Advocates for unpasteurized milk and its health benefits take on the opposition. Winton Pitcoff offers a detailed list of reasons he’s a fan of raw milk, beginning with perhaps the most basic one: “Well, it tastes really good. You start there.” via The Valley Advocate: Wellness – Wellness: Raw Milk Rules.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — as it considers adopting a uniform food labeling program — to ensure that it provides unbiased nutritional information and encourages food manufacturers to offer healthier products. The FDA has proposed developing a national voluntary front-of-package food labeling program.

The EPA recently awarded $831,030 to the Town of Fairfield, CT to install verified diesel emissions reduction technologies on it’s fleet of municipal vehicles. “Reducing diesel emissions is an effective way to improve air quality—one of the seven key priorities of Administrator Jackson. Fewer diesel emissions will help those who suffer from asthma and other
[continue reading...]

THE tanning industry is claiming that it is getting burned by the tanning tax. The 10 percent tax went into effect July 1. The National Federation of Independent Business is challenging it as unconstitutional. Read about why Nancy Alderman of Environment and Human Health Inc. believes the tax fair, and important:   Tanning bed tax not
[continue reading...]

Friday, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric ran a story on the growing momentum to limit antibiotic use on industrial farms. For the piece, Katie Couric interviewed Shelley Hearne, managing director of the Pew Health Group, on the dangers of antibiotics in food animal production. As the House of Representatives concludes a series of
[continue reading...]

Pending court approval, several companies affiliated with National Car Rental will pay a fine of $475,000 for repeated violations of motor vehicle idling regulations at Hartford, Connecticut’s Bradley International in Windsor Locks and Logan International in Boston. On numerous occasions in 2006 and 2007, EPA investigators observed the shuttle buses that carry passengers from the
[continue reading...]

California reached a legal settlement Friday with two artificial turf companies that officials said would help eliminate nearly all lead in products used on playing fields at schools and parks. California Attorney General Jerry Brown said turf supplier Beaulieu LLC and manufacturer FieldTurf USA agreed to change products to reduce lead to safe amounts. via
[continue reading...]

For the fifth time in four years, Dan Donovan is asking the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund for money to build a wood-burning power plant in Plainfield. The fund’s board should turn him down. In eastern Connecticut we have a lot of experience with gambling, and, sadly, with people who don’t know when to quit. Donovan
[continue reading...]

“Soils are rainbows under our feet” – Awesome things we learned about soils this year by the 2010 Envirothon Students The soils staff working at this year’s Connecticut Envirothon posed a question to the students on their answer sheet. They asked “What was the most awesome thing you learned about soils this year.” Here are
[continue reading...]

The American Lung Association of New England is urging people in the Greenwich region to keep themselves informed about air quality and to take action to protect themselves from air pollution. via Summer Heat Brings Air Pollution.

SEYMOUR — The discovery of “trace amounts” of PCBs at Chatfield School will not halt the planned expansion, but it will cost a half million dollars to eradicate the toxins from the school’s exterior windows and brickwork. via Chatfield School PCB cleanup to cost $500G – The New Haven Register.

SPRINGFIELD – Volunteer researchers are devoting part of their summer to finding out how safe the Connecticut River is for swimming and boating. Every Wednesday, nine volunteers gather samples of water from eight sections of the Connecticut and one area of the Chicopee River as part of the Connecticut River Water Quality Monitoring Project. The
[continue reading...]

Ozone and fine particle pollution cause thousands of premature deaths and illnesses each year. These pollutants also reduce visibility and damage sensitive ecosystems. EPA is taking an important step to protect public health, help states reduce air pollution, and attain clean air standards. The proposed Transport Rule would improve air quality in the eastern US
[continue reading...]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has announced that $250,000 in state funding to help upgrade the grease trap systems at four Norwich schools is expected to gain approval when the state Bond Commission meets July 13. “The work scheduled at two of the schools – Uncas Elementary and Veterans Memorial – is expected to be relatively
[continue reading...]

Numerous incidents of aspen decline have been recorded in North America over the past half century, and incidents of very rapid mortality of aspen clones have been observed in Colorado since 2004. The radio frequency (RF) environment of the earth has undergone major changes in the past two centuries due to the development and use
[continue reading...]

PORTLAND — Oregon’s first-in-the-nation environmental plan for recycling paint goes into effect on Thursday, and consumers will see the price of paint increase with it. The paint “take back” program was passed by the Legislature in 2009 after similar measures failed in Vermont and Connecticut. via Oregon paint recycling program a national first | Statesman
[continue reading...]

CT Public Act 09-56 goes into effect. This new law establishes that all schools in Connecticut, both public and private, with grades K-8 ban lawn-care pesticides both on their school grounds as well as on their playing fields as of July 1, 2010. It is important that all schools with grades K-8 be aware of
[continue reading...]

In response to West Hartford seeking to ban outdoor wood furnaces (OWFs), Environment and Human Health Inc. would like to endorse this important proposed policy decision. Outdoor wood-burning furnaces, also known as an outdoor wood boilers, are essentially small, insulated sheds with short smokestacks. They burn wood that heats water that is then sent through
[continue reading...]

Usually Atlantic salmon do not grow during the winter and take three years to fully mature. But by implanting genetic material from an eel-like species called ocean pout that grows all year round, U.S. scientists have managed to make the fish grow to full size in 18 months.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell bit into a one-of-a-kind strawberry that survived the black vine weevil. It marked the fruition of a legislative campaign to encourage state workers to come up with agricultural inventions. Rell relished a bowl of Rubicon strawberry shortcake Friday afternoon at a press event outside the main lab of the Connecticut Agricultural
[continue reading...]