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5 Easy Ways to Reduce Toxins in Your Home

Take a tip from the Canadians. In a new report, the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment recommends five actions that can help parents reduce the most common sources of toxic exposure in their kids. These are simple and often money saving modifications to regular household chores — good for kids and good for the environment.

Study: The Heart Benefits of Fish May Outweigh the Mercury Risks

Caren Brinkema

Eating fish is good for your heart, but there’s a catch: the fish richest in good-for-you omega-3 fats also tend to harbor the most mercury, which can be harmful for brain development, particularly among young children.

EPA Warns of High Mercury Levels in Skin-Lightening Creams

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The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is warning against skin-lightening creams that may contain dangerous levels of mercury.

Consumer Reports Warns Pregnant Women Against Canned Tuna

Klaus Mellenthin/Getty Images

Pregnant women and children have long been warned that they should be wary of eating certain kinds of seafood because of the risk of mercury contamination.

No benefit to delaying childhood vaccinations

In all the time I’ve covered health and medicine issues, nothing has been more polarizing than the debate over childhood immunizations. And while scientific evidence continues to mount against a causal connection between vaccines and developmental disorders such as autism, there was one concern voiced by some parents that seemed to make some sense to [...]

How much mercury is in your sushi?

A new study combining DNA barcoding and mercury analysis finds that, mercury content in tuna sushi told in supermarkets and restaurants varies by species, and that, in some cases, exceeds recommended amounts. The study, published online today in the journal Biology Letters was based on 100 samples of both akami (lean red tuna) and toro [...]

Mercury not found to be higher in blood of children with autism

Mercury—a potent neurotoxin—has long been the whipping post of parents-turned-autism-activists, scientific evidence be damned. But a study published online yesterday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives casts further doubt on the tenuous connection between the heavy metal and the devastating brain disorder. In what is being called “the most rigorous examination to date of blood-mercury [...]