5: NEW TEFLON TOXIN CAUSES CANCER IN LAB ANIMALS
THE CHEMICAL INTRODUCED by DuPont in 2009 to replace the surfactant PFOA causes many of the same health problems in lab tests that the original chemical did, including cancer and reproductive problems, according to documents obtained by The Intercept. PFOA, also known as C8, was a key ingredient in Teflon.
C8 was originally manufactured by 3M, then by DuPont, and was phased out after a massive class-action lawsuit revealed evidence of its health hazards. The new chemical, sold under the name GenX, is used to make Teflon and many other products. While touting GenX as having a “more favorable toxicological profile” than C8, DuPont filed 16 reports of “substantial risk of injury to health or the environment” about its new chemical. The reports, discovered in the course of an investigation by The Intercept, were filed under Section 8 (e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and submitted to the EPA between April 2006 and January 2013. They cite numerous health effects in animals, including changes in the size and weight of animals’ livers and kidneys, alterations to their immune responses and cholesterol levels, weight gain, reproductive problems, and cancer.
“It’s the same constellation of effects you see with PFOA,” said Deborah Rice, a retired toxicologist who served as a senior risk assessor in the National Center for Environmental Assessment at the EPA. “There’s no way you can call this a safe substitute.”
The Intercept
4: At least 60 killed in Iraq suicide bombing
A suicide bomber has killed at least 60 people and wounded dozens more by driving his explosives-laden fuel truck into a security checkpoint south of Baghdad.
The suicide bomber attacked the checkpoint on Sunday on a strategic highway near Hilla, 90km from the Iraqi capital, reports said.
Another 70 people were wounded in the blast, police officials said.
“A martyr’s operation with a truck bomb hit the Babylon Ruins checkpoint at the entrance of the city of Hilla, killing and wounding dozens,” the ISIL statement said.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said: “It was apparently a suicide bombing that occurred at a checkpoint that is usually manned by Iraq soldiers and federal police forces. A long line of cars along that key road were also caught in the blast.”
Hilla is the capital of Babylon province, a predominantly Shia region with some Sunni presence.
Aljazeera
3: Detroit: Hundreds Protest 11th GOP Presidential Debate
Four Republican presidential candidates faced off Thursday night at the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich all teamed up against front-runner Donald Trump. Meanwhile, outside the Fox Theatre, hundreds of people rallied to protest the GOP debate and what they say is hateful and Islamophobic rhetoric coming from the Republican Party. This is William Antoun of the Michigan Muslim Community Council.
Democracy Now
2: EU referendum: British exit would be ‘poison’, says German finance minister
A British decision to leave the European Union would be “poison” for the UK, European and global economies that would last for years, the German finance minister has said.
Wolfgang Schäuble made the case for Britain’s continued membership of a reformed EU as Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, reiterated his belief that the government was using “agents of fear” to undermine a vote for Brexit.
Johnson reasserted his attack over the “scandalous” circumstances in which a senior businessman resigned from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) for expressing a positive view of Britain outside the EU.
Their comments follow a weekend of acrimonious campaigning from senior ministers for different sides of the in/out referendum, due to be held in June.
The Guardian
1: Bernie Sanders vows to stay in the race up until Democratic convention
Bernie Sanders has vowed again to fight until the Democratic convention in July, a day after the presidential campaign’s “Super Saturday” saw him win two states and lose one to Hillary Clinton.
“I still think we have that path toward victory,” he said.
Sanders’ wins helped him bounce back from a tough Super Tuesday, although by winning Saturday’s Louisiana primary, Clinton took more delegates than Sanders on the day. According to the Associated Press, Clinton now has 1,121 delegates pledged to support her at the convention, compared with 481 for Sanders. The threshold for securing the nomination is 2,383.
Speaking on CNN on Sunday, Sanders was asked if he would fight to the convention if Clinton reached the delegate threshold before that.
“We have made enormous progress over the last 10 months,” Sanders said in an appearance on CNN, listing successes that, as well as wins in Kansas and Nebraska on Saturday, include New Hampshire, Colorado, Minnesota, Vermont and Oklahoma.
The Guardian
