Dear EarthTalk: I heard about a supposed dangerous chemical called "triclosan" that is in many personal care and other consumer products. Can you enlighten?
– Carl Stoneman, Richland, WA

Triclosan is a synthetic chemical compound added to many personal and household care products to inhibit illness by preventing bacterial infection. It works by breaking down the biochemical pathways that bacteria use to keep their cell walls intact, and as such kills potentially harmful germs if used in strong enough formulations. First developed as a surgical scrub back in 1972, triclosan is now used in upwards of 700 different consumer-oriented products, many of which people use more than once a day. They include hand soaps, deodorants, toothpastes, kids' toys, yoga mats and, of course, hand sanitizers.

Manufacturers that use triclosan in their products
insist that the synthetic chemical helps reduce
infections. But numerous studies have shown that
washing hands with products containing triclosan was
no more effective in preventing infectious illness than
plain soaps. Other research even links triclosan to
various human health and environmental problems.
Jack Black's Stunt Double, courtesy Flickr

Whether triclosan is actually as effective as advertised, especially in the small doses found in consumer products, is a topic of much debate. Manufacturers insist that the product helps reduce infections. But researchers from the University of Michigan's School of Public Health found, after surveying 27 different studies conducted between 1980 and 2006 on the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps, that washing hands with products containing triclosan was no more effective in preventing infectious illness–and did not remove any more bacteria–than plain soaps. The analysis, "Consumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky?" was published in 2007 in the peer-reviewed journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases. According to lead researcher Allison Aiello, triclosan–because of the way it reacts in living cells–may cause some bacteria exposed to it to become resistant to amoxicillin and other commonly used antibacterial drugs, but she adds that more research is needed to bear out this hypothesis. Read the rest of this entry »

How many pet owners have gotten a chuckle out of watching their dog sleep while its paws race frenetically in place?

Many figured that Rover was romping somewhere in dreamland, and scientists say they were right: Pets do dream while sleeping. Read the rest of this article

Obesity rates climbed again last year with 28 U.S. states reporting adults are fatter now than a year ago, two advocacy groups said on Tuesday.

Obesity rates fell only in the District of Columbia, and the groups warned that dealing with the epidemic should be a vital part of reforming healthcare. Read the rest of this article

When television's Dr. Mehmet Oz promoted Reiki as the top alternative medicine secret in 2010, the energy-based healing therapy took a giant leap forward in America's alternative and complementary medicine arsenal.

Reiki (pronounced RAY-kee) is a gentle, hands-on healing practice developed in Japan by Mikao Usui in 1914. It is based on the idea that every person possesses an energy source or life force that supports the body's ability to heal itself. A Reiki practitioner can help guide that person toward finding that energy and being in balance, enabling the body to heal. Read the rest of this article

Reducing the consumption of meat and dairy products and improving agricultural practices could decrease global greenhouse gas emissions substantially. By 2055 the emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from agriculture could be cut by more than eighty percent, researchers of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research find. The results of the modelling study have recently been published in the journal "Global Environmental Change".

"Meat and milk really matter," says Alexander Popp of PIK. "Reduced consumption could decrease the future emissions of nitrous oxide and methane from agriculture to levels below those of 1995," explains the first author of the study. In the past, agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly methane and nitrous oxide, have increased steadily. In 2005 they accounted for 14 percent of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. "Besides the conscious choice of food on the consumers' side there are technical mitigation options on the producers' side to reduce emissions significantly," says Popp. Read the rest of this entry »

In the international waters south of Malta, the Greenpeace vessels Rainbow Warrior and Arctic Sunrise deployed eight inflatable Zodiacs and skiffs into the azure surface of the Mediterranean. Protesters aboard donned helmets and took up DayGlo flags and plywood shields. With the organization's observation helicopter hovering above, the pilots of the tiny boats hit their throttles, hurtling the fleet forward to stop what they viewed as an egregious environmental crime. It was a high-octane updating of a familiar tableau, one that anyone who has followed Greenpeace's Save the Whales adventures of the last 35 years would have recognized. But in the waters off Malta there was not a whale to be seen.

What was in the water that day was a congregation of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a fish that when prepared as sushi is one of the most valuable forms of seafood in the world. It's also a fish that regularly journeys between America and Europe and whose two populations, or "stocks," have both been catastrophically overexploited. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, one of only two known Atlantic bluefin spawning grounds, has only intensified the crisis. By some estimates, there may be only 9,000 of the most ecologically vital megabreeders left in the fish's North American stock, enough for the entire population of New York to have a final bite (or two) of high-grade otoro sushi. The Mediterranean stock of bluefin, historically a larger population than the North American one, has declined drastically as well. Indeed, most Mediterranean bluefin fishing consists of netting or "seining" young wild fish for "outgrowing" on tuna "ranches." Which was why the Greenpeace craft had just deployed off Malta: a French fishing boat was about to legally catch an entire school of tuna, many of them undoubtedly juveniles. Read the rest of this article

The slumbering mind might not seem like an apt tool for any critical thinking, but humans can actually solve problems while asleep, researchers say. Not only that, but one purpose for dreaming itself may be to help us find solutions to puzzles that plague us during waking hours.

Dreams are highly visual and often illogical in nature, which makes them ripe for the type of "out-of-the-box" thinking that some problem-solving requires, said Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard University. Read the rest of this article

Question: I always face a problem of dreaming while sleeping at night. Thus, I cannot have a good quality of sleep, and I feel tired the next day. How can I stop dreaming?

Answer: Your question is unusual, because dreaming is an important part of good sleep and is also essential to good health. I discussed your situation with Rubin Naiman, Ph.D., a psychologist and author who specializes in integrative sleep and dream medicine, which he approaches from both a scientific and a spiritual perspective. He is on the faculty of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that bananas are taboo for anyone who is concerned about rainforest destruction? Even if I seek out "fair trade" or organic bananas, am I feeding the demand which is causing rainforest to be cleared?
– Laura Barnard, Hillsboro, OH

Sadly, the short answers to these questions may be yes and yes for now, but that may change as the $5 billion banana industry slowly comes to terms with greener forms of production. Historically, growing the world's most popular fruit has caused massive degradation of rainforest land across the tropics, spread noxious chemicals throughout formerly pristine watersheds, and poisoned and exploited farm workers.

Banana production has long been known for its
environmental and human rights abuses, which have
included the use of dangerous pesticides, water
pollution, deforestation and poor working conditions.
But that is slowly changing thanks to the work of The
Rainforest Alliance, the Sustainable Agriculture
Network and other nonprofit groups.
Ian Ransley Design, courtesy Flickr

"Banana plantations were infamous for their environmental and social abuses, which included the use of dangerous pesticides, poor working conditions, water pollution and deforestation," reports the Rainforest Alliance, a New York-based non-profit that has been working to improve worker and environmental conditions in the industry since 1990. "Pesticide-impregnated plastic bags, which protect bananas as they grow, often littered riverbanks and beaches near banana farms, while agrochemical runoff and erosion killed fish, clogged rivers and choked coral reefs." Also, the proximity of housing to banana fields, coupled with lax regulations for pesticide handling, led to frequent illness among workers and people living near the plantations. Read the rest of this entry »

People are busier than ever in today's fast and furious lifestyle. This constant stress can have a negative impact on your health, contributing to ailments like insomnia, emotional overeating and high blood pressure. Unless you're lucky enough to be able to escape to a tropical island at the drop of a hat, learning how to deal with stress in a positive way is more important than ever.

When you're stressed, it's common to try to get through it by drinking alcohol, eating sweets, or smoking, but these are only temporary measures that do more harm than good. Instead of reaching for chocolate the next time you feel your shoulders creeping up to your ears with tension, try one (or all!) of the following relaxation techniques: Read the rest of this article