EJToday is SEJ's selection of new and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. SEJ also offers a free e-mailed digest of the day's EJToday postings, called SEJ-beat. SEJ members are subscribed automatically, but may opt out here. Non-members may subscribe here. EJToday is also available via RSS feed. Please see Editorial Guidelines for EJToday content.
"Pollution Issue Divides Desert Town as Deadline Nears"
LA Times, 10/15/2012"Residents of Hinkley, made famous by 'Erin Brockovich,' weigh an offer by PG&E to buy homes near chromium-tainted water. Animosity is high between residents wanting to sell and those opting to stay."
Soccer Moms Play It Safe, Keep Kids Off Fields Over Chemical Concerns
Huffington Post, 10/15/2012"Cedar McGourty-Batchelor won't be playing soccer this Saturday. Neither will his first-grade teammates from Riverview Elementary School -- nor, for that matter, any other kids in Durango, Colo."
"Pesticides Blamed By Report for Illnesses"
San Francisco Chronicle, 10/10/2012"Pesticides pervade the environment, from the air we breathe to the food we eat, and they are making children sicker than they were a generation ago, a new report warns."
"South Korean Chemical Plant Spill Labeled 'Special Disaster Zone'"
Nature, 10/09/2012"The South Korean government on Monday designated the area around a chemical spill in the southeastern city of Gumi a special disaster zone, after more than 3,000 people were injured. On 27 September, an explosion at the Hube Globe chemical plant released about eight tonnes of hydrofluoric acid, which can damage lungs and bones and affect the nervous system. The leak killed five workers and injured 18 others, according to the state-run Yonhap news agency."
Washington Supreme Court Upholds State's Hazardous Substances Tax
AP, 10/05/2012"OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that the state's hazardous substances tax is constitutional."
"Texas Pollution Victims Seek Millions From Citgo"
Center for Public Integrity, 10/05/2012"Fifteen residents of Corpus Christi, Texas -- so sickened by pollution they have been deemed crime victims -- are asking a federal judge to force Citgo Petroleum Corp. to set up multimillion-dollar trust funds to cover medical and relocation costs, in a case with national ramifications."
"Secret Cold War Tests in St. Louis Raise Concerns"
AP, 10/04/2012"ST. LOUIS -- Doris Spates was a baby when her father died inexplicably in 1955. She has watched four siblings die of cancer, and she survived cervical cancer. After learning that the Army conducted secret chemical testing in her impoverished St. Louis neighborhood at the height of the Cold War, she wonders if her own government is to blame."
"Study Finds Lower Thyroid Hormones in Baby Boys Exposed To BPA"
EHN, 10/04/2012"Pregnant women exposed to higher levels of the chemical bisphenol A gave birth to baby boys with lower thyroid hormones, according to a new study published today."
"Pesticide Use Ramping Up As GMO Crop Technology Backfires: Study"
Reuters, 10/02/2012"U.S. farmers are using more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and insects due largely to heavy adoption of genetically modified crop technologies that are sparking a rise of 'superweeds' and hard-to-kill insects, according to a newly released study."
"Rats Harmed By Great-Grandmothers' Dioxin Exposure, Study Finds"
EHN, 09/28/2012"Pregnant rats exposed to an industrial pollutant passed on a variety of diseases to their unexposed great-grandkids, according to a study published Wednesday."
"Hydraulic Fracturing: Two-Thirds of Frack Disclosures Omit 'Secrets'"
EnergyWire, 09/27/2012"Two out of every three times oil and gas companies have publicly disclosed the chemicals in their hydraulic fracturing fluid, they've left something out."
"BPA Damages Chromosomes in Monkeys"
USA TODAY, 09/26/2012"A new study in monkeys provides the strongest evidence yet that an estrogen-like chemical called BPA could alter chromosomes, increasing the risk of birth defects and miscarriages, scientists say."
PBB: Michigan Chemical Plant Dumped Poisons, Impacting Town for Years
Detroit Free Press, 09/25/2012"ST. LOUIS, Mich. -- The sun sets through the clouds on a late summer afternoon, and a wind brushes through wildflowers on a 52-acre site wrapped by the Pine River, softening the sounds of children in a playground nearby. But the dead robins that drop in Teri Kniffen's yard around the corner and the signs scattered in town bear the evidence of unseen hazards, an alphabet soup of toxicity."
Security: Is Exposing Refinery Pollution "Suspicious Activity"?
State Impact Texas, 09/25/2012"As part of his work as a community organizer for environmental causes, Juan Parras takes photos of refineries and petrochemical plants near the Houston Ship Channel. Sometimes, he says he’s made to feel like a criminal for doing it."
Dave Fehling reports for State Impact Texas/NPR September 24, 2012.
"Asbestos Products Still Being Imported To Ontario"
Toronto Star, 09/25/2012"Despite recent announcements in Ottawa and Quebec that suggest asbestos will soon be a thing of the past, products made of the cancer-causing mineral are still being imported and used in Ontario today."

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