I’ll give you the quick and dirty summary. Researchers think that triclosan interferes with estrogen sulfotransferase, an enzyme that is linked to the metabolism of estrogen. Estrogen that’s supposed to move through the placenta and help the baby grow. Estrogen that plays a “crucial” role in brain development and the regulation of genes, and helps regulate the amount of oxygen that gets through to the developing fetus.

From the report: “We suspect that makes this substance dangerous in pregnancy if enough of the triclosan gets through to the placenta to affect the enzyme,” said James, a professor and chairwoman of medicinal chemistry in the UF College of Pharmacy. “We know for sure it is a very potent inhibitor. What we don’t know is the kinds of levels you would have to be exposed to to see a negative effect. We know it is a problem, but we don’t know how much of a problem. We need to move forward and do additional studies.”

And the Food and Drug Administration’s response? You know, the FDA that in April said it would be taking another look at triclosan. (Even as other countries and entire continents ban the chemical. The European Union, for example, put a complete ban on Triclosan — anything that might come in contact with food — that goes into effect as of 2011.) Crickets, baby. Crickets. Not a word. Even after earlier this year the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said it was suing the FDA.

For more than a year I have reported on almost every single triclosan-related event. Every new study. Every annoying fact and figure. And we’re still in a holding pattern. Yeah, I know there are far more important things going on now, but it’s TIME that we step up and contact our FDA and tell them how we feel. How do I feel? It’s time to join the rest of the world and make it impossible for triclosan to cross a placenta. We need our government to protect us. Now! Not sure why? Read one of my first blog posts to learn more.

Want to get involved? You can contact the FDA directly. Check out this link for phone and email info. You should also contact your local congressperson. Here’s a link where you input your state and Zip code. We are the only ones who can affect change. Remember, the chemical lobby spends MILLIONS every year to keep things the way they are. But WE are the ones who vote people in or out of office. We do have power. We do.

Our waste-free snack tin.

One of the most wasteful places, in my opinion, is the school lunchroom. Lots, and I do mean LOTS, of single-serve containers, wrappers, and packages.

Take fruit leather, for example. They usually come in a box, each fruit bar individually wrapped. The boxes cost $4 for eight. (Or about $.50 each.) Recently, I came upon the best alternative to individually wrapped snacks: Trader Joe’s Ends and Pieces. Basically, Trader Joe’s packages lots of those individually wrapped bars. The leftovers are now packaged up. It’s especially nice because you get plenty of different options — apricot, raspberry, passion fruit — in one bag. You can also pick the Fiberful Fruit leather ends, a nice option for people trying to add more fiber to their kid’s diet. And the eight ounce bag only costs $2.49. This is a huge bargain.

Okay, so I decided I was going to buy them and phase out the .7 ounce bars that cost $.69. (For those without a calculator: The bags provide about 12 bars worth or $8.28 worth of fruit leather.) But how would I send them in? I didn’t want to use plastic bags, obviously. But they are sticky. They would muck up my reusable bags. And then, this weekend, I found my solution in Whole Foods. Little, cute stainless steel containers called LunchBots. Pricey, yes, but SO perfect for what I needed it for. I bought one, and on our fourth day in I have no idea how I lived without LunchBots until now. (Full disclosure: The LunchBot people have no clue who I am; I paid $14.99 for my LunchBox. I just tend to get excited about things that help me help the environment.)

I love that it’s segmented into two sides, and the fact that it’s welded down all the way across so I can put wet stuff in and it won’t make the dry stuff slimy and gross. I love that it cleans up really quickly, and that it fits into our lunchbox side-by-side with a sandwich. Finally, I love it because it’s helping me cut down on waste and keep my kid BPA-free. The thing is made out of food-grade 18/8 stainless steel, which is what silverware is made of. Oh, and it’s really easy to wash. The manufacturer says it can go right into the dishwasher, but I’m just rinsing by hand every night. Seems to be working for me!

I recently looked around so I could buy one for Little Girl, and one for myself. I found the LunchBot Duo on Amazon.com for $14.99. I also found the sandwich-size LunchBot, too. Saves me a trip to Whole Foods, and I can use my American Express Blue points to pay for everything.

And so now, when the lunchroom trash gets put out, there are a few less pieces of plastic in it. No, it’s not going to make a huge dent in today’s trash heap, but if more moms and dads make the switch to reusable packaging we all have the ability to change the world. One fruit leather wrapper at a time.

This post is how I am participating this week in Real Food Wednesdays and Fight Back Fridays — two awesome campaigns to get people eating real food again.

Okay, so I searched the Earth911.com website for a close drop-off location. I found one a few towns over next to my Trader Joe’s. Last week I loaded the car with my boxes and headed over to the Town of Hempstead Department of Sanitation Recycling Drop-off. I got there and it was a zoo. A ton of people with trunks and backseats and flatbeds full of junk. “Where do I put my cardboard,” I asked. The guy in the blue shirt waved me over to Dumpster #1. I backed my car up to it, got out and looked in. It was filled with carpeting, bagged garbage and other debris. Wait, what happened to recycling? I could send my cardboard to a landfill by putting it in front of my house. I wanted to avoid that fate. There must have been a mistake. I went to another guy in a shirt. “Excuse me, I want to recycle my cardboard.” Again, I got a thumb in the direction of bin #1.

Now I was getting frustrated. I went to a third guy and explained my fate. “Do you have cardboard? Then put it into bin #1,” he said. “But that’s all garbage,” I said. He walked away without another word. I kept my boxes in my trunk and drove off close to tears. This was not what I wanted. I wanted to recycle. But I also realized that this, this feeling was not what I wanted, either. Recycling is supposed to make you feel good. I did not feel good. In fact, I felt a little foolish and nutty. Not to mention hot. (It’s crazy hot here in New York.) I came home and left the boxes in my car.

This weekend we went to my friend’s house. She told me that she puts all her cardboard — including cereal boxes — in her recycling bin and they are picked up and carted away. As long as I flattened all my boxes I could leave them there at her garage. Her mother-in-law, she said, did the same thing. She doesn’t like wasting resources, either, I guess. I left it, of course.

This morning, though, I wanted answers. (And a place to get rid of my cardboard that doesn’t entail pizza grease-caked sandals.) I called the town sanitation department. Seems like the guys in the shirts were telling me the truth. “That is just a sorting container,” the woman on the phone told me. “It’s a convenience for our residents. It goes up the hill where it is sorted. We try and recycle everything,” she said. Whew! I feel much better, but I also feel a little worse. I am so mistrustful these days when it comes to everything environmental. I really need to relax a bit. I know that. The point of this blog — the point of what I am doing, really, is to do the best that I can do. And that’s all anyone can do, right? So I’ll be back to the town dump next week, cardboard in hand and a cooler head, I hope.

Hey, are you following me on Twitter? Have you joined my Facebook Like page? Thanks in advance if you have!

From the study press release: “The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes was two to three times higher for those with the higher levels of [PCBs] compared to those with the lowest. Type 2 diabetes prevalence among those with high levels of heptachlor epoxide, a break down product of a previously common pesticide, was at about two times higher than those with low levels of the compound. (The United States banned the manufacture of PCBs in the United States in 1979 and banned heptachlor for most uses in 1988, but the compounds persist in the environment, especially near former industrial sites or contaminated soil.)”

Oh, and the report failed to mention that PCBs can also be found in fish. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a few years ago put out a report that looked at which states had the highest fish advisories for PCBs. You can check it out yourself, but suffice it to say more than 35 states were on the list, most of which are on the East Coast. A March 2010 lawsuit even claims that PCBs can be found in fish oil supplements. (One weird aside: researchers also found people with higher levels of beta carotene, a type of vitamin A, were also more likely to have diabetes.)

I spent an hour on the phone with a friend tonight. The same friend who is going through cancer treatments with her mother and husband. We talked a lot about chemicals and the environment and how we’re really suffering because of the lack of regulation and care from our government. You have to wonder: will BPA become the next PCB? Good question, right?

What do you think of reports like this? How do you feel about the lack of government oversight when it comes to chemicals and additives in our environment?

The report explains that, in 2009, more than 1.5 American men, women and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 died. The experts on the panel seem to think that environmental risk factors are “grossly underestimated.” Here’s an excerpt from the study:

“With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread.” The report then went on to mention bisphenol A (BPA) specifically.

Babies and kids, according to the report, are extremely sensitive to environmental toxins. One of the biggest sources: agriculture. “The entire U.S. population is exposed on a daily basis to numerous agricultural chemicals, some of which also are used in residential and commercial landscaping. Many of these chemicals have known or suspected carcinogenic or endocrine-disrupting properties. Pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides) approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contain nearly 900 active ingredients, many of which are toxic.” Many of the pesticides have fillers and inert ingredients, too none of which are required to be tested as to how they might contribute to people getting chronic diseases or long-term illnesses such as cancer. HOW can that be true? How can it be allowed? But it is true, and it is allowed. The report makes that very clear.

The report’s main message is that we need a nation-wide plan to eliminate or reduce the environmental risks out there. In the meantime parents MUST take care of their kids, especially. One of the subheads in the report was pretty clear on this point: “Children Are at Special Risk for Cancer Due to Environmental Contaminants and Should Be Protected.”

It even calls for pregnant women to be more careful, saying babies today are born “pre-polluted” since so many contaminants can cross the placenta. It suggests we find green alternatives to many of the chemicals in use. Until that happens we can take steps to protect ourselves by buying organic — eliminating many of those pesticides criticized in the report. We can also avoid household chemicals by buying green, non-toxic cleaning supplies, and stop buying air fresheners. Clothing and furniture can be toxic, too if it is treated with flame retardant chemicals, so read your labels. Another huge, necessary change: saying no to plastic food storage and packaging. When the government repeatedly says something, in this case BPA, is bad, it’s probably a good idea to avoid it at all costs. Finally, try to keep kids away from chemically-treated lawns and gardens to reduce the number of fertilizers and herbicides they are exposed to. (And yes, it’s absolutely worth going up and talking to your school district about what they use on their laws, in the schools and on the playground.)

I’m impressed that the government is finally telling the public the truth about the chemicals in our lives. Now that it’s in our faces and obvious it’s up to us to do something with this information. It’s up to us to take care of ourselves and our kids.

Do you have a family member with cancer? Do you think there is an environmental link between that disease and the illness? What, if anything, are you going to do with this information?

Not sure where you are, but I’m in New York. It’s hot here. Summer hot. Lazy day in August hot. It was 81 degrees at noon. My electric thermostat says it’s 76 degrees. Yep, my office is mighty warm. I’m sitting here dreaming of my central air conditioning unit. I’d love to flip the switch and turn it on. But then I remembered how I grew up in a house where we didn’t get air conditioning until I was in my late teens and I realized how selfish that would be.

Running a big central air conditioning unit like the one I have takes a lot of energy. How much? Well, my electricity bills go up about 50 to 100 percent during the summer months, depending on how hot it is. So I decided to figure out other ways to stay cool.

First I had to change my clothing. Instead of my usual pants and shirt I’m wearing shorts and a t-shirt. And no shoes. Then I had to get hydrated. I filled my reusable water bottle with ice — lots of ice — and water. I’ve been taking slugs all day. My lights are off, of course, and I turned off my printer. The blinds are drawn to keep the sunlight from warming up the room even more. My door is also open for a change to encourage the breeze from our open bedroom window to make a visit in here as well. It’s definitely helping, but I may look into getting one of those little fans for my desktop. And I’m definitely open to suggestions, too. Have any?

How are you keeping cool? How do you decide when to turn on the air conditioning? Do you have any get-cool-quick ideas? I’d like to know.

Better than a diamond ring or a trip to the spa -- at least to me!

My husband came home from the store today with a surprise. One that made me smile really widely: A compost bin! Finally!

He gave it to me right before dinner so all the non-meat scraps that are sitting on the table will soon find a new home. I can’t wait to see how this is going to affect our garbage output. Now almost everything old and moldy sitting in the fridge will get tossed in the compost as well as grass clippings and leaves. I will also toss in our old egg cartons (the paper kind, of course), paper towels, tissues and napkins. And I can even throw in my shredded documents.

Experts say that those who compost can reduce the amount of trash they send to a landfill by 30 to 50 percent. I guess we’ll see, but in the meantime I’m off to clean out my fridge. What an exciting way to spend a Saturday night. Thanks, Chris!

Do you compost? Any tips for me? If you do compost have you seen a big reduction in the amount of garbage you’re putting out every week?

I read another article this week. This one was from the New York Times. Appearing as the Off The Shelf column, ‘Green Gone Wrong’: Can Capitalism Save the Planet?, the article examines a new book from Heather Rogers: Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution. Ms. Rogers has a different take on voting with your wallet. She thinks, and rightfully so, that the environmental movement — when Big Business takes over — can actually do more to harm than good where the environment is concerned. I’ve reported on this, too. Right here on this blog. A lot of organic farmers, for example, aren’t acting so organically. They are nothing more than Big Agra companies wearing a green hat while hurting our environment. Many are simply clearing rain forests away to create organic farms and in the process hurting the true organic farmers out there. And don’t get me started on their carbon footprint created by producing goods a continent a way and shipping them here to the States. (You might as well just read my other blog post — Supermarket Confusion: Or Why Wal-Mart is Bad for the Organic Movement — here.)

So what’s the answer? Do you skip organic food? Do you use your own reusable bags? Do you buy natural products? Of course, but with some thought. I know that’s hard to hear and swallow. Aren’t we already thinking too much about all of this? Every time the TV comes on we’re hearing about more terrible environmental news. Every time we go to a Web site we see more disturbing images. The answer is yes. We need to be a little more uncomfortable. And, like the New York Times reporter says, we have to make good choices while simply consuming less.

And this will be my task between now and Earth Day. Every day I am going to track my buying. I’m going to share with you what I’ve purchased. I’m going to have to justify to you and to myself if my purchase was actually necessary or worth it. Essentially, I’d like to try and be spend-free for the next few weeks. (Aside from food, of course.) Can I do it? Will it be worth it? At the very least it will give us more insight into why we are in this mess to begin with.

What do you think your biggest green faux pas is? I’d like to hear about it.

And since I love recounting my own Favorite Things: Little Girl went from three word sentences to ten word sentences this week. She’s so funny. This morning one of Big Girl’s friends came by. Her mom works, too, so she was dropped off at 8:30. When there’s no school we’re all just getting up around that time, which is why Little Girl was still in her crib when Christina got here. I let the little girl in and got her and Big Girl settled in the kitchen to eat breakfast. Then I ran upstairs to get Little Girl. She was so excited to discover that we had company. As soon as she sat down in her seat and she just started talking. For some reason (probably because she has a 6-year-old sister) she thinks poop is really funny. Really funny. So the first thing she said when she sat down was, “Hi-low (her way of saying ‘hello’). I have cereal, too. Cereal is poop. Eww. Stinky poop cereal. Ewww.” And then she laughed hysterically. She continued: “I eat poop now. See, see, cereal is poop.” The girls thought it was funny. And as much as I know I should have chastised her, I thought it was funny, too. (And yes, I definitely told her not to be a potty mouth.)

Enjoy the weekend, and here’s your Favorite Things Friday!

Truu Mom Confessions. How many times have you said or done something with your husband, your friends, your kid, and been too embarrassed to tell anyone? This site wants to help everyone who falls into this category, letting anyone post anything they want to say. Some of it is fairly boring. (“I hate sweating. It makes my [butt] crack itch.”) But there are some interesting and me-too moments on here as well.

IdentityTheft911.com. I write about identity theft a lot. It freaks me out because I know the statistics and I know how easy it is for someone to fall prey to such a crime. (My big tip: Don’t EVER give your Social Security number to ANYONE — not doctors, not dentists, not your child’s school. Only people who provide credit to you need your Social Security number.) If you want to know more, check out this great online guide that I am not affiliated with whatsoever.

UL’s Save Your Water. Earth Day is this month. Do you know how much water you waste every month? This neat resource, from the Underwriters Laboratories, helps you estimate how much water you use, and how you can reduce your family’s consumption. The best part: For each person who uses the calculator and pledges to conserve water, UL says it will donate one dollar to Water for People, a charity organization focused on providing clean water to those who can’t get access.

ClimateTV. I got an email from the managing editor of DeSmogBlog, one of the sites I read frequently and tweet about every so often. He wanted to let me know about a great new climate-related Web site, ClimateTV. I took a look. Lots of interesting content with a twist: People can chat with each other while they’re watching and reading. Nice.

MakeMeBabies.com. I am including this because it’s a fun way to waste some time on a Friday. The site lets you upload photos of yourself and someone else. It creates a representation of the baby the two of you might produce. (I wonder how long it will be before someone uses a resulting photo as their Facebook profile picture?)

Know a cool site or product? Feel free to suggest it. I’m always looking for interesting diversions to pass along. Also, is this one of your favorite blogs? See that little brown ad towards the top right of the page? Could you click it for me, and then click the voting icon on the page it takes you to? I’d like to move up in the standings. I’m in the 200s right now.

Here's a glimpse into the Gulf drilling areas.

Every morning I wake up and scan the headlines for environmental news. This morning one of the first things I saw was a CNN headline that really upset me: Obama Energy Plan Would Open Atlantic and Gulf Drilling.

I read the story. In a nutshell, the new plan will lift a 20 year ban on drilling off the coast of Virginia. It will also allow drilling about 125 miles off the coast of Florida. I decided to read a little more, heading over to the actual press release from the White House. Yup, it’s true. All true. Here’s a quote from the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar: “By responsibly expanding conventional energy development and exploration here at home we can strengthen our energy security, create jobs, and help rebuild our economy,” said Salazar. “Our strategy calls for developing new areas offshore, exploring frontier areas, and protecting places that are too special to drill. By providing order and certainty to offshore exploration and development and ensuring we are drilling in the right ways and the right places, we are opening a new chapter for balanced and responsible oil and gas development here at home.”

The part that was most surprising: “Our efforts to strategically open new areas in the Eastern Gulf would represent the largest expansion of our nation’s available offshore oil and gas supplies in three decades.” Wow. Ummm. Wow. You’re going to do something that George W., who seemed to care very little for the environment, failed to do? I just don’t get it.

The plan will bring exploration into new areas such as the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and increasing existing exploration in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. But in reality, at least by the way I see it, these deals are just sweetening the pockets of Big Oil.

You see, the U.S. isn’t the entity that’s going to be doing the drilling. The U.S. leases the land to Big Oil and the like. They get to keep what they pull out and sell it to you and me. The deal seems like one big “I scratch your back,” scam. Pres. Obama needs to make friends. The Republicans have been begging to do more drilling. By doing something that, in my opinion, only hurts our environment, it appears as if he’s stockpiling chits for use in future deals with the Republicans.

But what about all the fish, wildlife, and plant life that lives on and around those ocean floors? What happens to them? In the case of the drilling off the coast of Alaska: What happens to the endangered whales that use those areas as migratory paths? How about the salmon and the polar bears? (Here’s a great Washington Post article that explains.) And, Pres. Obama, What the HELL happened to your pledge to create and foster more renewable energy sources?

Maybe I am getting too excited. Maybe, as the Department of Interior press release said — you know, the one I had to call and request since its Web site is down — that exploration will happen before the leases are sold. So maybe, after listening to the indigenous people and the conservationist and the scientists, you’ll realize how stupid this plan is. And maybe by that time you would have used the chits you needed so you can backtrack and decide not to drill in our oceans. You know, the ones we’re killing with plastic? But right now, President Obama, I feel betrayed. And angry. And confused. Part of the reason I voted for you was your staunch support of the environment and your commitment to change Big Oil’s stranglehold on our country. I hope I didn’t do the wrong thing, and I guess I’m just left to cross my fingers that you will — at least in the end — do the right thing.

What do you think of this drilling plan? For it? Against it? I’d love to hear your opinion. Let’s debate, people.