1. It's still just a suspicion: Could sunscreen be the source of a banned plasticizer?
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Toddler with sunscreen, lots of sunscreen
Photo: Peter Cade/Getty Images
The most reliable tip you can give young people for a successful life is "Never forget the sunscreen!" - Australian film director Baz Luhrmann once claimed this in a successful song called "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)". .
A story about a toxin that my colleague Martin Schlak researched could raise slight doubts about the fact that any sunscreen only offers protection. In the search for the origin of a health-damaging chemical that was found in numerous urine samples in Germany, experts are pointing to the first clue. “Our first and preliminary suspicion is sunscreen,” says toxicologist Marike Kolossa, who works at the Federal Environment Agency, in my colleague’s text about the search for the source of the toxic substance mono-n-hexyl phthalate, or MnHexP for short.
Toxicologists have recently found MnHexP, the breakdown product of a harmful phthalate, in numerous urine samples, including from kindergarten children. Authorities such as the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Federal Environment Agency have reported this. Phthalates are added to materials to make them soft, pliable and stretchy, including cosmetics such as sunscreen. Some of these phthalates affect the human hormonal system and can affect human fertility. The starting substance of MnHexP is considered to be particularly toxic.
“In the European Union, the use of many phthalates has been severely restricted in recent years because of the health risks,” writes my colleague. How can it be that a breakdown product of a banned substance is found in large quantities in German urine samples? It is possible that the raw material is a new type of phthalate that is not yet subject to EU regulation.
Now researchers are apparently searching quite feverishly for confirmation of the source of the toxins. “The authorities seem to be investigating very seriously,” says my colleague Martin, “because such strong exposures are really rare and are alarming. So it can be expected that the mystery will be solved and a culprit will be found until it gets warmer again in Germany and sunscreen is necessary. For the time being, the Federal Environment Agency has expressly recommended that you continue to use sunscreen.
Read the whole story here: Federal Office suspects sunscreens as a source of banned plasticizers
2. The liberal opposing candidate is not allowed to run, but Russian opposition members have agreed on a symbolic gesture of resistance
Kremlin opponent Khodorkovsky
Photo:
Frank Bauer/Contour/Getty Images
Elections alone do not make a democracy, goes a saying attributed to former US President Barack Obama. How correct it is can be seen in the election farce that Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently staging. Today it was announced that Russia's Central Election Commission has excluded liberal politician Boris Nadezhdin from the presidential election, the only candidate who has spoken out in favor of an end to the war against Ukraine and who was perceived as an alternative to Vladimir Putin. For most observers, this was hardly surprising.
In an interview, my colleague Ann-Dorit Boy asked the former oligarch and current Kremlin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, among other things, about the possibilities for Russian opposition members to protest against the electoral farce. "Some in the opposition are calling for a boycott of the election, others believe that people should definitely take part and vote against Putin," he says. "However, most of us agree that the ballots will not be counted anyway."
Western governments should not recognize the Russian election and should not view Putin as a legitimate president, Khodorkovsky believes. Incidentally, Russian opposition members have agreed on a more symbolic gesture of resistance. Voters are called upon to go to the polling stations at 12 noon on the last day of the election, March 17th. “Everyone there can do what they think is right,” says Khodorkovsky. »You can vote for another candidate, invalidate the ballot paper or boycott the election. With this joint action we want to show how many people are not for Putin. The Kremlin can then come up with some explanation for the snakes, but people will see it.”
Read the entire interview here: “The West should not recognize Putin’s election”
3. The fan protests against a Bundesliga investor are causing discontent, but the league bosses are still undeterred
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“The protests continue”: tennis balls at the game between VfL Bochum and Union Berlin
Photo:
Matthias Koch / IMAGO
They throw chocolate coins, tennis balls or lemons onto the field and cause long interruptions during games. Many German supporters of German football clubs are currently showing quite drastic opposition to the German Football League's (DFL) plans to allow an external investor to share in the league's income. To me, this seems like a touching but also helpless gesture in a very thoroughly commercialized sport. My colleagues Peter Ahrens and Benjamin Knaack are writing today about the fans' protests, which have been going on for a very long time - and their chances of overturning the deal.
In December, the 36 professional clubs in the DFL approved the entry of a donor in principle - with the narrowest possible two-thirds majority of 24 yes votes. Accordingly, an investor - there are currently two candidates - should be able to receive eight percent of the league's advertising revenue for a maximum contract term of 20 years. “The organized fan scene is fundamentally critical of bringing in an external donor,” the colleagues write. "The fans fear measures that conflict with the interests of stadium goers, such as games abroad, unattractive kick-off times for the international TV market or simply rising ticket prices."
A club president, Claus Vogt from VfB Stuttgart, has already suggested repeating the vote on investor entry. Discontent is growing in the league. Today the DFL announced new “discussion offers” aimed at fans. However, DFL supervisory board chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke is determined to conclude the contract with the investor during the course of this season. “It is foreseeable,” the colleagues write, “that the protests will continue accordingly.”
Read the full story here: The Tennis Ball Riot
What else is important today?
Bundeswehr frigate “Hessen” left for the Red Sea:
The Bundeswehr warship “Hessen” is heading for the Red Sea. There it is intended to protect merchant ships from Houthi attacks. The EU states have now apparently agreed on its use.
Chinese hackers apparently had access to critical US infrastructure for five years:
The attackers could have caused great damage: According to the NSA and FBI, the Chinese hacker group "Volt Typhoon" had access to important supply networks. US authorities fear further attacks.
North Korea ends economic cooperation with South Korea:
North Korea has severed economic relations with South Korea. In Seoul people react uncomprehendingly - and make an offer.
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Which is less important today
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John Travolta (r.) with presenter Rosario Fiorello in Sanremo
Photo: Ettore Ferrari / EPA-EFE
Que Sera, Qua Qua:
Hollywood actor
John Travolta
, 69, danced the duck dance at the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy, which once made him a star in the role of Tony Manero in "Saturday Night Fever" in 1977.
Travolta
seemed a bit irritated during his dance performance, there was a lot of ridicule on the Internet, the duck dance is called "Il Ballo del Qua Qua" in Italy.
Mini concave mirror
From the “Trierischer Volksfreund”:
“There was no grudge between Nino de Angelo and Drafi Deutscher, as different as they seemed at first glance. On the contrary: Deutscher discovered de Angelo and promoted him. And, as Nino de Angelo himself later said, it was when he was 18 that he first got into cocaine."
You can find the entire concave mirror here.
Cartoon of the day
And tonight?
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Picture book family from “A Million Minutes”
Photo: Warner Bros.
In the middle of German February you could dream of traveling into the big wide world and watching the film “A Million Minutes” in the cinema. It shows beautiful pictures of dream beaches in Thailand and Iceland and a lovely family, in which mother and father are played by Karoline Herfurth and Tom Schilling. I enjoyed watching the film, even though it doesn't have a remotely interesting plot. This cinema travel brochure may have made me a bit sentimental because it reminds me of the slide shows by well-traveled people that were held in multi-purpose halls and back rooms of taverns in pre-internet times.
A lovely evening.
Heartfelt
Yours, Wolfgang Höbel, author in the culture department