Canary’s Cry for Monday, Oct. 13

WCSH6.com carries an AP release on Johns Hopkins scientists who report that high levels of a noxious gas from stoves can be added to the list of indoor pollutants that aggravate asthma symptoms of inner-city children, especially preschoolers.

The LA Times reports on how people in China also suffer from indoor air pollution because of stoves and smoking. The air inside lower-class homes is up to 10 times worse than the gloom outside, researchers say.

StarTribune.com in Minneapolis-St.Paul Minnesota reports on problems caused by people sitting around the back-yard fire pit: some neighbors are up in arms over the health risks from the smoke.

StarTribune.com also reports on biomonitoring to measure chemicals directly in people’s bodies: their blood, urine, hair and other body tissues and fluids. Studies are looking for arsenic in people in south Minneapolis and 3M chemicals in the east metro, another study will test mercury levels in newborns’ blood. A fourth test will check the urine of pregnant women for a group of seven compounds called phenols, found in a wide variety of items from plastics to personal care products.

Bloomberg.com carries a story on the mold problems in Galveston one month after Hurricane Ike.

SCTV news in Orange County, California, warns about unhealthful air quality caused by the wild fires.

Photo by Gypsy D