A federal court ruled against a city for using an untested procedure for removing asbestos. EPA wants to use the “wet method” in slums and urban renewal areas nationwide. Some in EPA worry that using the technique may be a violation of the Environmental Justice laws.

Asbestos ban. Could be. For almost two decades, skirmishes, bare knuckle brawls and knock-down battles have been fought to prevent Americans from being exposed to the lethal effects of asbestos. But the latest congressional assault launched yesterday may finally breech the lobbyist-protected walls surrounding the asbestos industry.

Ethicists and watchdogs of conflicts-of-interest in government should have a field day with this posting.
There are three players in this mini-drama:
–The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a major government research center created to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease.
–The [...]

W.R.Grace, which mined and sold potentially lethal Zonolite insulation, has agreed to pay $6.5 million Canadian, under a settlement proposed by lawyers named by the Canadian version of the U.S. bankruptcy court. Court documents show half of the money — $3.25 million — will be paid to the Canadian lawyers who put the deal together, including a lawyer in Delaware who gets $360,000 for filing the papers with the U.S. bankruptcy court.

Vegetarians are just going to love this one.
The United Nation’s chief climate expert, Rajendra Pachauri, says that the tasty beef roast on your dining table is the source of many of the world’s environmental woes, in particular those involved in the dangerous warming of the planet’s climate.
Give up meat – at least for one day [...]

Another popcorn loves says he had “popcorn lung” from the four to six bags he micro-waved and ate each night.

Reports of 13 cases of Salmonella Typhimirium infection in Oregon and Washington have been inked to the consumption of raw alfalfa sprouts.
The Food and Drug Administration said that Sprouters Northwest, Inc. of Kent is recalling its alfalfa sprouts, onion sprouts, and salad sprouts because they may be linked to the recent outbreak of Salmonellosis.
The [...]

For the second time in this country, a popcorn eater claims his lungs were destroyed by the fumes from butter flavoring released when he microwaved several bags of popcorn each day.
A suit was filed late today in federal court in Spokane on behalf of Larry Newkirk, who has been diagnosed with a rare and often [...]