Environmental Health

"The Federal Select Agent Program, which oversees dangerous substances such as anthrax and bird flu in federal, academic and private labs, reported 199 incidents in which lab workers were potentially exposed to infectious or toxic agents in 2015, though there were no losses of select agents."

"Lead-contaminated water in the drinking fountains at a U.S. Capitol office building has prompted officials to offer blood testing to lawmakers and staff, according to information provided to congressional offices."

"Arsenic. Lead. Mercury. Sulfuric Acid. At a closed Duke Energy power plant, at least 10 billion pounds of coal ash containing these toxins and more are sitting on the banks of the Ohio River – a source of drinking water for more than 5 million people."

"As mosquito season heats up, bringing with it the threat of the West Nile and Zika viruses, one Long Island town is taking an unorthodox approach: bats."

"The ongoing crisis in Flint, Mich., has shined a spotlight on the public-health hazards that lead continues to pose in U.S. drinking water. In particular, it has led to renewed pressure to test for the problem in the nation’s schools, where millions of young children, the age group most vulnerable to lead poisoning, spend their days."

"Californians this summer are starting to see a new warning at checkout lines of grocery stores, pharmacies and convenience markets that the products on their shelves may include a dangerous chemical. But there's one problem: The signs don't tell them which products."

"Florida health officials confirmed 10 new Zika infections on Friday, the largest number of infections found on a single day and a sign of the United States’ faltering response to a looming crisis."

"The poorest parts of Houston remind Dr. Peter Hotez of some of the neighborhoods in Latin America hardest hit by Zika."

"The European Commission is extending by 18 months its approval for weed-killer glyphosate, used in Monsanto's Roundup, Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said on Tuesday."

"Just five months after the Zika virus was declared a global public health emergency, a scientific team’s feverish efforts to create a vaccine against the viral threat have borne promising fruit: With a single shot of either of two different types of vaccine, experimental mice gained near-total immunity to Zika for at least two months."