News
"Dryer vents pump out toxic air"
By Rob Winters - Published on Wednesday, 31 August 2011 05:57
"The fresh, clean scent flowing from household dryer vents likely contains hazardous chemicals, including two classified as carcinogens.
“This is an interesting source of pollution because emissions from dryer vents are essentially unregulated and unmonitored,” says lead author Anne Steinemann, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs at the University of Washington. “If they’re coming out of a smokestack or tail pipe, they’re regulated, but if they’re coming out of a dryer vent, they’re not.”
The research, published in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, builds on earlier work that looked at what chemicals are released by laundry products, air fresheners, cleaners, lotions, and other fragranced consumer products."
Read more: http://www.futurity.org/top-stories/dryer-vents-pump-out-toxic-air/
"Choosing death can be like a 'birth,' advocates say"
By Rob Winters - Published on Wednesday, 31 August 2011 05:55
"Portland, Oregon (CNN) -- James Powell could barely speak on the day he died; cancer had confined him to bed and heavy painkillers left him only semi-lucid. Yet the mood was almost celebratory as 25 people -- family, friends and volunteers -- gathered in a large living room to tell stories and say goodbye on the day Powell chose to end his suffering. "After he took the medication, he fell asleep really quickly. His body just relaxed. He went into deep snoring....."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/30/assisted.suicide.oregon/index.html?hpt=he_c1
"Gadhafi's teen female executioner"
By Rob Winters - Published on Wednesday, 31 August 2011 05:49
"(CNN) -- Nisreen lies listless curled under a blanket, an armed rebel guard at her door.She looks vulnerable, and younger than her age - 19. She has soft features, a heart-shaped face, large brown eyes and full lips.
She speaks haltingly, often falling into a tortured silence, unable to verbalize her thoughts and emotions as haunting images of what she did play out like a curse in her mind."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/30/libya.female.fighter/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
"New body 'liquefaction' unit unveiled in Florida funeral home"
By Rob Winters - Published on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 07:34
The unit by Resomation Ltd is billed as a green alternative to cremation and works by dissolving the body in heated alkaline water.
The facility has been installed at the Anderson-McQueen funeral home in St Petersburg, and will be used for the first time in the coming weeks. It is hoped other units will follow in the US, Canada and Europe.
The makers claim the process produces a third less greenhouse gas than cremation, uses a seventh of the energy, and allows for the complete separation of dental amalgam for safe disposal."
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14114555
"Official forecast upgrades strength of US-bound Hurricane Katia to major"
By Rob Winters - Published on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 07:29
"As America recovers from the trail of devastation caused by Hurricane Irene, weather experts have this morning upgraded the strength threat of the next predicted hurricane, now officially named Katia, to be the year's second major hurricane.
Observers believe the strengthening tropical storm will continue to gather destructive power as it crosses the Atlantic and predict it will be Hurricane-strength on Thursday morning before becoming a Major Hurricane on Sunday morning as it passes the east tip of Puerto Rico."
Read more: http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/news/international-news
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