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If confirmed, officer is latest H1N1 death

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – If confirmed as a case of H1N1, Ryan Settlemoir’s death would be the third in Michigan from the virus. According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, there have been 418 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the state. In the United States, there have been 17,855 confirmed or probable cases and 45 deaths from the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Michigan Department of Community Health is doing further testing to confirm what caused Settlemoir’s death. Health departments in Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties also are investigating the death, Madison Heights Police Chief Kevin Sagan said.

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PR isn’t the problem

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -No amount of burnishing will change the fact that the chemical BPA isn’t worth the risk to public health. It should be banned. The “holy grail” for food packagers and chemical industry lobbyists was a pregnant woman endorsing bisphenol A, according to a Journal Sentinel Watchdog report. More

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Michigan has first swine flu fatality

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(MI) The Detroit News – A Warren woman died Monday after a two-week sickness, making her the first Michigan fatality of the swine flu or H1N1 virus, state officials said. The 53-year-old woman, whose name is being withheld, had underlying health issues but the primary cause of death was the H1N1 virus that is believed to have come from Mexico this spring, said James McCurtis, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health. Health officials aren’t sure how she contracted the virus, but say she died in a Macomb County hospital. More

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Analysis Finds Elevated Risk From Soot Particles in the Air

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(NY) The New York Times – A new appraisal of existing studies documenting the links between tiny soot particles and premature death from cardiovascular ailments shows that mortality rates among people exposed to the particles are twice as high as previously thought. Dan Greenbaum, the president of the nonprofit Health Effects Institute, which is releasing the analysis on Wednesday, said that the areas covered in the study included 116 American cities, with the highest levels of soot particles found in areas including the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles and the Central Valley of California; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; the Ohio River

Land

BP faces new heat from feds over plant

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(IL) The Chicago Tribune – BP is facing new questions about its Whiting refinery from federal environmental regulators, who accused the company Thursday of starting a project to process heavy Canadian oil three years before it obtained the necessary permit. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited the Midwest’s largest refinery with significantly increasing air pollution linked to asthma, heart disease and early deaths as a result of the project, though the agency did not quantify the amount.Regulators said BP’s actions are troublesome because northwest Indiana, like other parts of the Chicago area, already violates federal standards for harmful smog and soot pollution. The complaint comes a year after the Tribune reported that Indiana regulators had allowed BP to dump more water pollution into Lake Michigan from its Whiting refinery, about 15 miles southeast of downtown Chicago. More

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Mercury found in local fish

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(ON) The Sarnia Observer – Toxic chemicals are putting some species of fish at risk in the St. Clair River, a wildlife ecologist says. Kim Wells of Environ International Corp. delivered that message Wednesday to the annual general meeting of the SarniaLambton Environmental Association. Wells was involved in a recent study designed to determine the impact mercury and octachlorostyrene are having on fish, mammals and birds along an 8.3-kilometre stretch of the Canadian side of the international waterway.

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Environmental Protection Agency announces dioxin review, plans for Dow cleanup

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(MI) Booth Newspapers – The federal government will speed up a long-delayed assessment of how dioxins affect human health, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday. Lisa Jackson promised the quickened timetable while announcing a revised strategy for planning the cleanup of one of the nation’s biggest dioxin pollution zones: a 50-mile section of Lake Huron watershed near a Dow Chemical Co. plant in Michigan. Dow has acknowledged responsibility for the pollution. Dioxins are toxic byproducts from manufacturing chemicals.

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Two More New Yorkers With Swine Flu Die

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(NY) The New York Times – Two more New Yorkers have died with confirmed cases of swine flu, the city’s health commissioner said on Tuesday, bringing the city’s total number of deaths related to the virus to four. Emergency room visits and hospitalizations also continued to rise. The  two latest casualties, a 41-year-old woman in Queens and a 34-year-old man in Brooklyn, were linked to the H1N1 virus by lab tests completed on Monday and Tuesday. Both patients had underlying health conditions that put them more at risk, he said. More

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Chicago swine flu death confirmed: It’s the first in Illinois

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(IL) Chicago Tribune – A Chicago resident became the first person in Illinois to die of swine flu, a reminder of the virus’ continued circulation throughout the state even as publicity — and fears — about it have waned. The Illinois Department of Public Health would only confirm that the person was from Chicago and died over the weekend. Spokeswoman Melaney Arnold declined to say what day the person died, or give the victim’s age and sex, citing confidentiality and the wishes of the family. The victim had underlying medical conditions, but Arnold said she did not know what those conditions were. More

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Great Lakes scientists soliciting research topics from the public

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(OH) Toledo Blade – As last-minute preparations were made at the University of Toledo Monday for one of the largest biennial gatherings of Great Lakes scientists, two federal research agencies tried to get a better handle on what the public expects now that the nation’s president is from the Great Lakes region.  

The first event was a workshop held by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which studies how cancer-causing PCBs, mercury, and other pollutants in Great Lakes fish can impair human health.  

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has a Great Lakes environmental research laboratory in Ann Arbor, held the second workshop. More