"Anti-asbestos activists from around the world called in Italy Tuesday for a worldwide ban on the hazardous building material and for companies that use it to be brought to justice."

A dramatic decline in male births among indigenous American peoples -- both in the Arctic and elsewhere -- has been linked to toxic industrial pollution. "Toxic pollutants travel from industrialized countries and accumulate in the marine food chain of the Arctic region, and in the traditional diet of indigenous peoples."

"A toxic fire -- the third in three years -- broke out Wednesday at a Santa Clara recycling plant, prompting an order for residents to stay inside and close their windows while firefighters put out the flames."

"A long-awaited study by the International Agency for Cancer Research -- an arm of the World Health Organization -- will attempt to give the world's billions of cellphone users a better informed perspective" on whether the phones cause brain tumors or present other health risks.

Four households in the West Palm Beach neighborhood called The Acreage, the site of an alleged cancer cluster, have filed suit blaming it on pollution from a nearby Pratt & Whitney plant.

"Outrage erupted among residents and politicians Wednesday after state health officials announced they don't plan to search for an environmental cause of [Palm Beach County community] The Acreage’s cancer cluster -- and instead will mount a campaign to raise 'awareness' about childhood brain cancer."

CDC has increased 10-fold the number of contaminants it tracks in people since starting its biomonitoring program in 2001. But the agency is hitting limits that likely will slow future growth, and no one else is picking up the slack, leaving us ignorant for years to come about more than 99% of the possible toxics in our bodies.

"The study that first suggested a link between vaccines and autism and spurred a long-running, acrimonious debate over the safety of vaccines has been retracted by the British medical journal that published it. The withdrawal supports the scientific evidence that vaccinations don't cause autism, but isn't likely to persuade advocacy groups that believe in a link."

"Why is a child born in northwest Los Angeles four times as likely to be diagnosed with autism as a child born elsewhere in California?"

"Some residents blame a nearby toxic waste dump for health problems. U.S. says the study shows the Obama administration's commitment to environmental justice."

"[New Jersey] State and federal environmental officials said Monday night that they will take a more active role in the DuPont cleanup in Pompton Lakes, while urging residents to install mitigation systems in their homes as soon as possible."

"Just as millions head to tanning beds to prepare for spring break, the Food and Drug Administration will be debating how to toughen warnings that those sunlamps pose a cancer risk. Yes, sunburns are particularly dangerous."

"Citing the decline in frogs and rise of "frankenfish," a Bay Area environmental group filed a legal petition Monday for tighter federal standards on pollutants that disrupt the hormones of humans and wildlife."

"The plan for broad use of X-ray body scanners to detect bombs or weapons under airline passengers' clothes has rekindled a debate about the safety of delivering small doses of radiation to millions of people -- a process some experts say is certain to result in a few additional cancer deaths."

"California scientists have identified clusters of autism, largely in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, where children are twice as likely to have autism as children in surrounding areas. The 10 clusters were found mostly among children with highly educated parents, leading researchers to report that they probably can be explained by better access to medical experts who diagnose the disorder."