Environmental Health

"Worried Sick"

The Standard-Times, April 2007

In the quiet streets of several residential neighborhoods in New Bedford, Massachusetts, people are suffering from cancer, respiratory problems and immune system-related disorders. No one can say for sure if their illnesses are connected to New Bedford's legacy of industrial contamination. But after waiting years for the city to address their concerns, some have decided to press ahead on their own.

"Human Hormones Hurt Lobsters"

The Standard-Times, January 2007

When lobsters started disappearing from Buzzards Bay in southeastern Massachusetts, UMass-Dartmouth professor Yuegang Zuo thought he might know why. Dr. Zuo and other scientists suspect that the naturally-occurring and synthetic female estrogen in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy drugs could be hindering larval lobster development, as well as shell growth and reproduction in adult lobsters.