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Photo courtesy John Winters Thanks to The Boren Foundation, and Jack and Karen Kay Leonard for making this website possible. |
Snapshot of General Kids' Activities
- IKE completed a preliminary evaluation of IDEM’s air toxics monitoring data from Elkhart and Marion Counties and in Northwest and Southwest Indiana. It raises more questions than it answers and there are serious concerns at several sites — especially in the Mount Vernon in Posey County.
- We had an excellent discussion regarding air toxics at the IKE Advisory Council meeting on July 26. Thanks to Cinergy’s Noblesville generating station for the tour and meeting place. Our next meeting will be in November.
- EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs have released "Learn About Chemicals Around Your House," an interactive web site designed to help kids identify household chemicals and to learn about their hazards. See it at http://www.epa.gov/oppt/kids/hometour/
- Congratulations to Lauri Harvey of the Times of Hammond newspaper. She won a first place award from the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists for best "issues reporting” for her series on cancer clusters around Ferro Corporation’s Keil Chemical manufacturing facility in Hammond.
- If you are interesting in the science behind children’s environmental health risks, read Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment by Schettler, Solomon, Valenti and Huddle. It is a worthwhile read. And Our Stolen Future by Colborn is a seminal work in the field.
- As a test of right-to-know in Indiana, IDEM will be making a final decision in September whether signs should be posted at a site undergoing voluntary cleanup for chemical contamination. IDEM’s draft Public Participation Plan for Voluntary Remediation Program required signs but exempted most situations.
- Check out http://www.mercury-k12.org/ for a great site on the latest news in mercury in schools. Every year, there are costly mercury accidents in schools that threaten children’s health.
- Thanks to NiSource for agreeing to help fund a portion of the printing for IKE’s newsletter. It helps!