Wall Street Journal Reports on PCB Dredging Operations

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On December 7, 2009 we wrote about the dredging operations on the Hudson River (http://futureenv.blogspot.com/2009/12/hudson-river-pcb-dredging-good-bad-ugly.html).  On January 21, 2010 the Wall Street Journal reported that higher PCB levels were found during the Hudson River dredging operations.  Both General Electric and the EPA released draft evaluations of the project.  Both reports found higher levels of PCBs than originally anticipated, putting into question the performance standards for the project.

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• Hudson River PCB dredging studies (timesunion.com)
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Future Environment Designs discussion "The Pollution Within"

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In 2006 we discussed in our blog Future Environment Designs: "The Pollution Within" from Plattsburgh, NY about an article we read in National Geographic about all the different chemicals we have inside our body.  Its interesting that on November 7, 2009 that the New York Times Op-Ed Columnist by Nicolas Kristof (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/opinion/08kristof.html) wrote "Chemicals in our Foods and Bodies".  Specifically discussing the issues with bisphenol A (BPA), its a synthetic estrogen used in plastics.  Some of you might even know that Suffolk County, New York has banned it.  BPA has been linked to a number of illnesses from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike (not conclusively).  So all of this still begs the question when are we going to do complete research on the chemicals we use to determine whether by themselves or multiple chemicals together cause or can cause illnesses or cancers.

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• Ban BPA In all Consumer Products (thepetitionsite.com)
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EPA Announces Agreement with NYC Schools on PCBs in Caulk

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EPA announced an agreement with New York City on the handling of PolyChlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in caulk.  In our blog post http://futureenv.blogspot.com/2008/04/pcbs-in-caulk-making-headlines.html and in our Autumn 2008 Newsletter (http://futureenvironmentdesigns.com/archives.htm?ID=4311505&s=16687015)
we fully discussed this issue.  This press release announces that NYC has entered into an agreement with EPA to develop a program in handling these materials.  The agreement should help protect children from being potentially exposed to PCBs in window caulk.

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• Phase 1 of PCB Removal on Hudson Wrapping Up (abcnews.go.com)

New Information on the Mesothelioma Mechanisms

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Found this information on the different ways asbestos may cause mesothelioma.

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