Green alert

sometimes the things that are touted as healthy or ecofriendly have bad side effects.

For example, the "healthy recipe of the day" on NYTimes just printed it's second fava bean recipe in a row.

The problem? For many with G6PD deficiency, eating fava beans can cause the blood to hemolyze (Red blood cells to burst) and cause anemia.
G6PD is more common in the Mediterranean areas, and confers a mild resistance to malaria, but there are also Asian varients of the disease.

Other drugs, such as sulfonamides and Furadantin, also can cause the problem.

-----------------------------

Lead poisoning in China from factories that make or recycle lead batteries.

and those "green" lightbulbs also are associated with heavy metal poisoning: from the Mercury they contain.

and if you think the only danger is in the manufacturing, think again:

Within the United States alone, an estimated 670 million fluorescent light bulbs are discarded each year. The EPA calculates this amount to equal two to four tons of mercury being released into the environment. Once deposited into landfills, mercury oxidation results in its conversion into organic materials.

These are problem in other asian countries, but in China there was a cover up and some folks are angry.

------------------------------------------------