Elizabeth Jorgensen

3/9/14

Democracy Now 

Are Any Plastics Safe? Industry Tries to Hide Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Bottles, Containers

(http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/4/are_any_plastics_safe_industry_tries)

` BPA is an industrial chemical that is used to make plastic products. Research indicates that exposure to this chemical can have detrimental affects on a person.The use of BPA products result in 3 billion dollars a year in health related costs. BPA has been banned in the use of the production for bottles and kid’s cups since 2012. Concern with BPA and its potential for harm on human health was first publicized in 2008, when consumers became irate and demanded change when growing concerns about the correlation between: diabetes, breast cancer, etc and issues using synthetic chemicals with high levels of estrogen in the plastic products first became well known. False advertisement is widely used and pushed by companies claiming that BPA-Free plastic products are much safer than before. Even BPA-Free plastic contains trace levels of estrogen like chemicals. Before having concrete data on the use of BPA-Free products, now more is being researched about the health concerns with these type of BPA-Free, estrogen like chemicals. Parents still have concerns decides which products to buy, and what information to believe that is being forced on them. Research that is collected is manipulated to produce the results companies want in order to keep the consumers ignorant. Moreover, more chemicals that we use and consumer everyday should be tested for their safety. Over 80,000 chemicals used daily have not been tested, which raises an even bigger concern about potential chemical exposures that we haven’t looked into yet!

Exclusive: Freed Ex-Black Panther Marshall “Eddie” Conway on 44 Years in Prison & FBI Surveillance

(http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/5/exclusive_freed_ex_black_panther_marshall)

Former leader of the Black Panther Party was released after serving almost 44 years in prison after being accused of shooting a police officer in 1970. Eddie was under close surveillance by the FBI and was falsely accused and imprisoned. Prisoners held in Maryland for over 40 decades were freed under the notion that jury instructions given during these court hearings were unconstitutional up until the 1980’s. Eddie was able to retain hope and not only write his memoirs while in prison but was also able to organize programs within the system to help resolve conflict between gang members. He was part of social movements while incarcerated, attempting to create labor unions and libraries within prison. He was incredibly influential towards the change of the prison system, progressing the quality of life for prisoners. Eddie was targeted because he was a high leader in the Black Panther group, and was strategically placed with an informant in the cell in an attempt to break him. It took decades of fighting to free Eddie, and his case has already and will continue to be a stepping stone for other prisoners incarcerated on faulty sentencing.