Dear EarthTalk: My neighbor told me to pour bleach down my drains every week to keep them clear. Is this safe to do? Bleach is a useful cleaner and disinfectant (although there are safer eco-friendly alternatives to bleach you should use instead), but pouring it down the drain will not do anything to help keep [...]
Dear EarthTalk: I always thought eating fish was healthy, but now I’m concerned about mercury in tuna and other fish. Are there any fish that are still safe to eat? You should be concerned about contaminants in certain fish, including some kinds of tuna. The non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) recommends minimizing consumption of albacore [...]
Dear EarthTalk: I heard about a supposed dangerous chemical called triclosan that is in many personal care and other consumer products. Can you enlighten? Triclosan is a synthetic chemical compound added to many personal and household care products to inhibit illness by preventing bacterial infection. It works by breaking down the biochemical pathways that bacteria [...]
About 426,000 cell phones are decommissioned every day in the United States alone. Some are sold as pre-owned to other users, some are recycled correctly, but most are just thrown right in the trash. Because the majority of communities do not have e-waste recycling facilities, families just drop the phones in the trash to be [...]
Dear EarthTalk: I pruned back an overgrown bush in my back yard last fall and now the soil around it is covered in dandelions and other weeds. Is there any way to get rid of these weeds without resorting to RoundUp and other chemical herbicides? Weeds are nothing if not opportunistic. While you may not [...]
It may be. Did you know that the Food and Drug Administration”™s 2007 sunscreen safety regulations say that the “FDA is not aware of data demonstrating that sunscreen use alone helps prevent skin cancer”? Me neither! While every major public health agency still advises people to use sunscreen, there is now an increased importance being [...]
EWG, a reference I use all the time for finding out product toxicity, has released their annual guide to sunscreens just in time for summer. They cover 1,400 sunscreens, lip balms and moisturizers and tell you what you need to know to find safe and effective sunscreens. I use this list every year to buy [...]
