When you sit down to a healthy meal of greens, roasted root veggies, seafood, and whole grains, toxic elements probably don’t cross your mind. But cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury can show up in unexpected places. Here’s what to know about toxic elements and how to minimize their harm.
Most bouts of food poisoning clear up on their own. But severe symptoms—like diarrhea that’s bloody or lasts more than three days, vomiting too much to keep liquids down, a fever over 102ºF, or signs of dehydration (like dizziness or infrequent urination)—require medical help. (If in doubt, call your doctor.) Here’s when and how contaminated food typically makes people sick.
It’s hard for most of us to imagine living in a household with no running water. Yet that’s what many Americans face when they can’t pay their water bills.
In 2021, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. drinking water infrastructure a C- on its report card. Why? The system that takes water from lakes, rivers, aquifers, and other sources to a treatment plant and eventually into your home is failing. That, along with upstream pollution, may pose a risk to your health. Here’s what to know about what’s in your water...and what you can do about it.
In Nutrition Action, we largely focus on adults’ health. But at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, we also fight for the youngest, most vulnerable.
Ever stood in the supermarket wondering if you—or the planet—would be better off if you bought milk in a glass bottle rather than a carton or plastic jug? Or whether it should be a plastic, Styrofoam, or cardboard carton for eggs? Or a can or carton for soup? All packaging decisions involve a tradeoff. Here’s what to consider.