Not since “The Graduate” gave career advice that became a pop-culture shortcut for artificiality has so much attention been paid to plastic.

Last week, the National Toxicology Program released a draft report on bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical used in hard, clear plastic, such as Nalgene and baby bottles, as well as in the lining of baby formula containers and canned foods.

Studies in animals have linked it to hormonal changes, and the report acknowledged “some concern” that BPA may affect neural and behavioral development “in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures.”

The report “signaled a turning point in the government’s position on bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical so ubiquitous in the United States that it has been detected in the urine of 93 percent of the population over 6 years of age,” Lyndsey Layton wrote in the Washington Post, though it only called for more research into the health effects.

“What we’ve got is a warning, a signal, of some concerns,” said Mike Shelby, director of the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, who oversaw the report. “We could not dismiss the possibility that similar or related effects might occur in humans.”

Manufacturers of BPA were less than impressed. The American Chemistry Council, which represents manufacturers, said the report “affirms that there are no serious or high level concerns for adverse effects of bisphenol on human reproduction and development.”

Here’s some more detail on the decision:

The toxicology panel used a five-level rating system, ranging from serious concern to negligible concern. It labeled the possible cancer risk of BPA as “some concern,” in the middle of the scale. There was not enough scientific evidence to rank it as a “concern” or a “serious concern,” Shelby said.

Asked in an interview whether exposure to BPA can be eliminated, Shelby paused. “It’s everywhere,” he said. “It’s not clear that we know what all the sources of BPA exposure are. The vast majority of exposure is through food and drink — cans and bottles. But there could be trace amounts in water, dust. Your cellphone is probably made out of it.”

Since BPA is most readily absorbed through food and drink containers, health advocates have been particularly focused on how the Food and Drug Administration is regulating the chemical. An FDA spokesman declined to comment on the new report, saying the agency has not had a chance to review it.

The FDA has been under fire from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has been investigating the influence of the chemical industry on the agency’s regulation of BPA in plastic liners in metal cans of baby formula.

Last month, in response to questions from lawmakers, the FDA said it had disregarded hundreds of government and academic studies about the cancer risks of BPA and used just two studies funded by the chemical industry to determine that the chemical is safe.

Kinda makes you not want to trust the government on this one.

Meanwhile, our neighbors to the north are moving more swiftly on BPA. Health Canada, the main government health department, declared BPA a “toxic chemical” and the Canadian government moved to ban polycarbonate infant bottles.

The health minister, Tony Clement, told reporters that after reviewing 150 research papers on B.P.A. and conducting its own studies, his department concluded that the chemical posed the most risk for newborns and children up to the age of 18 months. The minister said that animal studies suggest “there will be behavioral and neural symptoms later in life.”

Not only are potentially unsafe exposure levels to B.P.A. lower for children than adults, Mr. Clement said that cleaning infant bottles with boiling causes the release of the chemical into their contents.

The Canadian government found no current risk to adults but said it would begin monitoring BPA exposure of 5,000 people between now and 2009, with possible additional action to come if such research indicates any danger.

When the U.S. report by the National Toxicology Program was released, a spokeswoman for the International Formula Council, which represents baby food makers, said, according to the AP, “‘the overwhelming scientific evidence supports the safety’ of bisphenol, adding that no foreign governments have restricted or banned its use.”

What bad timing. Since that’s no longer the case, the IFC will have to come up with another excuse not to prioritize the health of infants and young children.

For more in-depth reading on the health concerns and scientific debate around BPA, check out “The Plastics Revolution,” published in the Washington Post earlier this week.

The author, Ranit Mishori, a family physician and faculty member at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, also looks at the debate over phthalates — chemical compounds that improve the longevity, durability and flexibility of plastic. In animal studies, these compounds have been linked to cancers and genital abnormalities, especially in males.

Again, the Unites States lags behind other countries, as phthalates are already banned in the manufacture of toys in most European countries. California took action on its own, implementing a ban that goes into effect in 2009 on some phthalates found in toys and teethers. A dozen other states are considering similar bans.

But it’s not as easy as banning items that children like to put in their mouths. Phthlates are also found in commonly used personal care products, including shampoos and deodorants and perfumes — for more info., see our previous post on cosmetics and phthalates.

For a useful Q&A on the health risk related to BPA and tips on lowering exposure, read Tara Parker-Pope’s column, “A Hard Plastic is Raising Hard Questions.”

I have a collection of Nalgene bottles and have been slowly transitioning away from my much beloved, wide-mouth hiking staple. But Nalgene isn’t wasting any more time (or dollars): The company has decided to turn to other plastics that do not contain BPA.

The AP has released a report on pharmaceuticals making it into the water supply, and found from a compilation of data that the drugs are detectable in drinking water supplies almost everywhere that tests have been conducted. How do these antibiotics, psychiatric drugs, hormones, and other chemicals end up in the water? Pretty simply, as the report notes:

“People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.”

Switching to bottled water is not likely to be a great solution to this problem – many bottled waters on the market are ultimately from a public water supply, and the production, shipment, and disposal of these items creates its own environmental concerns. Although some bottlers use reverse osmosis, which the AP says “removes virtually all pharmaceutical contaminants,” this process is “very expensive for large-scale use and leaves several gallons of polluted water for every one that is made drinkable.” An industry spokesperson commented that, “Bottlers do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals.”

Water that is sourced from springs or underground wells is not immune to the problem, either. The AP notes watershed contamination, and previous studies have detected pharmaceuticals in rivers, streams, and groundwater. Likewise, your home filtration devices are not designed to remove these kinds of chemicals. Ultimately, you’d probably have to avoid all water-based beverages to avoid any low-level pharmaceutical exposure.

The levels detected are very low, much lower than medicinal doses, but the report notes that long-term effects of repeated exposures are not well understood. Frustratingly, scientists have been conducting research to detect drug levels in water sources for at least the past 20 years, although it hasn’t resulted in this testing necessarily becoming widespread or routine. Perhaps this report will inspire researchers to provide some solid evidence on possible health effects, and the EPA and water treatment facilities to follow-up with action where needed.

For even more Monday fun, check out the FDA’s handbook on “defect” levels in food at which action must be taken, such as an “Average of 4 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams of apple butter.” Nice.

The Washington Post has an interesting if somewhat frustrating front-page story today about the rise of allergies and immune-system diseases — which experts say have “doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in the last few decades, depending on the ailment and country.”

“Allergic diseases” includes ailments such as hay fever, eczema, asthma and food allergies. Autoimmune diseases include lupus, MS, Type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease. In addition to varying theories about what’s causing the increase in both, scientists are implementing various methods in an attempt to stem the problem:

The cause remains the focus of intense debate and study, but some researchers suspect the concurrent trends all may have a common explanation rooted in aspects of modern living — including the “hygiene hypothesis” that blames growing up in increasingly sterile homes, changes in diet, air pollution, and possibly even obesity and increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

“We have dramatically changed our lives in the last 50 years,” said Fernando Martinez, who studies allergies at the University of Arizona. “We are exposed to more products. We have people with different backgrounds being exposed to different environments. We have made our lives more antiseptic, especially early in life. Our immune systems may grow differently as a result. And we may be paying a price for that.”

Along with a flurry of research to confirm and explain the trends, scientists have also begun testing possible remedies. Some are feeding high-risk children gradually larger amounts of allergy-inducing foods, hoping to train the immune system not to overreact. Others are testing benign bacteria or parts of bacteria. Still others have patients with MS, colitis and related ailments swallow harmless parasitic worms to try to calm their bodies’ misdirected defenses.

Yes, worms.

While the good-hygiene theory is favored among some scientists, dissenters point to the rise of asthma in poor, inner-city environments as evidence that there must be something else going on.

“That theory is so full of holes that it’s clearly not the whole story,” said Robert Wood of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

The story clocks in at close to 1,500 words — which is nothing to sneeze at — but the topic seems worthy of a magazine-length article, at the very least, and I would love to read more. Maybe you’ve read something more comprehensive on this topic? If so, please share.

Who’s On Pharma?: Prescription Access Legislation presents a comedy classic updated for the pharmaceutical industry … Check it out. And there’s lots more worth reading on PAL’s blog.

MacGyver Meets Dr. Ruth: Once you get beyond the freaked-out expression on the female avatar, what follows is a very interesting article about the efforts of Dr. Carla Pugh, a surgeon at the Northwestern University medical school who builds low-cost models of breasts and other body parts out of everyday items to help medical students get over their squeamishness. (For the “Who Knew?” files: “Lima beans, it turns out, are excellent facsimiles for tumor tissue,” writes Richard Morgan.)

“Just because you’re smart enough to get into medical school, you’re not smart enough to outwit the social restraints we all grow up with,” Pugh told the Times. “It’s not like med school students are gifted to the degree that they can touch a stranger’s genitals and look them in the eye and have a calm conversation without feeling weird about it.”

Sex, Lies & Stereotypes: That’s the title of a new report (PDF) released by Legal Momentum. Compiled by Julie F. Kay with Ashley Jackson, the report is based on recommendations arising from an expert roundtable Kay hosted on how abstinence-only programs harm women and girls.

Plus: Here’s a column by Courtland Milloy that I’ve kept around for a while on a comprehensive sex education program in place at a Washington, D.C. high school that goes above and beyond most programs.

“While students at the public charter elementary are learning basic skills, they are also being inoculated with heavy doses of self-respect, integrity, discipline, responsibility and teamwork. That’s where you’ll find the cure,” writes Milloy. “This holistic approach to education is known as the Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program, which was developed in 1984 by Michael Carrera of the New York-based Children’s Aid Society. Clearly, there is more to it than the name implies, and it might well be the gold standard for sex education in public schools.”

Find out more about the Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program at StopTeenPregnancy.com.

Baby Care Products and Phthalate Exposure A study in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics points to baby care products as possible sources of infant phthalate exposure. Julie Deardorff has more on the study and why phthalates — chemicals found in plastics and personal care products — are a growing concern.

Plus: Check out Deardorff’s post about taking part in testing to determine her individual chemical concentration levels.

Medicine MIstakes: Here’s something worth thinking about before your next hospital visit. The first large-scale study of preventable prescription errors in community hospitals found that one in every 10 patients admitted to six Massachusetts community hospitals suffered serious and avoidable medication mistakes, reports the Boston Globe. The two nonprofit groups that conducted the study urged all hospitals in Massachusetts to install a computerized prescription ordering system.

FDA Panel Rejects Breast Cancer Drug: “A Food and Drug Administration panel dealt a sharp blow to biotech giant Genentech Inc. on Wednesday by refusing to recommend approval for the company’s high-profile drug Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer,” reports the L.A. Times. “The cancer drugs are controversial: They extend patients’ lives in some cases only by several months, and they can cost as much as $100,000 per patient per year. In recent years, federal regulators have been willing to approve drugs even if the benefits were only marginal. But that may be changing.”

Health Care Debate Needs to Include Women: “As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic leadership in the Legislature negotiate a health care proposal that they hope everyone can agree upon, it’s important to consider a California constituency that hasn’t received enough attention during this debate: women,” writes Carlina Hansen, executive director of the Women’s Community Clinic in San Francisco, in an op-ed published in the Sacramento Bee.

The op-ed was co-signed by other representatives of the Women’s Working Group on Universal Health Care, a California-based organization that focuses on educating and involving women and women’s organizations in state and local health reform efforts. Check them out.

The Doctor Will Email You Now: “Unlike the banking, restaurant and travel industries, the medical profession has been slow to embrace the Internet’s potential customer service benefits,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “But despite concerns about patient privacy, costs and time constraints, a growing number of physicians are encouraging patients to go online to do things such as check lab results and immunization records, request refills and appointments, and e-mail their physicians with non-urgent medical questions.”

What Says Love Like Diamonds in the Delivery Room? In another example of All The News That’s Fit for Wealthy Heterosexual White Women, the New York Times turns attention to “push presents,” given to the mother following childbirth. Art commemorating the baby’s birth — I get that. I also understand, as one commenter points out, the desire to celebrate the birth with something that can be passed down for generations. But the materialism depicted in this story is disturbing. What’s nine months of pregnancy and labor worth? How about at least six months of paid maternity leave — now that’s priceless.

Plus: New word association game — read the word “push,” visit Pushed Birth.

Environmental Toxin Can Collect in Breast Milk: “Scientists have discovered the mechanism by which a chemical known as perchlorate can collect in breast milk and cause cognitive and motor deficits in newborns,” reports HealthDay News. “Used since the 1940s to manufacture explosives and rocket fuel, the contaminant is still widely present in the water and food supply, experts say.”

The study by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University appeared in the Dec. 3-7 advance online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Here’s more from the EPA on perchlorate.

A Special Delivery: “‘Juno’ is the only film in recent history in which the protagonist seriously considers termination,” writes Jennie Yarbroff in Newsweek. Of course if you’ve read any of the reviews (which are almost uniformly stellar) you know that consideration is as far as it goes.

EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum writes in her review: “The old-school feminist in me wishes Juno spent more time, even a tart sentence or two, acknowledging that the options taken for granted by this one attractive, articulate teen are in fact hard-won, precious rights, and need to be guarded by a new-generation army of Junos and Bleekers, spreading the word by text message as well as by hamburger phone. Separate but equal truth: This movie is so delightful and good-hearted a portrait of the kind of new-generation army I’d like to hang with that I accept the admonition ‘Silencio, old woman.’”

Plus: NPR’s “All Things Considered” interviews crush-worthy Ellen Page, and critic Bob Mondello finds this season’s films are where the girls are.

Environmental and Occupational Causes of Cancer: Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Lowell & Boston University last month published an updated scientific review, Environmental and Occupational Causes of Cancer: New Evidence, 2005-2007. According to the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, the report concludes that “mounting evidence linking unintentional exposures to toxins in our workplaces and general environment contribute to the nearly one and a half million new cases of cancer in the U.S. in just 2007 alone.”

The report synthesizes the recent peer-reviewed scientific literature and finds compelling new evidence linking cancer with specific exposures, namely:

* Breast cancer from exposure to the pesticide DDT before puberty;
* Leukemia from exposure to 1,3-butadiene;
* Lung cancer from exposure to air pollution;
* Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from exposure to pesticides and solvents;
* Prostate cancer from exposure to pesticides and metal working fluids;
* Brain cancer from exposure to non-ionizing radiation; and
* A range of cancers from exposure to pesticides based on early findings from the Agricultural Health Study

Here’s the executive summary and the full 45-page report (PDF).

Happy post-Thanksgiving!

Because Nothing Says Happy Holidays Like Concrete Shoes: Here’s a story from Lockport, N.Y. (via Feministing) that won’t bring much holiday cheer … From the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal:

Richfield Street-based American Concrete had a new billboard erected Monday on West Avenue. Over the image of a wrapped gift, the solicitous catchline, “Wife need new shoes?” is accompanied by the American Concrete logo and a greeting, “Happy Holidays.”

YWCA Executive Director Kathleen Granchelli and a representative of Big Brothers Big Sisters have spoken to the mayor about the billboard, but company owner Kevin McCabe defended the billboard, claiming that because his wife is OK with it, and his sister-in-law conceived of the ad, well, it must be funny.

Granchelli would like McCabe to think about the message it imparts to others, but he’s not budging.

“I think the mainstream understands it,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that some people are reading much more into it than they should.”

News Without Context: News reports have probed every angle in the Stacy Peterson disappearance and how her husband became the prime suspect. But when Anne Glauber tried to persuade media producers to interview a domestic violence advocate, there were no takers. Read Glauber’s story at Women’s eNews.

Affordable Family Planning: Noting the drastic increase in the cost of prescription contraceptives at college health centers, The New York Times advocates for legislation that would make university health centers and safety-net clinics eligible for the discount again. Rachel wrote about the legislation earlier this month.

Unilever Ditches Self Esteem as a Marketing Concept: Because there’s always good ol’ misogyny to promote instead. Lucinda Marshall plays the Unilever games so you don’t have to.

“Study: Feminists Are Better Mates”: You knew this already, but it’s still nice to see that headline in the Chicago Tribune. Judy Peres summarizes the study by Laurie Rudman of Rutgers University and graduate student Julie Phelan:

The results, appearing in the online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Sex Roles, show that for both women and men there was a benefit to having a feminist partner. Feminist women were also more likely than others to be in a romantic relationship.

“If you’re a woman paired with a male feminist,” said Rudman, “you have a healthier relationship across the board” — better in terms of relationship quality, equality, stability and sexual satisfaction.

“And men paired with female feminists have greater sexual satisfaction and greater relationship stability,” she said. “So, [there were] higher scores on two of the four dimensions, with no difference on the other two.”

Princess Power: Disney’s $4 billion Princess empire is expanding its line of products to appeal to middle-class women. “There’s actually an entire line of Princess wedding dresses (in case you’re more of a Cinderella) with matching jewelry and tiaras. Sleepwear and housewares are next,” reports Newsweek. “Disney is also updating some classic narratives to make the protagonists more empowered, which may appeal to women who have kissed a few frogs.”

From the Files of Offbeat News: For your sophisticated environmentally conscious amusement, there’s now a site that promotes CheatNeutral (thanks, Kiki!).

You’d think Reference Man would be a handy know-it-all. But unfortunately RM is stuck in the 70s. And if you’re a woman, don’t look to him for medical advice.

A story at Women’s eNews explains that in determining the safe levels of ionizing radiation exposure — the kind of radiation put out by mammograms and smoke detectors — the EPA relies on the statistical model of a male who “dates to 1974, but he’s perpetually aged between 20 and 30 years old. He weighs 170 pounds, stands 5 feet 7 inches and hails from Western Europe or North America.”

Julie R. Enszer writes that the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), along with other environmental and health organizations, are advocating that women and children — who are more vulnerable to the effects of radiation and have a higher risk of developing cancer from exposure — should take the place of “reference man.”

“We believe the government has an obligation to protect more than just adult white men from the hazards of radiation,” said Lisa Ledwidge, IEER outreach director. “Until these standards are changed, the government is not fulfilling its responsibility.”

Ledwidge says the immediate focus is getting the EPA, the chief agency in charge of regulating radiation standards, to lower current limits.

But the coalition of groups and individuals behind the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research-led “Healthy From the Start” campaign want reform throughout the government.

Ledwidge says the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration all use standards based on the “reference man” or some similar model.

Campaigners want the EPA to change the reference man to a “hypothetical maximum exposed individual,” based on a model that better represents those most vulnerable to ionizing radiation, such as a pregnant woman or girl.

This would mean lowering workplace exposure levels to 2 rems per year from 5 rems. But a much smaller exposure — 100 millirems — is considered the safe threshold for fetuses, which is why pregnant women are generally advised to avoid X-rays, including dental scans.

The website for the IEER-led Campaign to Include Women, Children, and Future Generations in Environmental Health Standards features a report (PDF) on radiation and radiation risk (including a section on women, pregnancy and the workplace), additional background information and statements from participating groups. Here’s the official definition (PDF) of “reference man.”

Linking Breast Cancer and Environmental Exposures: The Breast Cancer and Environment Research Centers (BCERC), a project jointly funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute to study the impact of prenatal-to-adult environmental exposures that may predispose a woman to breast cancer, held its fourth annual symposium on Cincinnati this week. Here’s a peek at the program.

Frank Biro, director of the adolescent medicine division at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who is heading up a federally funded study looking at the link between chemicals called endocrine disruptors and breast cancer, told the Cincinnati Enquirer: “Most breast cancer is sporadic; it’s not inherited. Looking at the hereditary issues only accounts for 25 to 30 percent of breast cancers … Something else is going on, and that something else is probably going to be environmental in some way, or maybe an interaction between environmental factors and genetics.”

Plus: Lucinda Marshall looks at media coverage of breast cancer in the wake of the Global Summit on Breast Cancer.

Yet Another Study Proves Congress Wrong: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy released a report (PDF) this week that found abstinence-only programs do not reduce the rates of teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease. As Amie Newman writes, “How many studies, reports and polls do we need until we can finally shove abstinence-only programs in a box and hide them away in that scary hall closet that houses everything under the sun?”

Here’s a summary of key findings (PDF) compiled by the Guttmacher Institute. The ACLU, in a statement, said, the study “provides strong evidence that it is time for the federal government to support comprehensive sex education programs.”

Clinic Buffer Zone Increased: “The Massachusetts legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that requires protesters to stand at least 35 feet from clinics that offer abortions,” reports The New York Times. “The bill, which Gov. Deval L. Patrick is expected to sign next week, will be the nation’s strictest state law establishing fixed zones that protesters cannot enter around those reproductive health clinics that offer abortions.”

Authorities said the current law, which was enacted in 2000, was difficult to enforce — it prohibits protesters from going within 6 feet of a person in an 18-foot zone outside a clinic’s doors. The Times also notes that the country’s largest fixed buffer zone, 36 feet, is in effect in — wait for it — Melbourne, Fla.

Plus: The Center for Reproductive Rights answers the question “What if Roe fell?” with a look at the laws in each state that would go into effect.

Mental Health Q&A: Ever wonder why mental health benefits are less generous than insurance benefits for other conditions? The Washington Post has a Q&A column on equal coverage and other issues related to mental health coverage.

The Weight Debate: According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, as reported in the Washington Post, “Being overweight boosts the risk of dying from diabetes and kidney disease but not cancer or heart disease, and carrying some extra pounds actually appears to protect against a host of other causes of death.”

Plus: Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that inflammation, not obesity, causes insulin resistance.

Did You Hear the One About …: Jokes about blondes and women drivers are not just harmless fun and games, according to a research project led by a Western Carolina University psychology professor. The article, “More Than Just a Joke: The Prejudice-Releasing Function of Sexist Humor,” is scheduled for publication in the February issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

“Our research demonstrates that exposure to sexist humor can create conditions that allow men — especially those who have antagonistic attitudes toward women — to express those attitudes in their behavior,” said Thomas E. Ford, a faculty member in the psychology department at WCU. “The acceptance of sexist humor leads men to believe that sexist behavior falls within the bounds of social acceptability.”

Revisiting the Prairie: The Washington Post runs an occasional series in which book critic Jonathan Yardley reconsiders notable and/or neglected books from the past. This time around: the “Little House” series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. “What surprises me a bit in thinking back to my own reaction to these books as a boy is that it seems to have made no difference at all that girls, not boys, were at the center of these stories,” writes Yardley.

Preventing Salesmanship from Trumping Facts: “Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said Sunday that prescription drug companies should wait two years to begin advertising their new products to consumers,” reports the AP.

“I think two years makes sense. I think it gives enough time for a drug not just to have been tested in clinical trials but to be out among the public, to see what kind of adverse reactions there have been,” he told reporters afterward.

Edwards’ plan also includes increased penalties for companies that violate truth-in-advertising laws and would require companies to disclose more information about a drug’s side effects and effectiveness compared to placebos and less expensive alternative drugs.

How Much Does it Cost to Have a Baby?: According to the latest numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services, the cost of having a baby, from the first prenatal visit to delivery, averaged roughly $7,600 for an uncomplicated birth. (This calculation did not include the Bugaboo Cameleon stroller.)

All joking aside, as this article at AlterNet points out, “Despite the relative health of women in the United States, many women are not getting the uncomplicated births they might expect.”

Manda Aufochs Gillespie and Mariya Strauss take a close look at “Listening to Mothers,” the landmark report by Childbirth Connection that looks at women’s attitudes, beliefs, preferences and knowledge from the time before the pregnancy through the postpartum period.

The majority of women ended up attached to IVs, catheters and fetal monitors. They had their membranes artificially ruptured and were given epidurals. Most of these women had little understanding of the side effects of these interventions, including cesarean and medical inductions. The report also shows that though women understood that they had the right to refuse medical interventions, few did, and many received interventions, such as episiotomies, without their consent.

Just as troubling is what is not being done. A “very tiny minority” of women received all of the care practices that promote natural birth.

Griswold v. Connecticut Attorney Dies: “Catherine Roraback, a lawyer who pressed the Connecticut case that eventually led the United States Supreme Court to rule that laws banning the use of contraceptives were unconstitutional, a precursor to its Roe v. Wade decision on abortions, died on Wednesday in Salisbury, Conn. She was 87,” reports The New York Times.

Also see this remembrance of Roraback by columnist Bill Curry, a former counselor to President Clinton.

What’s Your Comfort Level?: Right-wing favorite Sen. Sam Brownback, who dropped out of the presidential race this month due to low polling and poor fundraising, declared that he is “much more comfortable” with Rudy Giuliani’s position on abortion after the two met face-to-face last week. Which makes many of us much less comfortable.

“Justices are key,” said Brownback. “He’s stated publicly many times about his support for strict constructionists like, I believe he said Roberts. John Roberts is a personal friend.”

Cosmetics and Consequences: Heather Gehlert of AlterNet interviews Stacy Malkin, author of “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry,” about the toxic chemicals in everyday beauty products.

When Sex and National Politics Collide … Well, you know it can’t be good for women or women’s health. Gloria Feldt writes about the appointment of Susan Orr — the birth control opponent in charge of administering Title X, the family planning program for low-income women.

With Facts on Our Side: Following the release of the study conducted by the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute that found the number of abortions is relatively unaffected by whether abortion legal, and that access to contraceptives is the best way to reduce abortion rates, Katha Pollitt interviewed antichoice leaders about the findings. The responses, while not completely surprising, are noteworthy for their stubborn refusal to work with facts instead of theology.

Plus: Ann Friedman interviews Pollitt for The Guardian about responses to Pollitt’s new book of personal essays, “Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories.”

Girls Just Want to Have Fun: Sorry, couldn’t resist. The Feminist Press of the City University of New York sure knows how to throw a party … The 37th Anniversary Gala, honoring Cyndi Lauper and Eve Ensler, will take place Nov. 5 at Tavern on the Green. The event features a number of outstanding award recipients.

Quick reminder: If you’re in the Boston area on Tuesday, Oct. 9, author Stacy Malkan will be reading from her book, “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry,” at Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont Street, at 6:30 p.m.

The book covers the five-year effort by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics — a national coalition of health and environmental groups — to pressure the U.S. beauty industry to use safer ingredients. Malkan is communications director of Health Care Without Harm and a co-founding member of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

A panel discussion with local environmental health leaders will follow Malkan’s reading. Tuesday’s event is co-sponsored by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, and Suffolk University Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and Suffolk University Health Services and Health Education.

Additional book tour dates and more information can be found at the book’s new website, NotJustAPrettyFace.org.

I wanted to let readers know about several upcoming events. A couple take place in New York or Boston, but you can attend the others from the comfort of your own home.

First, on Tuesday, Sept. 25, “Our Bodies, Ourselves” collaborator Kathy Davis will read from her new book, “The Making of Our Bodies, Ourselves: How Feminism Travels Across Borders,” at Blue Stockings Book Store (172 Allen Street, between Stanton and Rivington). The event starts at 7 p.m.

The book is based on interviews with founders of the BWHBC, responses to the book from international readers, and discussions with translators from Latin America, Egypt, Thailand, China, Eastern Europe and Francophone Africa. You can read the concluding chapter here (PDF).

And for more upcoming OBOS readings and events, check out the handy calendar.

The Boston event, on Tuesday, Oct. 9, is a book reading, signing and panel discussion featuring Stacy Malkan, author of “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.

Massachusetts-based safe cosmetics companies and local environmental health leaders will also be on hand. The event takes place at Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont Street, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For event information, contact Mia Davis. Visit the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to learn more about chemicals and cosmetics.

Now, the series you don’t have to get dressed for: Raising Women’s Voices for Universal Health Care has announced two upcoming webinars and an audio conference on health care reform (PDF). These events are free, and open to all women’s health providers and advocates.

Series moderators are Byllye Avery, Avery Institute for Social Change; Cindy Pearson, National Women’s Health Network; and Lois Uttley, MergerWatch Project of Community Catalyst.

The first webinar, a “Primer on the Basics of Health Care Reform,” is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m. EST. It will cover terminology and concepts such as “single-payer” health insurance, health savings accounts, employer assessments and individual mandates. According to the organizers, “No question will be too basic to ask!”

Presenters include Susan Sherry, deputy director of Community Catalyst, who has more than 25 years of experience as a consumer health advocate; and Nancy Turnbull, associate dean at the Harvard School of Public Health. Click here to register (again, it’s free).

More details, including descriptions of the second webinar on “Strategies for Achieving Universal Health Care” (Oct. 11) and an audio conference on “Where Should Women’s Health Advocates Put Our Energy?” (Nov. 15), are available here (PDF).

Film With Same-Sex Parents Splits School District: Children in a state-approved educational video called “That’s Family!” shown talking about interracial families, divorce and adoption — all good. But when a boy introduces his two dads, during the film shown to third graders, and another child says, “It’s really cool have to two gay dads, because they brought us into a home, and they adopted us, and they love us,” well, as Richard G. Jones writes in The New York Times:

That was enough to entangle this wealthy suburb of 45,000, about 15 miles east of Philadelphia, in a heated debate among parents and educators. As the issue simmered, the district decided to shelve the film, provoking the threat of a lawsuit by gay rights activists who said the district’s refusal to show the video was a violation of state antidiscrimination laws.

What Happened to America’s Breasts?: America Ferrera, who stars on “Ugly Betty,” got photoshopped big time as cover girl for Glamour magazine’s October issue — billed as the “1st annual figure flattery issue!” Natch.

Check out Apollo’s blog at AfterEllen.com for the story and good analysis. And read Guanabee’s full translation of the Glamour interview, which begins:

GLAMOUR: So 11 Emmy nominations for Ugly Betty, two new films in the works. You’re huge!

[Translation: How can you be successful? You’re huge!]

Drug Companies, Medical Journals and Money: Kent Sepkowitz, a physician in New York City, makes the argument at Slate that the “public deserves to know about the extent to which every medical journal relies on pharmaceutical advertising revenue to run its business.”

The New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, receive about $18 million and $27 million each year, respectively, for display advertisements, according to this 2006 study on advertising and peer-reviewed journals.

“The consequence of the pharma-journal relationship is far from abstract,” writes Sepkowitz, who goes on to provide an example of when the marketing department of Dialysis & Transplantation, a journal for kidney specialists, initially overruled reviewing scientists on the publication of an editorial against a double dose of a pharmaceutical product when the regular dose worked just as well.

Hormone Patch Opens Debate: “The arrival on the European market of a female-targeted testosterone patch to treat low sex desire caused by menopause is raising new questions in the United States about why there is no equivalent product on pharmacy shelves,” writes Frances C. Whittelsey at Women’s eNews. “Opponents say that there is good reason why, and the patch is not ready for U.S. approval.”

Wishing Life Would Mirror Art: A 13-year-old star of a Bangladeshi soap opera that promotes girls’ education hopes she can be as lucky as her character and get to stay in school. “I feel depressed. But a lot of girls in the slums face the same pressures,” Shimu tells Emily Wax of the Washington Post.

Alcohol Consumption and Cancer Risk: Postmenopausal women consuming two or more alcoholic beverages a day may double their risk of endometrial cancer, according to a study led by University of Southern California researchers. The study appears in the International Journal of Cancer.

“This is the first prospective study to report a significant association between alcohol and endometrial cancer,” says Veronica Wendy Setiawan, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “Previous studies have shown that alcohol consumption has been associated with higher levels of estrogens in postmenopausal women, which could be the mechanism by which daily alcohol intake increases one’s risk of endometrial cancer.”

Man-Made Chemicals Causing Birth of More Girls: “Twice as many girls as boys are being born in some Arctic villages because of high levels of man-made chemicals in the blood of pregnant women, according to scientists from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (Amap),” reports The Guardian.

The scientists measured the man-made chemicals in women’s blood that mimic human hormones and concluded that they were capable of triggering changes in the sex of unborn children in the first three weeks of gestation. The chemicals are carried in the mother’s bloodstream through the placenta to the foetus, switching hormones to create girl children. [...]

Scientists believe a number of man-made chemicals used in electrical equipment from generators, televisions and computers that mimic human hormones are implicated. They are carried by winds and rivers to the Arctic where they accumulate in the food chain and in the bloodstreams of the largely meat- and fish-eating Inuit communities.

All of which prompts Broadsheet’s Carol Lloyd to write: “If nothing else, this is news that makes me think about the novel “Herland” in a whole new light — not as a bit of charming feminist Victoriana but a sci-fi horror story.”

Senate Votes to Repeal Global Gag Rule: “Defying a White House veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted Thursday to overturn a long-standing ban on U.S. funding for overseas family planning groups that support abortion,” reports the L.A. Times. “The vote was 53-41, short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto on an issue that has been contentious on Capitol Hill since President Reagan instituted the ban. Even so, the vote was a sign of determination by Democrats to press for substantial changes in federal policies, even though they have only a narrow majority in the Senate.”

Read more about the global gag rule; and here’s more analysis from RH Reality Check.

Ad Nauseum: Shannon Brownlee, author of “Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer,” talks with Brooke Gladstone of NPR’s “On the Media” about the influence of direct-to-consumer drug marketing. One example given: When the sleep drug Lunesta hit the market, so did an epidemic of sleeplessness.

Stress and Pregnancy: The New York Times has a Q&A interview with Dr. Sarah L. Berga, “one of a handful of physician-scientists exploring how chronic stress may keep some women from ovulating and how relaxation techniques may help.”

Why More Cosmetic Companies Are Going “Paraben-Free”: “For years, parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl and benzyl) have been considered a cheap and indispensable way to inhibit the growth of bacteria, yeasts and molds in personal-care products such as shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and sunscreens,” writes Chicago Tribune health reporter Julie Deardoff. “But studies have shown that some parabens can mimic the activity of the hormone estrogen in the body’s cells. Estrogenic activity in the body is associated with certain forms of breast cancer. And parabens are turning up in breast tumors.”

Condom Nations: Foreign Policy magazine presents data from the Durex Global Sex Survey, the world’s largest sex survey (317,000 participants in 41 countries). Why is it surprising that people in richer countries have more sexual partners than people in poorer countries?

Treating Men and Women Differently: “Research presented at the annual European Society of Cardiology meeting in Vienna suggested that surgeries which typically save men’s lives can be deadly for women,” reports the AP. “A small study of 184 women conducted by Dr. Eva Swahn of the department of cardiology at University Hospital in Linkoping, Sweden, found that women who had major heart operations like a coronary bypass were more likely than men to die.”

NFL Mirrors Society: From a USA Today editorial: “Even people who aren’t football fans have heard about Michael Vick, the star quarterback whose abuse of pit bulls led to a guilty plea on federal dogfighting charges, drew public vilification and spurred an indefinite suspension from the NFL. Far fewer people have heard of Michael Pittman, another NFL player accused of violence. In May 2003, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back was arrested on charges of ramming his Hummer into a car driven by his wife and carrying their 2-year-old child and a babysitter.”

“Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History”: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, who wrote that sentence in an article entitled “Virtuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1668-1735″ two decades ago, has now written a book exploring the hidden history of women.

“‘Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History’ is by no means jargon-ridden or academic in tone,” writes Michael Dirda in the Washington Post. “Ulrich’s style is plain and direct, agreeable but without frills, and she moves efficiently right along. The book is a pleasure to read.”

Madeline L’Engle Dies at at 88: L’Engle, a graduate of Smith, wrote the children’s classic “A Wrinkle in Time,” and other wonderful stories — many of which featured a girl as the protagonist. From The New York Times obit:

In the “Dictionary of Literary Biography,” Marygail G. Parker notes “a peculiar splendor” in Ms. L’Engle’s oeuvre, and some of that splendor is sheer literary range. “Wrinkle” is part of her series of children’s books, which includes “A Wind in the Door,” “A Swiftly Tilting Planet,” “Many Waters” and “An Acceptable Time.” The series combines elements of science fiction with insights into love and moral purpose that pervade Ms. L’Engle’s writing.

Most Bizarre Story Angle of the Week: Courtesy of the Boston Globe: “If feminism these days is all about sexiness as power — vanquishing foes with a kiss — then cancer might be the modern girl’s ultimate challenge. Who better to conquer a dread disease than a hot chick with an attitude?”

Maternal Deaths on the Rise: The National Center for Health Statistics last month released a report (PDF) that showed the U.S. maternal mortality rate rose to 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004. The rate was 12 per 100,000 live births in 2003 — the first time the maternal death rate rose above 10 since 1977, reports the AP (via the Washington Post).

Experts point to a jump in Caesarean sections (which now account for 29 percent of all births) and increasing maternal obesity as probable reasons for the increase; some researchers also think a change in how childbirth deaths are reported may play a role.

The Real Nanny Diaries: Heather Hewett, assistant professor of English and coordinator of the women’s studies program at SUNY New Paltz, discusses the novel-turned-film “The Nanny Diaries” and how little it has to with reality — “either with the situation of parents like me, who depend on nannies and babysitters to care for our children, or with the lives of most women who work as caregivers.”

Study Links Non-Stick Chemicals To Low Birth Weight: Babies exposed to chemicals used in non-stick cookware and other consumer products while in their mother’s womb were born at a significantly lower body weight, according to a new study (PDF) published in Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (see press release).

The chemical is perfluorooctanoate (PFOA). Only two studies have been done on the general population thus far, so it’s too soon to say anything definitive, according to the researchers.

Low-Dose Hormones Hit the Shelves: “Patches, pumps, pills, low-dose pills and super-low-dose creams and gels: Ever since the landmark Women’s Health Initiative study found that hormone therapy could be harmful, a dizzying array of new low-dose treatment options have been offered to counter the symptoms of menopause,” reports The New York Times. But the numerous choices have resulted in some confusion for consumer — and doctors. And there’s still some uncertainty about the safety, even in the lower doses.

Flaxseed Shows Potential to Reduce Hot Flashes: A new Mayo Clinic study suggest that dietary therapy using flaxseed can decrease hot flashes in postmenopausal women who do not take estrogen. The findings from the pilot study are published in the summer 2007 issue of the Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology (see press release).

The Reach of “Sicko”: Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a poll last month to determine the impact of MIchael Moore’s documentary “SIcko.” KFF found that out of a telephone survey of 1,500 adults, only 4 percent said they had seen it, but 46 percent of the respondents said they saw it or heard or read something about it a month after its national release.

Among those familiar with “Sicko,” 45% said they have had a discussion with friends, co-workers, and family about the U.S. health system as a result of the movie; 43% said they were more likely to think there is a need to reform the health system. About equal numbers believe the movie accurately represents problems in the U.S. health system versus overstating them. Still, “Sicko” has not altered what have long been the fundamental factors shaping the public’s views on health care, such as personal health care experiences and proposals from presidential candidates.

Demand Not Met for Prenatal Care: The Washington Post looks at two Virginia counties that are scrambling to provide prenatal care to low-income women. In some cases, the poverty threshold is keeping out women who can’t afford to pay for medical services on their own. Another factor is the high cost of insurance coverage for obstetrics.

“So many are going through pregnancy without care. And the only option is to deliver the baby as an emergency,” said Nora Lobos, a case manager with MotherNet/Healthy Families Loudoun, a nonprofit group that provides support to low-income families in Loudon county.

In Search of Angry White Men: Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu wonders why news stories about women bring out the worst in commenters and invites readers to write in (nine pages of responses follow so far):

Start with the bounty of demeaning comments about women that usually follow any story about Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. [...] But the anti-Clinton tirades are only a small piece of the sexist backlash on the Web. Any story or column about gender inequality or efforts to correct it usually brings on charges of male bashing, or of some hidden Register agenda to promote women at the expense of men. A story about Register publisher Mary Stier leaving to form a media company aimed at women drew postings about a Register feminist bias and even one reference to bra burning.

Stories about women crime victims bring out a rash of victim-blaming comments. A recent piece I wrote about a woman whose deceptive husband has been charged with murder provoked a caustic, “Quick, somebody get this woman sterilized before she reproduces any further.”

Viva La BlogHer: Great posts from the BlogHer ’07 conference up at Viva La Feminista. And Women in Media & News points to video of closing keynote speaker Elizabeth Edwards discussing media reform.

Welcome NYC Unrated and Unfiltered: Planned Parenthood of New York City just launched a new blog with a snazzy name. Check it out.

A Super-Size Troupe Attracts Super-Size Praise: “Formed a decade ago by Juan Miguel Mas, this company of obese dancers has become a cultural phenomenon in Cuba, breaking stereotypes here of dance, redefining the aesthetics of beauty and, along the way, raising the self-esteem of heavyset people,” writes James C. McKinley Jr. in The New York Times. “While the troupe is not the first to employ larger dancers, its popularity comes as a surprise in a country known for its muscular, lean dancers in every genre from classical ballet to salsa.”

Recommended Reading: “Reading ‘The Invisible Cure’ is like traveling into remote and hard-to-comprehend territory with an unblinking and sure-footed guide,” writes John Donnelly, in a remarkably enticing review of Helen Epstein’s book about the fight against AIDS in Africa. “Epstein had unearthed a rare copy of a detailed study on the sexual behavior of Ugandans in the late 1980s and early ’90s, a period that coincided with the country’s historic drop in H.I.V. rates. In short, Epstein knew, the research done by Maxine Ankrah, an African-American academic, would give invaluable insights into what had halted the epidemic — insights that could then be applied to other countries with high rates of H.I.V. and AIDS.”

Read the review here, or skip right to chapter one.

Speaking Terms: The Guardian reports on language lessons in the UK — sex workers in London are teaching English to migrants working in the sex industry. “I do not do anything without a condom” is required learning. “Our aim is to give women the skills to get out of certain situations they may not want to be in. So much of sex work involves language, and not having language stops people from negotiating with bosses and clients,” said a founder of the x:talk project, which is supported by the International Union of Sex Workers and is funded by the Feminist Review Trust.

Hey, Elaine!: The Today Sponge contraceptive is back on the market. “The new package is meant to have a more modern look: instead of a pink flower and a conservative-looking typeface, the box has drawings of hip-looking women, playful typography, and colors that Synova officials call ‘fuchsia and wine,’ writes Jane L. Levere at The New York Times. But keep this in mind:

Lawrence B. Finer, director of domestic research for the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that does research and policy analysis on reproductive health, said Synova’s new campaign will bring its method of birth control “to the attention of a lot of women, and help place it in context along with other methods that have been advertised lately,” like the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch.

But health professionals agree that one of the Today Sponge’s biggest problems is its efficacy: research by Princeton University found that 16 percent of American women who had never given birth and may have used the sponge incorrectly or inconsistently became pregnant within a year, while 32 percent of women who had given birth and used the sponge this way became pregnant. The pregnancy rate for women who relied on condoms for birth control and may have used them incorrectly or inconsistently was 15 percent, while the rate for women using birth control pills in this way was 8 percent.

“For all the sponge’s cultural popularity, it isn’t as effective as many other methods,” said Dr. Katharine O’Connell, an assistant clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology and a family planning specialist at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York.

Why Do Men Kill Their Wives?: A Boston Globe Magazine story wonders if murder is a substitute for divorce.

Potentially Hazardous Home Chemicals: Women’s Voices for the Earth, a Montana-based nonprofit working to eliminate or reduce toxic chemicals in the home, released a report(PDF) last week that highlights health risks associated with cleaning products. Some products contain chemicals that are linked to fertility disorders in lab animals, according to the group. Here’s coverage from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Amnesty International Set to Affirm New Abortion Policy: “Despite an outcry from Roman Catholic and conservative leaders worldwide, Amnesty International seems likely to affirm a new policy supporting greater access to abortion when its top decision-making body meets next month,” reports The AP. Here’s Amnesty’s statement from June, defending access to abortion for women at risk.

Pioneer Feminist Theologian Dies: The Rev. Letty Russell, considered “a foremother of feminist theology,” and one of the first women hired to the faculty of Yale Divinity School, died July 12 at her home in Guilford, Conn. The cause was cancer, reports the L.A. Times. Nancy Richardson, a senior lecturer at Harvard Divinity School and a longtime friend, said, “She was teaching [feminist theology] before it had a name.”

“Feminist scholarship was not looked on as scholarship in seminaries,” Richardson said. “To be in academia and be a feminist at the same time wasn’t easy.”

A Slow Recovery, Slowed Down Even More: Part four of a NYT series on the recovery of New Orleans two years after Hurricane Katrina looks at the impact of closed hospitals. “Doctors’ offices sit empty behind five-foot-high water marks, and nearby clinics wait to be demolished. In back of one medical building, a gaping refrigerator still holds jars of mayonnaise and Mt. Olive Dill Relish,” writes Leslie Eaton. “Harder to see, but just as tangible, people here say, are the other ripple effects of the flood and the closed hospital: workers displaced, houses for sale and, of course, patients forced to seek health care many miles away. If they have returned to New Orleans at all, that is, given the grave wounds to the health care system.”