2013 Guide to Sunscreen

With summer approaching, the Environmental Working Group recently released its 7th annual?Sunscreen Guide?rating?the safety and efficacy of more than 1,400 sunscreens, lotions, lip products and makeups that advertise sun protection. EWG researchers found that only 25 percent of products on the market in 2013 offer strong and broad UV protection and pose few safety concerns. Part of the reason for the increase in ineffective sunscreens, may be the decades of deceptive marketing claims by sunscreen manufacturers. Moreover, until recently, sunscreens provided little protection from the sun?s ultraviolet A rays. Sunburns are caused mostly by relatively short but intense ultraviolet B rays. Longer UVA rays, which penetrate the body more deeply, inflict more insidious damage and may contribute to or cause cancer.? The FDA?s current definition of ?broad-spectrum? still results in inadequate UVA protection. If you want to truly keep your skin protected from the sun this summer, check out the guide to find out which sunscreens actually work.

The Health Toll of Immigration

Research shows that becoming an American can be bad for your health. A growing body of mortality research on immigrants has shown that the longer they live in this country, the worse their rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. For Hispanics, now the nation?s largest immigrant group, the foreign-born live about three years longer than their American-born counterparts, several studies have found. Research shows that the adoption of American behaviors such as smoking, drinking, high-calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles, have major implications despite our sophisticated health care system.

Mark Your Calendars: Rally to Keep Fracking Out of New York!

On Monday, June 17, 2013, citizens from across New York will arrive in Albany to demand freedom from dirty energy, calling on Governor Cuomo to reject fracking and lead the nation in constructing a renewable energy economy here and now in New York. At this march and rally, the anti-fracking movement will, for the first time, join with business leaders, faith leaders, health professionals, elected officials, farmers, and youth to demand the renewable energy jobs that our families and communities want and deserve. New York is at a crossroads. In one direction: more ruinous dependency on dirty, dangerous fossil fuels. This path requires we blow apart the bedrock of our state and inject it with toxic chemicals. Providing only temporary, dangerous jobs, it leads to accidents, explosions, poisoned water, polluted air, contaminated food, public health disasters and climate catastrophe. This road chains us to the past and ransoms our children?s future. Running in the other direction is the road to renewable energy based on wind, water, and sunlight. This path leaves our communities unfractured and provides long-term, safe jobs to New Yorkers. This path creates an infrastructure that will not cost us the water we drink, the air we breathe or the health of our children. This path will make New York a leader in energy independence and, once more, a beacon of hope for the world. This path is the one we demand because our lives literally depend on it. Click here for more information. Buses will be making the trip from all across New York State.

Chipotle Now Labels GMO’s

Fast food chain, Chipotle, recently begun to identify on their website all of the food items they serve that contain GMOs in an Ingredients Statement. On their site, they openly discuss how they are working towards changing the fact that they serve foods with GMOs including their usage of soybean oil, and how they are actively working to replaced these ingredients with non-GMO alternatives. By examining their list of ingredients, it is clear that many of the items that they currently sell, do in fact contain GMO’s. Regardless, this is an unheard of level of transparency for a major food business, and we applaud Chipotle for taking this much needed step in the right direction! We hope to see more restaurants follow their footsteps, but more importantly, eliminate GMO ingredients entirely.