In all, 89 percent of Americans use cell phones and many use a cell phone case to protect their expensive devices from damage. But a new analysis from the Environmental Working Group found that your cell phone case may actually increase radiation on the head and body, while at the same time, weakening the phone’s signal. Phones are not tested for radiation limits with their cases.

The research, conducted by the Pong Research Corp. in Encinitas, Calif., found that many smartphone cases were so poorly engineered that they increased the radiation coming from smartphones because the smartphone antenna was partially blocked. The cases are often designed by a third party manufacturer and they are not regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It should be noted that Pong is also marketing a cell phone case that directs radiation away from your head.

According to EWG:

EWG is calling on the FCC to update its testing guidelines to take account of the widespread use of smartphone cases. Such action is critical because mounting scientific studies have raised serious questions about the safety of cell phone radiation exposure over the short and long term. In the absence of meaningful action by the Commission, EWG offers consumers tips on how to reduce their exposure to cell phone radiation.

Researchers looked at three varieties of cases: the thick, rugged Otterbox cases that create a large barrier, a thinner case (Casemate Barely There), which leaves the phone partially exposed, and an in-between case (the Speck Candy Shell case). The purpose was to use a range of cases to see variations. All three case styles increased radiation: the thickest case by 70 percent, the middle case by 50 percent, and the thinnest case by 20 percent.

According to EWG, smartphone cases can have a major impact on your phone capabilities. “It can materially affect signal quality, potentially leading to more dropped calls; increase radiation exposure, raising the risk of adverse health effects; and shorten battery life, forcing a cell phone user to charge the battery more frequently.”

EWG wants the FCC to require that all cell phone case manufacturers test their cases to ensure that they comply with federal standards, even if cell phone cases come from a third party manufacturer. FCC’s standards need to be updated because its 1996 cell phone standards don’t take into account the changing use of cell phones and the widespread use of cell phone cases.

You can protect yourself by getting a headset, keeping the cell phone away from your body and texting rather than talking. Don’t store your cell phone right next to your body when you’re not using it. We all love to accessorize with a super cute case, not to mention the need to protect ultra pricey smartphones from an accidental drop, but who knew that these cases, meant to cushion phones, may dramatically increase the radiation that these phones put off?

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From Chernobyl to Fukushima, nuclear disasters leak radiation into the environment that impact our health.

With some conscious effort, you can prevent the onset of disease in both yourself and your children. The following 5 foods are just the beginning.

A recent study concluded that U.S. newborns who were born after 2010 have a 26 percent higher risk of cancer and birth defects due to the Fukushima nuclear disaster that occurred back in March 2011. The event has also led to an increase in hypothyroidism among California-born babies. As for the fishing industry, early this year, scientists caught fish off the coast of Fukushima to assess the damage caused to the marine food chain. Samples were 124 times deadlier than the threshold considered safe for human consumption. Fukushima’s groundwater is also a nuclear disaster. How the Pacific ocean’s contamination inevitably influences waters around the world is a chilling reality.

To shield your family and yourself from radiation, evaluate your animal-based products. Avoid eating sea life from the Pacific. Also, take into consideration that the higher a food product is on the food chain, the more likely it is contaminated. Dairy, for example, may be the most contaminated. The animal producing the milk fed off of grass that was watered by rain coming in from Pacific coast. Radiation is stored and passed on across the food chain and eventually into your stomach. Be cautious and careful about where you source your animal products.

1. Apple Pectin

Apple pectin is a dietary fiber that contributes to digestive health. Studies have proven that apple pectin is able to reduce the effects of radiation exposure. After the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in 1987, doctors used apple pectin on those affected to reduce the load of radioactive cesium in children. It is able to get rid of heavy metals under the skin, including the radioactive Strontium 90. Sure, you could eat an apple, but you could also take a fruit pectin supplement to reap the benefits.

2. Spirulina and Chlorella

After the Chernobyl disaster, spirulina and chlorella were also used in order to lower the levels of radioactive materials, if not completely remove them, in those affected. A diet rich in chlorophyll has also proven to boost the survival rate of animals who had been administered lethal doses of radiation. However, do not get your spirulina from the waters near Japan.

3. Seaweeds

Radioactive isotopes have been shown to be neutralized by seaweeds. Just like seaweed purifies ocean waters, so too do they purify our bodies. Seaweed can convert radiation by-products into salts that can then be easily eliminated by the body. Natural iodine in seaweeds may lower radioactive iodine-131 absorbed by the thyroid by some 80 percent.

4. Foods with Carotene

A diet rich in carotene-containing foods, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, squash, kale, collard greens, chard and spinach, helps to prevent carcinogenesis and thus radiation-induced cancer. Natural carotenoids have also been shown to modestly protect human skin from UVA- and UVB-induced erythema.

5. Cabbage Family

The cabbage family includes the likes of broccoli, cauliflower, arugula, bok choy and radishes. These foods are high in caffeic acid, which has been shown to protect peripheral blood lymphocytes from gamma radiation that damages cells.

Photo Credit: WILLPOWER STUDIOS

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The Fukushima nuclear disaster isn’t over, the radioactive waste is still leaking, and it isn’t just a Japanese problem.

I remember exactly where I was when news of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami broke in the US. Sitting on the edge of a hotel room bed, I watched in horror as it became obvious that the nuclear power plant at Fukushima had been seriously affected.

The fact that someone thought it was a good idea to build a nuclear power plant on the coast, in an areas known to see frequent earthquakes and tsunamis is mind boggling, but it’s nothing compared to what happened immediately after the meltdown. Within days, so-called “nuclear experts” were reassuring the rest of the world, that while Japan was screwed, we had nothing to fear.

Well, fast forward a year or two, and Fukushima is still a nuclear disaster. Just days ago, the Japanese government declared a state of emergency, this time because of a build-up of radioactive groundwater near the plant.

In July, Tepco (the energy company that operates the Fukushima plant) admitted for the first time that radioactive groundwater had breached an underground barrier and been leaking into the sea, but said it was taking steps to prevent it. The head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority task force, Shinji Kinjo, recently told the Reuters news agency that the countermeasures were only a temporary solution, however, and groundwater contamination was imminent.

[Let’s pause here for a note about water: There is only one ocean. All the rivers, streams, and aquifers of the world are replenished by rain evaporated from that same ocean. It is complete foolishness to talk about this in terms of ‘Japan’s water’ or ‘American water’. It’s our water. And thanks to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, it’s all contaminated with toxic levels of radiation. That’s what makes this next bit particularly disturbing.]

“While the government has deemed some areas safe enough for part-time access, locals and activists say conflicting science and official secrecy surrounding the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl have bankrupted public trust,” reports TIME. “On Wednesday, just weeks after beaches south of the reactor were reopened, plant officials admitted that up to 300 tons of contaminated water are flowing into the sea each day.”

The good news is this is less that what was flowing into the ocean immediately after the disaster. The bad news is, since its mostly groundwater, the type of radiation now making its way into our ocean poses even more risk to human and animal life.

“Soil can naturally absorb the cesium in groundwater, but other radionuclides, such as strontium and tritium, flow more freely through the soil into the ocean,” notes Scientific American. “Tritium represents the lowest radioactive threat to ocean life and humans compared with cesium and strontium[…]. By comparison, strontium poses a greater danger because it replaces the calcium in bones and stays for much longer in the body.”

Still think you have nothing to fear? A study published in the International Journal of Health Services found that thousands of Americans have already been affected by radiation drifting to our shores from Fukushima. Nuclear energy isn’t safe, it won’t ever be safe, and what happened at Fukushima is just another reason to get out of the dirty energy game for good.

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Places & Spaces: Canvas Hotel is a visual vacation, never mind a cyclist’s dream hideaway. Based in Southern Norway, the adventure starts the moment you arrive.

Lady Gaga on EcoSalon? In Shade Grown Hollywood: The Conscious Mind Of Lady Gaga, writer Kathie Butler says “Lady Gaga is on the way to becoming an icon of post-feminist sexuality. But is she a confident cultural attaché to our own fantastical fantasies? Or she is more of a mouthpiece of modern times, a voice raging against homophobia and discrimination?” We explore Lady Gaga, aka Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta’s level of consciousness.

With Japan still reeling in the wake of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake that sent a 30-foot wall of ocean water onto the Fukushima-Daiichi plant on the coast of Japan, we find ourselves asking if there are more viable options than nuclear as we watch radiation leaking from core reactors. In The Nuclear Option, writer Stephanie Rogers reviews the pros and cons.

In her weekly Green Plate, writer Vanessa Barrington’s column Is Urban Farming The Next Green Cottage Industry? asks if urban farming is a viable career for our younger generation and a dependable source of food for city dwellers.

This week, our editor’s column The Insider’s Guide To Life: Bite Me dives into female bullying, giving important tools to empower one to bite back. Ost writes: “Who on earth are these people? Tina Fey called them Mean Girls, and they are everywhere, no matter how grown up we get. Naively, I had approached my very first bully with the plucky optimism of a community fundraiser. Soon, she needed me and my reliable niceness, and when you get to that point it’s a short trip to toast. I was but the earnest wheat germ, she, the flaring toaster.”

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Boeing must think radioactive waste is mighty tasty. After all, they’ve allowed plenty of it to sit at one of their research facilities and seep into the surrounding community. So naturally, some students who want the company to clean up its toxic mess at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory thought that offering a bribe of “˜meltdown morsels’ and other radioactive sweets might do the trick.

But the “Teens Against Toxins”, a group of tenth-graders at Oak Park High School in Southern California, must have realized that what Boeing wants above all is money, since the company recently filed a civil lawsuit in an attempt to get out of paying for cleanup of the site. They held a “bake sale meltdown” and presented the company, which made over $68 billion last year, with a gigantic check for the proceeds. The grand total? $99.31.

Shocker: Boeing didn’t show up to accept the money. After 30 minutes of waiting around outside the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, the students, some parents and community members were informed that a Boeing spokesperson was camera-shy and that as a private company, Boeing can’t accept donations.

The 2,859-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory was once home to 10 nuclear reactors, which experienced a partial meltdown in 1959 when it was run by Rocketdyne. Thirty years later, an environmental survey revealed shocking toxic and radioactive contamination. Boeing bought the site in 1996 and shut it down in 2006.

A state senate bill passed in 2007 set strict cleanup standards for the site, which is set to eventually become state parkland. But a Boeing spokesperson told MichaelMoore.com that the law “singles out the site to meet cleanup requirements that go far beyond what is required to protect citizens elsewhere in California under generally applicable state law.”

Apparently those delicious Uranium Cakes and Peanut Butter Plutonium Treats were just too bitter for Boeing to swallow – but it’s okay if everyone else eats them.

Image: lavocado

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They said a dental office had to be a bland and benign, pastel-painted suite, where soothing visuals meant polyester contract furniture, framed school degrees and prints of egrets wading in marshlands. It’s all so relaxing until you inhale the fumes of old decay being excavated by a rotating drill bit and submit to the discomfort and dangers of a full mouth x-ray.

But at least one dentist isn’t taking what the old industry feeds us lying down. Dr. Namrata Patel has established the first serious green dental office in San Francisco, opening wide to the notion of improving the dental office environment as we know it. And guess what? Her patients are biting, all 700 of them!

“Even the air you breathe in the office is filtered,” she tells me on a break between seeing patients. “We have a lot of clients who are sensitive to chemicals, and when you come in you can’t even tell it’s a dental office. It doesn’t have that chemical dental smell.”

Instead, her million-dollar investment in the retail dominated Union Square district adheres to the best in LEED design, which calls for operating near mass transit and having a public parking garage nearby.

The architectural firm of Ruth and Kanieri walked Patel through the process of green modes and codes. The space emerges as a well-appointed, eco-smart Manhattan townhouse with responsibly harvested wood floors and architectural panels made from reclaimed vinyl and eco-resins – all insulated with organic acoustic fibers from recycled denim jeans. You can tell by looking at the hallway and waiting room (above), this is a pretty painless place for kicking back.

“If I’m going to live like this at home, I’m going to make my workplace the same because I spend so much time here,” says Patel, who left her village of eight families in India at the age of five and graduated from USC Dental school with honors. She says a green consciousness was ingrained in her as a child but she didn’t recognize it at the time.

“I thought my parents were really cheap because they wouldn’t throw anything away and all of our food had to come from the farmers market,” she remembers. “They weren’t green but our religion is Jainism and it means everything has value, even bacteria. Even the bacteria you are killing matters and you are conscious of that.”

Patel attacks bacteria with biodegradable sterilization solutions, which are used to clean the chairs after exams. Here are a few other steps she takes to remain sustainable:

Digital imaging technology replaces X-rays to reduce radiation exposure by 90 percent.

Instruments are cleaned with steam-based, surgical-grade sterilization rather than harmful chemicals and water use.

The environmentally-sound disposal of old mercury fillings through the installation of a special water filtration system. This offsets the health hazards from ingesting mercury vapors and prevents further pollution of local waterways.

Going paperless with digital signatures for patient payments and substituting disposable Dixie cups for rinsing with old-fashioned bar shot glasses.

Patel says her fees are in the 70th percentile, but the fact she prioritizes prevention should keep patients out of her office more often. “Not everyone is interested in the detail and care we give,” she says, alluding to her passionate lectures on flossing to offset wasting time and money on oral hygiene.

To that end, she has created a new website called Toothhugger, reaching out to consumers by dispensing free advice on everything from finding natural toothbrushes to battling stains from coffee (she tells us to sip our brew through a natural straw!).

“I got my inspiration in dentistry through my work with nonprofits, treating field workers who were poor and out of touch and experiencing a lot of pain,” she shares. “Being there for them made a big difference. They’d come back with oranges for me or a Kit Kat bar.”

Dr. Patel

It seems Patel is also making a difference in the industry. Will other dentists follow suit? Guess that depends largely upon the demand. I say, let’s raise our shot glasses and toast to it!

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