"Abandoned mercury mines throughout central California's rugged coastal mountains are polluting the state's major waterways, rendering fish unsafe to eat and risking the health of at least 100,000 impoverished people."

"It took a court order, a bomb squad, and seven months of work by U.S. EPA specialists, but the Abrachem Chemical facility in Clifton, New Jersey now is decontaminated."

"AUSTIN, Texas -- A cancer-causing sealant that covers thousands of parking lots, school playgrounds and driveways in Austin and Travis County has officials debating over its effect on human health."

"Hispanics have a cancer risk from air pollutants as much as five times the rate of others living in the same cities. But it isn’t outdoor air posing the greatest danger; it is something much closer to home: Toilet deodorizers and moth repellents in their bathrooms and closets. Researchers call for a ban on the carcinogenic chemical used in the consumer products."

"At many discount toy stores in this country, products that test at dangerously high levels for lead are still on the shelves -- despite a new federal law to protect children."

"Health Canada on Friday concluded that a chemical considered a possible carcinogen and commonly found in trace amounts in baby shampoo, bubble bath and liquid soap should not be listed as toxic to human health."

"Window and masonry caulking in hundreds of older schools in New England probably contain very high levels of now-banned toxins that can gradually be released into the air, posing a potential health risk to students and staff, environmental specialists say."

"The level of inorganic mercury in the blood of American women has been increasing since 1999 and it is now found in the blood of one in three women, according to a new analysis of government data for more than 6,000 American women."

"Federal environment officials investigating drinking water contamination near the ranching town of Pavillion, Wyo., have found that at least three water wells contain a chemical used in the natural gas drilling process of hydraulic fracturing."

Bayer's plant at Institute, West Virginia, said that it would reduce by 80 percent its production of methyl isocyanate, the highly toxic chemical that killed thousands in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.

"Wild animals normally are killed by cancer only in rare cases. But scientists are finding that some deadly cancers in animals--including Quebec's belugas, California sea lions and North Sea flounder--seem to be triggered or accelerated by environmental contaminants."

"Paint with dangerously high lead levels is still being sold for household use worldwide, putting hundreds of millions of young children at risk of permanent brain damage," new research shows.

Until last August, the Swiss-made reusable aluminum bottles that were an eco-icon, were lined with an epoxy containing trace amounts of BPA, which the Canadian federal government considers a toxic substance.

"Drinking water containing a common herbicide could pose a greater public health risk than previously thought because regular municipal monitoring doesn't detect frequent spikes in the chemical's levels, according to a report released Monday by the Natural Resources Defense Council."

A July 19 fire at Citgo's Corpus Christi refinery released deadly hydrogen fluoride, maimed one worker, and threatened a poor, largely minority community at its fenceline. Now larger questions are being asked -- about how authorities responded to it and whether it could have been prevented.