Health and environmental concerns about some beauty items — like the use of formaldehyde in certain hair straighteners — have started to emerge as a focus for federal regulation. But as the latest TipSheet points out, the response has been slow and fitful. Meanwhile, here are story ideas and resources to help reporters find local angles for this environmental and public health hazard.
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Hearken, Trusting News and Solutions Journalism Network are inviting 20 U.S.-based newsroom teams to apply for this fellowship which is designed to help newsrooms think big, plan long term and reinvent coverage of politics, governance and elections with and for their communities. Deadline is Jan 22, 2024.
Meet SEJ member Alex Ip! Born and raised in Hong Kong, Alex is the Founder and Editor in Chief of The Xylom, a student-led newsroom exploring the communities influencing and shaped by science. He also recently led a team to translate the KSJ Science Editing Handbook into Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).
"The recovery of seagrass, the manatees’ favorite food, in Mosquito Lagoon means that an emergency hand-feeding program that has kept many of the starving aquatic animals alive over the last two winters can be discontinued, at least temporarily."
"A recent study from The Environmental Working Group found that just one serving of fish can be equivalent to a month of drinking water contaminated with 48 parts per trillion of the common chemical PFOS."
"Several companies registered in Latin American countries claiming to have U.N. endorsement have persuaded Indigenous communities to hand over the economic rights to their forests for decades to come, a Mongabay investigation has found. The companies share commercial interests across various jurisdictions, and have not been able to demonstrate experience in sustainable finance projects."
"Congressional Republicans are putting President Joe Biden’s $400 billion green bank in their crosshairs, seeking a repeat of the political victory they scored in 2011 with the scandal over collapsed solar company Solyndra."
"For the first time in the United States, turbines are sending electricity to the grid from the sites of two large offshore wind farms."
"As toxic pesticides and vanishing habitats have driven down the populations of bees and other pollinators, some flowers have evolved to fertilize their own seeds more often, rather than those of other plants."
