The world is ripe with green myth. (And here I thought that it was just ripe with oil spills.) There are so many rumors about what is toxic, what will kill you, and what just might give you a nasty rash that many people don’t know which green end is up. Here at EcoSalon, we’d like to take a moment from time to time, to address some of the health and environmental rumors out there. Think of us as the TMZ.com of green, but without Lindsay Lohan – that is, unless she has a pressing eco-oriented question.

So on our first foray into eco myth busting, we’re getting straight to the point – of our nails, that is! Have you heard? Getting your nails done will give you cancer. Between the chemicals in the polish and the nail remover and the cuticle softening, we might as well be dipping our paws in pails of toxic sludge, right?

Well, there might be some truth to this. As we have already reported, nail polishes contain chemicals likes toluene, formaldehyde and BDPs. Toluene can cause rapid breathing, blurred vision, dry skin and can affect the kidneys and nervous system. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen and a volatile allergen and irritant, while Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) is linked to reproductive problems and underdeveloped genitals in newborn boys. There is a market for less chemically filled nail polishes, and you can find the deets on them here.

Also setting off green alarm bells, a recent report out of the United Kingdom shares that women who get their nails professionally manicured could be increasing their risk of skin cancer. The report was conducted after two women developed tumors on their hands from exposure to ultra-violet lamps used to fix/dry artificial nails. Doctors feel that the high dose of UVA rays are damaging hand skin cells when women hold them under the sun lamps during a manicure.

Dr. Deborah MacFarlane works at the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston. As she recently told The Daily Mail, “The UV nail lamp is most commonly used to cure gel nails but is also used to cure acrylic nails and dry traditional nail polish – but exposure to UV light is a major risk factor for the development of skin cancer.” Further, the salons that use cheap but potentially hazardous chemicals are also putting customers at risk. People who get professional manicures are urged to keep an eye on their hands for suspicious growths.

So will your manicure kill you? Well, think of it this way. Some people can smoke, drink, and run in traffic their entire lives and nary a scratch they will have. Others can get one whiff of second hand smoke and be sicker than sick. Your hands, your risk. In the meantime, all we can do is sift through the evidence and make our own health decisions. And keep up the green mythbustin’, naturally.

Any other green myths/questions/worries you’d like us to check out? Let us know!

Image: truk

The post Your Manicure Will Kill You – True or False? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Imagine the consequences of 20 years of nuclear waste dumping in the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea that surround the Italian Peninsula and its islands.

It’s an unfolding crisis that has the international community alarmed, including the fishing interests in Japan.

We’re talking about the coasts of 22 countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and a pending ecological and public health disaster which is being allegedly swept under the rug by the Italian government.

I only learned about it recently in a Counterpunch post on the nightmare, passed along to me by a devastated reader. Meantime, the disaster is also catching on in the mainstream media.

The post writer, Michael Leonardi, is a university educator who lives in Calabria with his wife and baby. He says after returning from a visit to the States, he was alarmed to learn that the Tyrrhenian Sea – which his daughter has been bathing in since birth – was intentionally poisoned with toxic waste.

“How shocked and dismayed we were to discover that government officials have known about it all along,” he shares. “And how enraged we are that a journalist has been killed, possibly for trying to reveal the truth about the disposal of waste by the international Ecomafia and their colluding government and corporate interests.”

The journalist described was Rai television reporter Ilaria Alpi. Leonardi says she was following the trail of arms and toxic garbage trafficking from Italy to Somalia in 1994 when she and her camera man, Miran Hrovatin, were gunned down and killed in Mogadishu.

“Many here believe, including the Mafia pentito, Franceso Fonti, that she was killed because she learned too much about the collusion between the Mafia and Italian military,” argues a bold Leonardi.

So how is the dumping engineered by the bad guys?

Leonardi says dozens of ships with the radioactive and toxic cargoes have been intentionally sunk by organized crime syndicates.

Leonardi says epidemic levels of cancerous tumors and thyroid problems have occurred in the area and along the coasts of the Mediterranean – where fishermen make a living by selling their catch throughout Italian and on the international market.

The public outcry is heating up as Greenpeace and the Italian environmental organization Legambiente work to bring the disaster to the surface. CNN reported on the scuttled hips, as well, last week. The report says it is believed between 32 and 41 of the ships sunk in international waters between Italy, Greece and Spain.

Lending credence to the sinking, testimony by Franceso Fonti, who admitted his role in helping to sink three ships in the fishing waters, including the Cunsky.

Last week a robot sub was sent down off the coast of Centraro to shoot photos of the ship thought to be the Cunsky. The images document the presence of drums like those used to transport and store radioactive and toxic wastes. The hope is that the barrels are still in tact but no one knows for certain what they contain.

“Traces of Mercury and Cesnium 137 have recently been found near the town of Amantea in Calabria further south of Cetraro by about 50 kilimeters,” explains Leonardi. “Amantea is considered a “hot spot” for tumors and ground temperature around the contamination area is six degrees warmer than normal.

“The population is demanding the truth and government action,” he says, adding international cooperation is needed.

Images: enigmachck1, Wiki, Wiki

The post Ecomafia Radioactive Waste Dumping in Mediterranean: International Catastrophe Coming to Light appeared first on EcoSalon.