"Pesticides blamed for killing bees have been removed from the shelves of Britain's biggest gardening chains, prompting calls for similar chemicals widely-used on farms to be banned completely."

"The mining of rare earth metals, used in everything from smart phones to wind turbines, has long been dominated by China. But as mining of these key elements spreads to countries like Malaysia and Brazil, scientists warn of the dangers of the toxic and radioactive waste generated by the mines and processing plants."

"Levels of PFOS, a chemical manufactured by 3M Co. for a variety of commercial uses until about 10 years ago, have improved significantly in the Mississippi River between Hastings and St. Paul -- except for the area around the company's Cottage Grove plant, where they have worsened."

"PepsiCo Inc. will remove a controversial chemical that is added to orange Gatorade in response to customer complaints. Outcry over the chemical, known as brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, had been building over the past year."

"New research suggests the chemicals are playing a significant and previously unknown role in the global decline of amphibians."

"A state board votes to bar the chemical from baby products' containers. The Legislature has the final say."

ExxonMobil is the last defendant in a landmark lawsuit in New Hampshire over contamination of drinking water withthe gasoline additive MTBE. Citgo is in talks to settle out of court.

"Serving hot food on melamine tableware could increase your exposure to melamine, a study released Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine suggests."

"An antibiotic widely used in soaps and cosmetics that mostly goes down the drain is slowly converting to toxins at the bottom of many of Minnesota's lakes and rivers."

"A new federal report finds toxic contamination remains widespread in the Chesapeake Bay, with severe impacts in some places, which health and environmental advocates say lends support to their push in Annapolis for legislative action on pesticides and other hazardous chemicals."

"GENEVA -- A new and legally binding international treaty to reduce harmful emissions of mercury was adopted Saturday by more than 140 nations, capping four years of difficult negotiations but stopping short of some of the tougher measures that proponents had envisioned."

"Diet and exercise are seen as the key factors that cause obesity, but new research suggests that certain chemicals called obesogens contribute to the global weight problem. Bruce Blumberg, professor of developmental and cell biology at the University of California at Irvine tells host Steve Curwood that the effects of an obesogenic chemical he studied seem to persist for several generations."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that total toxic air releases in 2011 declined 8 percent from 2010. In the mid-Atlantic region, which includes Pennsylvania and Delaware, the agency recorded a decline of 13.8 percent or 32.5 million pounds. Among the hazardous air pollutants showing declines were hydrochloric acid and mercury, which EPA attributed to improved pollution control technologies at coal-fired power plants and a shift to other fuel sources."

"Crisis-weary developed countries' reluctance to help finance a ground-breaking international treaty to rein in the use of health-hazardous mercury is threatening the accord, UN officials warned Thursday."

"The world's most widely used insecticide has for the first time been officially labelled an 'unacceptable' danger to bees feeding on flowering crops. Environmental campaigners say the conclusion, by Europe's leading food safety authority, sounds the 'death knell' for the insect nerve agent."