Sports and Fitness

"Since 2007, when EWG published its first Sunscreen Guide, many sun protection products sold in the US have become safer and federal regulators have cracked down on some of the worst phony marketing claims. Two-thirds of the products we examined offer inferior sun protection or contain worrisome ingredients like oxybenzone, a hormone disruptor, or retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A that may harm skin. And despite scant evidence, the government still allows most sunscreens to claim they help prevent skin cancer. Over the course of 12 years, EWG has uncovered mounting evidence that one common sunscreen chemical, oxybenzone, poses a hazard to human health and the environment. It is an allergen and a hormone disruptor that soaks through the skin and is measured in the body of nearly every American." more »

Joan L. Cannnon wrote: It's been a while since I have had the unique pleasure of sitting above the common order of humanity, to become a part of the grace and strength of the horse under me. We communicated through my fingers on the reins, the nervous ears in front of my face, and the sensation of leashed energy of half a ton of controlled power on which I perched like a paper monarch on sufferance. Anyone on horseback becomes a new person somehow more important, who exists until her feet touch the ground again. more »

A key element of the growing outdoor recreation economy — which accounts for $887 billion in annual consumer spending and supports 7.6 million jobs, according to the Outdoor Industry Association — are small businesses, especially those that operate in the gateway communities around public lands. Sure, online shopping is convenient, but it’s to a local business that most visitors turn when they need a replacement tent or last-minute supplies before heading out to camp, fish, hunt, or find solace in the outdoors. more »

A bill to require a study of federal agencies to determine which federal agencies have the greatest impact on women’s participation in the workforce; A bill to require that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for children be calculated with reference to the cost of the low-cost food plan, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture; A hearing included testimony from a panel of experts who are working to prevent robocall scams throughout the United States. Also from last week: "The Improving Oversight of Women Veterans’ Care Act of 2017 requires VA to practice oversight not only on its VA facilities, but also on the community care providers it contracts with in order to provide gender-specific health care to women when its facilities do not have the equipment or specialist necessary to care for these veterans. We need to do a better job tracking the quality of care provided to women veterans and conduct effective oversight to ensure they are well served no matter where they get their care. I am also excited to lend my support for Congressman Coffman’s legislation to require VA to ensure that the veterans peer counseling program includes enough peer counselors for women veterans." more »