phones [24] ranked by radiation.

1. LG Quantum [25] [AT&T [26]]
2. Casio EXILIM [27] [Verizon Wireless [28]]
3. Sanyo Katana II [29] [Kajeet [30]]
4. Pantech Breeze II (P2000) [31] [AT&T [32], AT&T GoPhone [33]]
5. Samsung Mesmerize (Galaxy S) [34] [CellularONE [35], U.S. Cellular [36]]
6. Samsung Fascinate [37] [Verizon Wireless [38]]
7. Samsung SGH-a197 [39] [AT&T GoPhone [40]]
8. Samsung Contour (SCH-R250) [41] [MetroPCS [42]]
9. Samsung Gravity T (SGH-T669) [43] [T-Mobile [44]]
10. Samsung SGH-T249 [45] [T-Mobile [46]]

* Updated December 2010.

Source URL:
http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation

What’s In Your Bottled Water – Besides Water?

Download the Full Report PDF

Pure, clean water. That’s what the ads say. But what does the lab say?

When you shell out for bottled water, which costs up to 1,900 times more than tap water, you have a right to know what exactly is inside that pricey plastic bottle.

Most bottled makers don’t agree. They keep secret some or all the answers to these elementary questions:

•Where does the water come from?

•Is it purified? How?

•Have tests found any contaminants?

Among the ten best-selling brands, nine — Pepsi's Aquafina, Coca-Cola's Dasani, Crystal Geyser and six of seven NestlĂ© brands — don't answer at least one of those questions.

Only one — NestlĂ©'s Pure Life Purified Water — discloses its specific geographic water source and treatment method on the label and offers an 800-number, website or mailing address where consumers can request a water quality test report.

The industry's refusal to tell consumers everything they deserve to know about their bottled water is surprising.

Since July 2009, when Environmental Working Group released its groundbreaking Bottled Water Scorecard, documenting the industry's failure to disclose contaminants and other crucial facts about their products, bottled water producers have been taking withering fire from consumer and environmental groups.

A new EWG survey of 173 unique bottled water products finds a few improvements – but still too many secrets and too much advertising hype. Overall, 18 percent of bottled waters fail to list the location of their source, and 32 percent disclose nothing about the treatment or purity of the water. Much of the marketing nonsense that drew ridicule last year can still be found on a number of labels.

EWG recommends that you drink filtered tap water. You'll save money, drink water that’s purer than tap water and help solve the global glut of plastic bottles.

We support stronger federal standards to enforce the consumer's right to know all about bottled water.

Until the federal Food and Drug Administration cracks down on water bottlers, use EWG's Bottled Water Scorecard to find brands that disclose the water's source location, treatment and quality and that use advanced treatment methods to remove a broad range of pollutants.

See all 173 bottled waters surveyed.

Update (Jan. 25, 2011)
California’s Public Health Department appears to interpret S.B. 220’s source-listing requirement narrowly in light of federal law. Although ambiguity remains with regard to that requirement – underscoring the need for more clarity in the current statute – EWG has updated its original “out-of-compliance” findings to reflect that interpretation. In light of that update, EWG also changed its letter grade for the following products: Alhambra Jr. Sport Crystal-Fresh Purified Water (F to D); Good Stuff by AMPM Purified Drinking Water (D to C); Ralphs Purified Drinking Water (F to D); Refreshe Purified Drinking Water (D to C); and Sunny Select Drinking Water (D to C).

Raw Food Classes

We are excited that we have an expert raw food guru in our group and she would love to share her knowledge with all of us. We are planning to offer a Raw Living Food Class in May in Boise.

The fee is $25/person and includes the cost of Valerie buying the organic food, classroom preparation and then eating the food and a 3 ring binder with recipes to take home.

We need to start getting a list together of people that are committed to doing this so preparations can be made. Please respond. Thanks!

Raw Food Recipe - Cabbage Dish

This recipe is from Carole of Body Kneads Massage

It was a favorite at one of our recent potlucks. Carole may need to give us some more input about amounts and the actual name of the dish. Also, we may need some instructions about how to make the nutritional yeast cheese Carole.

• Cabbage
• Unprocessed Raw Sprouted Wild Rice
• Seaweed Noodles
• White Onion

Seasoning:
Balsamic Vinegar, French Mustard, Pink Salt, Dash of Namashoyou “Nutritional Yeast Cheese” with sprouted pumpkin & sunflower seeds Dash of Lemon & Dash of Tacospice

Friday, April 15, 2011

9 Things You May Not know ABOUT YOUR MAKEUP

1. The US FDA does not regulate the cosmetic industry.

2. The EU has banned approximately 1,100 ingredients found in personal care products, while the US has only banned 10 ingredients.

3. Due to the lack of regulation in the USA, the words “natural,” “pure,” and “organic” do not guarantee the products have these characteristics.

4. Cosmetic companies are now manufacturing products with particle sizes so small (“micronized” and “nano” sized) they can penetrate the layers of your skin and settle into the fatty tissues of your body.

5. The average woman ingests an average of four pounds of lipstick over a lifetime.

6. Most mineral makeup contains an ingredient called Bismuth Oxychloride, which is a bio-cumulative metal and a well known irritant to the skin.

7. The most toxic cosmetic product is mascara; this product may contain mercury.

8. Many makeup products, including lipstick, contain the ingredient carmine, which is a bright red pigment obtained from the exoskeleton of a beetle.

9. Many cosmetic products contain parabens. Parabens are broad-band preservatives which have been found in breast cancer tumors during research biopsies.

Are your mineral cosmetics making you itch? It’s the bismuth oxychloride! Afterglow Cosmetics offers a full line of bismuth oxychloride free color cosmetics.