By MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT, Toronto Globe and Mail

With the Oscars looming, environmentalists are appealing directly to Hollywood to select "Avatar" as the year's best feature film, linking the blockbuster's storyline of ravaging a planet to obtain a rare and costly mineral to Canada's mining of the oil sands.

Americans' infatuation with their cars has endured through booms and busts, but last year something rare happened in the United States: The number of automobiles actually fell.

Feeding the birds is the most innocuous of pastimes, but it could have a unintended effect: changing the course of evolution.

The estrogen-mimicking chemical BPA -- already banished from baby bottles and frowned upon in water jugs -- has now shown up in significant levels in some soft drinks, according to Canadian scientists.

Shift work exacts a huge toll, leading to punishing sleep disruptions and an elevated risk of illnesses that range from breast cancer to heart disease.

Mattresses and bedsprings may never fit into a recycling container, but efforts are under way to try to make the unwieldy home furnishings the latest items subject to recycling.

Exposure of expectant mothers to phthalates, a common ingredient in many plastics, has been linked to smaller penis size and incomplete descent of testicles in their baby boys, according to a new research paper.

Canned foods sold in Canada contain twice as much of an estrogen-mimicking chemical as plastic baby bottles and water bottles -- which have been shunned because of health concerns -- according to testing conducted for The Globe and Mail and Canadian Television.

TORONTO -- Women diagnosed with breast cancer are nearly twice as likely to have the disease spread to other parts of their bodies and are 73 pe cent more likely to die from it if they have low levels of vitamin D, according to a Canadian study.