A common type of pesticide could have damaging effects on the lungs of young children, a new study suggests — and that could lead to more serious health conditions down the road.The research, published Thursday in the journal Thorax, finds that early exposure to organophosphates — a common class of pesticides — is associated with decreased lung function in children…
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This page features excerpts from news about environmental justice advocacy in the San Joaquin Valley and links to their original sources. Use the features on the right to sort by topic, news source, date, key word or author. You may also subscribe to receive the news by e-mail or through an rss reader. Please note that links to original sources may expire over time.
Chronic exposure to pesticides can damage children’s lung function by about as much as secondhand cigarette smoke does, according to a study of farmworker children in the Salinas Valley. The long-term study of 279 children from farmworker families is the first to suggest that even being one step removed from pesticides can bring harm to children’s lungs…
Residents of district 5 and district 7 are mobilizing to protect their communities from illegal dumping. This chronic problem plagues neighborhoods that are already overburdened by other pollution sources. In this video, we talk to a group of community leaders that have come together to clean-up their neighborhoods and demand action from city officials…
I’ve talked a lot about the Clean Power Plan, which puts first-ever limits on dangerous carbon pollution from power plants. The final limits will prevent tens of thousands of asthma attacks and thousands of premature deaths by 2030.But did you know there’s another sound yet untapped opportunity to slow climate change and keep our air clean?Right now, the oil and gas industry carelessly leaks millions of tons of methane pollution and toxic chemicals into the air…
President Obama is in Paris to participate in climate change talks, an issue the Latino community has made a priority. Government representatives from 195 countries are in Paris to address climate change, in a United Nations meeting known as Conference of Parties (COP) 21. During a speech on Monday, Obama said climate change is a “growing threat” that “could define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other.” Noting that the 14 of the last 15 years have been the warmest on record and 2015 most likely becoming the warmest, Obama said no country, regardless of size or wealth, is immune to climate change’s danger.
The attack on Paris will shadow the United Nations climate summit that starts Monday, but we cannot allow terrorism to derail the last-ditch effort to stabilize the climate and avert what most scientists see as an unfolding catastrophe. While huge street demonstrations planned by environmental activists already have been suspended by Paris authorities, the U.N. conference is expected to go forward, with California delegates led by Gov. Jerry Brown playing a leading role…
When air quality cops outlawed most open burning on San Joaquin Valley farmland a decade ago, their belief was that biomass power plants would be a viable alternative. Dead trees or other agricultural waste could be trucked to the nearest plant, burned and converted into energy. From a public health perspective, it was the cleanest solution…
CVAQ Radio Program: Clearing the Air November 2015
It’s something of a miracle that no one has died because of the latest problems at Summerset Village Apartments in central Fresno…