California Watch

As many as 220,000 uninsured children in California will be excluded from health care reform programs because of theiror their parents’ immigration status, according to an analysis released yesterday.

Something happened to the children of Fallon, Nev., between 1997 and 2003.

Fourteen children were diagnosed with childhood leukemia, a rate for that population size that should only occur, by chance, once every 22,000 years, according to epidemiologists.The Fallon rate was 12 times higher than typically expected.

A new study by California researchers examines the geographic and seasonal occurrences of the diagnoses, and concludes that mosquitoes may have been behind the outbreak.

“The rural location of most cases suggests mosquitoes as a possible vector,” Joe Wiemels, an epidemiologist at UC San Francisco, told New Scientist Magazine. More

(photo via bogdog Dan/Flickr)

Four authors of a new report concluding that bisphenol A is safe have ties to companies and groups that benefit from the controversial chemical.

Two of the researchers – Hermann Schweinfurth and Wolfgang Völkel – reported their affiliations in the report’s “declaration of interest.” Two others – Werner Lilienblum and Peter-Jürgen Kramer – have professional websites linking them to the chemical industry.

BPA was originally developed as a synthetic form of estrogen but quickly became more valued as an ingredient in the manufacturing of the clear, hard plastic known as polycarbonare. It is also used in the lining of food and beverage cans and has been detected in other food packaging containers, including those labeled “microwave safe.”

When heated, or exposed to acidic or caustic substances, BPA is known to leach out of containers into food.

Photo via Inferis/Flickr

The likelihood is growing that many school districts will have to cut the number of days students spend in class in response to the state’s deepening budget crisis, according to state education leaders and experts.

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