In an issue with environmental, health and water rights ramifications, Concord, Mass. last week became the first U.S. city to ban the sale of individual-size bottled water. The state’s Attorney General approved amendments that the town made to its bylaws after a 403-364 vote by citizens.

A team comprised of the Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA ), the BlueGreen Alliance (BGA) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)  has launched a new internet database designed to help worker protect themselves from hazardous chemicals.

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) has announced a yearlong awareness-building campaign intended to help employers identify and respond to chronic diseases that commonly impact worker health and productivity.

Wyoming Refining Co.’s oil refinery is situated literally on Main Street in Newcastle and a mere half-mile away from Newcastle High School. The school is equipped with a “panic button” that shuts off all ventilation in the building in the event of a toxic spill.

As the eleventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2003 attack on the World Trade Center draws near, the issues surrounding health problems suffered by those who responded to the catastrophe have yet to be resolved. Here is a sampling of current media coverage of those issues:

More than 70 leading scientists are calling on Congress to reject an attempt to block a biennial government assessment of the cancer risks of posed by industrial chemicals and other agents.

Taking vitamin D supplements to compensate for vitamin D deficiency didn’t improve cholesterol  — at least in the short term, according to new research in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, an American Heart Association journal.

With increasing attention being given to the effects of concussion and other brain injuries on athletes, the National Football League (NFL) is donating $30 million to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) fund research on serious medical conditions prominent in athletes.

The majority of people with high blood pressure are being treated with medicine and have seen a doctor at least twice in the past year, yet their condition is still not under control, according to a new Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A U.S. Appeals Court threw out “one of the best tools we have” to combat smoking when it struck down FDA requirements for large graphic warning labels on cigarette packages, according to American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown.