Health Hazards

China is already home to 16 of the planet's 20 most heavily polluted cities -- a noxious consequence of its double-digit economic growth. Now researchers have worse news for the nation's beleaguered lower classes: The air inside their homes is up to 10 times worse than the prevailing gloom outside.

Looking to bolster the fight against childhood lead poisoning, the Environmental Protection Agency last month approved a tough new rule aimed at clearing the nation's air of the toxic metal. But at the last minute, federal documents show, the Bush administration quietly weakened a key provision, exempting dozens of polluters from scrutiny. A new network of monitors that is to track lead emissions from factories has been scaled back.

Beside a field of rolling tumbleweed in this remote Central Valley town, the state opened its newest prison in 2005 with a modern design, cutting-edge security features and a serious environmental problem. The drinking water pumped from two wells at Kern Valley State Prison contained arsenic, a known cause of cancer, in amounts far higher than a federal safety standard soon to take effect.

A nasty staph germ circulating in the community and some hospitals produces a poison that can kill pneumonia patients within 72 hours, researchers have reported. \o7Staphylococcus aureus \f7bacteria -- staph for short -- can pass one another the gene for the toxin and are apparently swapping it more often, the researchers reported in the Jan. 19 issue of the journal Science. The toxin, called Panton Valentine leukocidin, or PVL, can itself cause pneumonia and can kill healthy tissue.

Some shampoos and other bath products still contain traces of a cancer-causing petrochemical that federal health officials have expressed concerns about for more than 20 years, according to test results announced Thursday by environmental activists.

The Food and Drug Administration said it was notifying healthcare providers and consumers about reports of about 28 cases of infants suffering a serious bowel condition after receiving Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against rotavirus. The FDA said it was not clear how many of the 28 reported cases were caused by the vaccine. It said the condition, known as intussusception, can occur in the absence of vaccination.

The county department of public health mandated 63 closures of downtown wholesale produce vendors after an investigation by KNBC-TV revealed unsanitary conditions, vermin and lax regulation at the market housing the vendors, officials said this week. County health officials filed 25 reports of investigation in support of criminal complaints with the city attorney, including one against the firm that operates the Seventh Street Produce Market.

Oysterman Jim Aguiar had never had to deal with the bacterium \o7Vibrio parahaemolyticus\f7 in his 25 years working the frigid waters of Prince William Sound. The dangerous microbe infected seafood in warmer waters, like the Gulf of Mexico. Alaska was way too cold. But the sound was gradually warming. By summer 2004, the temperature had risen just enough to poke above the crucial 59-degree mark.

The Food and Drug Administration should be able to limit nicotine levels in cigarettes and require stronger warnings on packages and in advertising, health experts said Tuesday before lawmakers considering a bill to allow the agency to regulate tobacco products. "FDA regulation will help us to combat the vicious marketing practices of a deceptive industry that has preyed upon our children, minorities and existing smokers who are desperately trying to kick their habit," Dr.

Employing a large mechanical hoe, workers Thursday began digging up radioactive soil along a stretch of Ormond Beach wetlands in Oxnard. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing the weeklong effort to remove 5,000 cubic yards of soil tainted with the metal thorium, generated by a shuttered metal recycling plant nearby. Prolonged exposure to the metal or inhalation of thorium dust can increase the risk of bone, lung or pancreatic cancer.