Health Highlights: June 20, 2008

Testing doesn't need to be done on artificial fields made from polyethylene or nylon fields that aren't visibly worn, the CDC said.

The advisory was issued two months after health officials in New Jersey found high lead levels in artificial turf fibers from three athletic fields. They also determined that lead in the turf can be absorbed by people.

While the lead levels weren't high enough to cause poisoning in people who play on the fields, these levels could cause additional health damage to children already exposed to lead, said New Jersey epidemiologist Dr. Eddy Bresnitz, theAPreported.

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VA Denying Most Claims From Secret Tests

Only a small percentage of health claims filed by American veterans stemming from once-secret chemical and germ warfare tests conducted in the 1960s and 1970s have been approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, theAssociated Pressreported.

During the tests, conducted from 1962 to 1973, more than 6,000 of members of the military were exposed to real and simulated chemical and biological agents. In many cases, the tests were conducted without the participants' knowledge.

Of the 6,440 service members involved in the experiments, 4,438 have been notified of their participation, while the remainder couldn't be located or have died, theAPreported.

As of May 2008, 39 of the claims received by the VA were granted, 546 were denied, and 56 were pending. Many of the veterans have cancer, respiratory conditions or other health problems.

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Earth's Population To Reach 7 Billion in 2012

Earth's population will reach seven billion in 2012, putting increased pressure on dwindling natural resources, according to projections released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

There is no agreement on how many people the planet can sustain, said William Frey, a demographer at the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution. It depends on how will the world's resources are managed, he told theAssociated Press.

Currently, there are 6.7 billion people in the world. China, India and the United States have the largest populations.

In 1999, there were six billion people on the planet, which means it should take about 13 years to add another billion. By comparison, the world's population reached one billion in 1800 and two billion 130 years later, Carl Haub, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, told theAP.